Does anyone know how to disappear from talking to people online so they get used to you being gone?

[ShatteredJarOfStars]

I keep trying to leave being so online behind because I know I'm a drain on everyone I talk to but I keep checking online every time I try. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[cvury]

i have no online friends so idk, the few chats/servers i'm in, if i just stopped talking no one would notice i was gone. my advice just block everyone and leave so they have nothing to say.

 

[Crow_88]

Yeah, just stop talking, right? Simple!

 

[LastNite]

I have an online "friend" idk it doesnt feel like a friendship at all. Havent talked in a month. Just dont check it's not that hard really.

 

[khairan]

I keep trying to leave being so online behind because I know I'm a drain on everyone I talk to but I keep checking online every time I try. Do you have any suggestions?

Break your device or put it somewhere inconvenient where you do not have easy access and overcome the instinct to check for activity.

Find something else to do, like reading, or go for walks. Try not to get bored because you will jump straight back to the devices.

Once you lose the reflex to check devices it will be easier to take down social media.

 

[gayboy300]

Disappearing online is the easy part - just stop using the platforms. I've done it so many times I can't even count and my mutuals pretty much expect it from me at this point. I'm actually in the middle of one of my "disappearing phases" right now, but this one has lasted much longer than previous ones and I don't think it'll end any time soon. My advice is to delete the apps if you find yourself constantly feeling the urge to check them and try as hard as possible to fight the feeling that you need to reinstall. Not even for a second or "just to check something." If it doesn't help, consider making an alt account for certain platforms that nobody you know knows about and only use the platform through that alt. Reframe how you look at the platforms. Something that's been keeping me off this time around is the sentiment of my brain being fed garbage by techbro billionaires that couldn't care less about me. You don't have to deactivate if you don't want to, in fact, people will probably notice your disappearance sooner if you do. Take advantage of the platforms that allow you to alter your status. I still have Discord and Steam, but my appearance has been set to offline for years now and my mutuals know that it is, so it's not alarming when I suddenly become inactive on those platforms for an extended period of time. Don't forget to set your status for platforms that feed through, e.g. my Steam status might show offline, however, launching Overwatch through Steam will still give me an online status for Overwatch and may even alert people in game when I start playing.

EDIT: blocking everyone and leaving servers does work, but I don't really recommend it. It always left me questioning if people noticed or if they've said anything about me, which I think inadvertently fed my urge to keep up with the social media platforms when I was supposed to be gone. As weird as it sounds, at least with the inactive/appearing offline route, you still have the ability to check in every so often. I also found it humiliating to need to be reinvited to a server that I "disappeared" from.

 

[eggsausagerice]

straight up just delete your account and make a new one so they can't find you. it's that easy. the hardest part is stopping yourself from finding excuses to talk to them again, but it's really easy to ghost people completely. it happens all the time even when someone isn't depressed.