The Borg analogy is apt! Using social media we become the cog or product in the social media machine. We generate advertising revenue such that Zuckerberg can buy another mansion.
A few days ago the local police department called me. A friend of mine listed me as a character reference; he wanted to get a job with them. The officer questioned me at length about my friend; I think it went well. During the questionnaire the officer asked me about social media. HR departments routinely screen applicants regarding social media.
A smaller digital footprint is a good idea these days in my opinion.

No FB, Alexa, Skype ... just Google Meet, Gmail - one big bad spy is enough.

Absolutely! We regularly embrace and tolerate our Google overlords. If we own a cellphone we're being tracked. Subtracting social media is one less entity tracking us.

If I could live without my phone I would. Not because of tracking, don't care. The phone is practically a leash. I leave it on silent most of the time.

Agreed! My phone is a lot quieter now that FB and Messenger are gone.

Other than message boards like this one, I don't do any social media other than YouTube. All trackers are either disabled or kept separate. My Smart TV has no camera and connects only through a wired connection. My smartphone, which I'm forced to have and use for Two Party Authentication, runs a de-Googled OpSys which defeats telemetry. The only account associated with my phone is the phone service. I never use the phone for web work to minimize any cross-referencing though I suspect that won't long continue to be enough. So far though, it seems successful since "the right hand" doesn't appear to know what "the left hand" is doing. I do recognize that likely won't last unless some very dramatic legislation occurs.

I'm certainly "free," because I never wasted my time on it, and I never will.

(I don't have a television in my house, either ... haven't had one for thirty years. Seriously.)

Even in the nascent "IRC" days, I was never a "chatter." But I participated avidly in "forums" such as this one, and in Usenet newsgroups. Because they were purposeful, and in the case of forums, threaded. I participated because they served an immediate and vital purpose for me – still do! – and in return I "gave back."

Without being cynical nor trite, I think that I understood part of what Dr. Richard Feynman (RIP ...) meant when he said, in a book title, "What do you care what other people think?" If there's nothing directly in it for you, why waste time with it? Do you go to a bar to have a few relaxing drinks, or do you do so in order to get into pointless arguments with drunks? ("But, hey ... it's entirely up to you!")

I participate where I do because there is "something directly in it for me" ... in addition to a few other purely-social indulgences also practiced here. Whenever I need an answer, I need that answer "NOW!" and from a trustworthy source. Well, I have learned where to get it. (Thanks, everybody ...)

Smart decision. Going forward I will be following a similar path.

Smart move. I think in the years to come science will pay more attention to social media addiction. Social media is very harmful.

"Social scientists" are certainly already paying attention to this recent and totally-disruptive "social phenomenon." Future-historians are as busy as they could be, because "history" is now happening in real time ... and it is something that has never before(!!) existed. ("May you live in in interesting times ...")

Naturally, "human beings are very social." But, frankly, to those who seek to exploit this predisposition, they often turn out to be "very gullible." There is plenty of evidence that "individual" human beings are in fact herd creatures. If you gather just a few of them together, their instincts are to "appoint a leader and then follow the crowd." They are from this point very unlikely to "think independently," unless jarred from their position. In fact, we notice "herd influences" which appear to suppress the very idea of doing so. (And, arguably, this might well have been a survival pressure, at the time: "yes, the herd consensus is that it really is a hungry tiger, and if you differ from that you just might get all of us eaten ...")

And: let me now interject that I do not consider the above statement (e.g. "gullible") to be "negative," nor "pejorative." These instincts are based on reality – who knows how "ancient" they might be – and they are fundamental to practical human society. But, as we have now very plainly seen on many levels, they can be exploited. By people who usually amass "gadzillions of dollars" by doing so. (And, who might well be described [IMHO ...] as "psychopaths.")

On the one hand, "I opted out" of both social-media and television, yet certainly not "internet forums." However, I am in the tiny minority. I recognize this. (And I'm not telling you to burn your television and to fill most of the walls of your home with bookshelves. "To thine own self be true.")

An interesting article about how and why FaceBook is addictive. It gives a small amount of pleasure and it also makes you anxious if you stray away. What am I missing?

It’s no accident that Facebook is so addictive

Mine sometimes get hot for no reason. So I don't carry it around with me, I worry about my health.

There may be a reason why your phone is over heating. I suggest that you go into preferences and or settings and see what programs are running in the background. Social media apps can use a lot of RAM. When I was a social media user I suspect that the apps were spying on me.

I have a friend who lets her iPhone track and count her steps for "health reasons". Apple always know exactly where she is and how she got there. When I expressed my dismay, she didn't understand why I felt that way.

No, mine is a 'handed me down' from my daughter (or should I say "up" ). I use it just to make calls, and sometimes navigate. I don't even touch wifi.

Yes - I heard people sleep with theirs, this scare me to death.

10 000 steps a day ?