time to say goodbye to strava?

I deleted all my friends blocked everyone and occasionally go on there to see my mileage etc. i was the same, i was kinda getting addicted and one day realized how dumb it was, respective runs vs the same ole ppl and racing college kids, pointless, happy that i broke the habit. I have 0 social media.

GettingFasterDude wrote:

I like Strava, but I rank it pretty low on addictive potential as far as social media goes. I check it now and again, but not in an extreme way. Other things tend to pull me in, more than Strava.

Watch the Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma. It goes into detail how social media companies literally sit around tables at meetings discussing how to get us addicted to their platforms. So, if you're addicted, then it's working the way it's developers had hoped it would. That's good for them, maybe not so much, for you. On the other hand, if you enjoy it and it's not negatively affecting your life, then, go with it, and don't feel bad about it.

That makes sense with FB. The algorithm shows me the same content from the same friends and I get the same likes from the same people.

i use it to track my progress, rarely check on anyone or follow anyone, I know myself with alcohol and I know myself with Strava.....

Love strava. I really don't understand the hate it gets around here. I like to compare the data between it and my garmin connect app.

I like Strava as well but don't use it for the social media, I only use it as a training log. I am looking for alternatives however since Strava is next to useless for treadmill runs imported from Garmin.

Fitotrack on Android.

I think strava is great! Love it, it helps my motivation. I only have one rule: I only open it after a workout, to see my own workout and give kudos to my friends 😊

lol i like how this is phrased as a question.

pretty much every phone app is a total waste of time .

were you really not aware of this?

I love the app as a tool. My Running club is on there and seeing what people I run with twice a week are doing mileage/workout wise has been a great motivator for me. If you use it too much, just use it less and you will be fine. Same approach I took with drinking, I enjoy whiskey and could easily have a drink or two every night but I enjoy it too much to risk loosing it forever so I have maybe two a weekend until i get up over 45mpw that is when I essentially stop drinking until after a taper period.

It's the best social media app by a long way. No adverts, no data harvesting to rig elections, no pervs or paedos, and best of all - nobody who isn't on your follow list appears in your feed.

I only follow clubmates and friends. With friends they're usually amateurs so it's lovely to see them improving and feeling great about themselves. With clubmates it's ace to see them smashing sessions and rounding into shape ahead of the next Prem / Met League / SAL etc.

It is what you make of it - something that can't be said of Facey B, Twitter, Insta etc

Jake S wrote:

It's the best social media app by a long way. No adverts, no data harvesting to rig elections,

I didn't realize the paid version had no ads. The ads are pretty annoying.

Jake S wrote:

It is what you make of it - something that can't be said of Facey B, Twitter, Insta etc

People call it Facey B? Facebook is easier to say and type.

sttrunner20 wrote:

damn I'm so addicted to this app. I barely used it until this summer and now I'm like opening the app 62 times/day.

I've got to imagine you'll get bored and stop. I have an extremely addictive personality and I only check it once or so week.

Hey! I was just like you throughout college and it didn't help me improve because I was so worried about others rather than myself. Enjoy running and just post on Strava, let the likes come in but don't worry about others' statistics. Take an entire break from posting to be honest before you dig yourself in a bigger hole mentally.

I just bought a new watch COROS Pace 2 (highly recommend) and that's where I view most of my stats because it outweighs Strava by far. Enjoy training and build your mental strength!

I like Strava but sometimes it's toxic in terms of not getting enough likes/comments. I have to remind myself Strava and comparison to others is not representative of how good/bad of a runner I am. The faster runners don't necessarily have the most likes on insta or kudos on Strava. I'm not fast but I'm not super-slow either (1:28 half).

However, in the running community if you don't know a lot of people you won't get a ton of followers. At least where I live (a big city in the US) all the runners with the main fleet feet/heartbreak hill/second sole/whatever chain store groups have been doing this for years and I'm relatively new. So they are all best buds with each other on social media and IRL (many of them bar hop together, a bit are younger than me too) and it's hard to make headway if you are the new guy/gal.

It's possible to just use it as a training log and have no followers, setting things to private, etc.

I think a good 50% of strava users see it as a vanity tool. For example, on my feed someone has pictures of them on holiday in Dubai, not running, but doing yoga poses with some additional pictures of her cocktail and lunch.

There's also undoubtedly a competitive undertone to strava and selective kudos is frequent.

The only way around all of this is to go private or limit the followers to a select few.