Saying no to Facebook: Uncovering motivations to resist or reject social media platforms

Abstract

Literature on people’s motivations for using social network sites is plentiful, yet articles on people’s intrinsic motivations for resisting or rejecting them are scarce. This article explores people’s motivations for nonuse. A survey was carried out among 210 Facebook nonusers (113 resisters and 97 rejecters) between 18 and 35years of age. Exploratory factor analysis of the survey data indicated that their motivations for nonuse can be grouped into five categories: platform specific issues, disinterest, time management issues, privacy issues, and social pressure. Overall, resisters were found to be sturdier in their (negative) beliefs than rejecters.