Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff deleted his Facebook account because it was getting 'overwhelming'
They feel pressure to interact with their friends and colleagues on multiple social networks, from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep. Everybody's tweeting and posting at all hours of the day, and our phones are constantly sending us notifications to stay in touch.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has had enough.
"I deleted my Facebook account completely. I found it was just overwhelming me," he told me in an interview for the Business Insider Creators series.
Benioff is over 50, and I'm in my 40s, so you might think this is just a symptom of aging. But the problem of internet burnout affects younger people as well.
Benioff cited a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which concluded that "excessive internet use can ultimately lead to depression" and school burnout among teenagers.
Anecdotally, I've heard a couple teenagers say they eventually left Instagram because they felt so much pressure for other people to like their photos. They couldn't handle it when they posted something and got no comments. These teens have mostly moved to Snapchat, which feels more casual (and has no "likes"), or VSCO, which offers photo filters and sharing without the social pressure.
As for Benioff, he's cut way back in general.
"I'm only on Twitter, I'm on SalesforceOne, which is my internal one for work, I'm on email, and that's it. And I'm limited to that," Benioff said. "I'm trying not to take on more stuff. I was with a friend this weekend, he's got his Twitter, his Facebook, he has his Snapchat, he's got all these - too much."