[HN Gopher] Should you delete social media? That's the wrong que...
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Should you delete social media? That's the wrong question.
Author : digitalminimal
Score : 23 points
Date : 2021-09-08 20:30 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (mehretbiruk.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (mehretbiruk.com)
| cblconfederate wrote:
| You dont quit an addiction, you replace it with something else.
|
| But social media is different. It's a reality show in which you
| re the unpaid actor, a replaceable lab rat. If you feel that,
| living your whole life oblivious under a painted dome (like in
| the Truman Show) by getting rewarded with likes is an OK life,
| then maybe you should grow up. In the end, Truman chose to get
| out.
| commandlinefan wrote:
| We replaced TV with social media. I still believe this was
| progress.
| 0des wrote:
| I was impressed recently, while waiting for DuoLingo to load. The
| load screen asked "What can 15 minutes of social media do for
| you?".
|
| Oddly poignant.
| kayodelycaon wrote:
| What is "social media" in this context?
|
| I'm barely on any "social" websites other than HN. Getting off
| Twitter was great. But almost all my friends are on Telegram.
| They are all over the world and many I've known for years. The
| heat death of the universe is going to happen sooner than me
| giving up instant messaging.
|
| I feel like some of these articles need context or the author has
| completely different circumstances than I do.
| lolpython wrote:
| Thanks, I needed this.
| jrochkind1 wrote:
| most of this applies to any other addiction too...
| Thorentis wrote:
| The alternatives only suck because we've been made lazy by the
| seeming ease with which social media facilitates human contact
| and interaction. Yes, you absolutely should delete social media,
| and yes, making an effort with people will feel like hard work.
| But it will be worth it.
|
| I personally think sites like HN and Reddit are better forms of
| social media because they don't necessarily try to replace the
| contact you should have with friends and family. If I interacted
| with friends on Facebook, I felt like I'd already done enough
| with/for them, and left it at that. Without it, I make more of an
| effort to stay in touch. But at least on HN, this isn't a
| replacement for my friend circle, it's just more of an interest
| group that provides some interesting reading and conversations.
| jjcon wrote:
| > they don't necessarily try to replace the contact you should
| have with friends and family
|
| They may not aim to replace those interactions but they
| definately eat in to what would otherwise be friend or family
| time for a lot of people. I personally find reddit too negative
| for my taste but HN strikes a good balance, on the whole I
| would probably be better off if i limited my time here.
| droptablemain wrote:
| As someone who quit social media a couple of years ago, I would
| say, yes, you should quit social media (regardless of whether
| that's the question). It is wonderful for one's mental health.
|
| It's true that you will lose a lot of connections, but you will
| manage to stay in touch with the people that matter.
| swader999 wrote:
| I think its great that you did this and realized some benefit
| but isn't HN social media?
| droptablemain wrote:
| I wouldn't consider HN social media, but instead a news
| aggregator with a robust comment section. These things
| existed long before the emergence of social-media networks.
|
| Who am I? Who are you? We don't know. There are no friends,
| connections, or personal details shared. Interactions are
| fleeting and temporary.
| swader999 wrote:
| There's still the notion of karma points but if it doesn't
| suck you in then that's ok.
| corty wrote:
| Reading and writing HN comments can suck as much time as
| social media. I'd say if it sucks too much time for your
| taste, quit. If it doesn't, good for you.
| yesenadam wrote:
| And..having friends on here would be somehow bad?..
|
| I like Clay Shirky's definition of social media, (something
| like) a website where the users create the content, where
| the thing wouldn't exist in the same way without the users.
| But the definition of the word doesn't really matter, I
| guess. I'm just not sure why not having friends here makes
| it "ok", and why if you made friends here you'd have to
| quit because of your policy/your identity as "someone who
| quit social media years ago".
| droptablemain wrote:
| Irrelevant definitions aside -- I think everyone can
| agree there is a dramatic difference between a website
| like Facebook and a website like HN.
|
| The vast majority of the negative psychological triggers,
| for example, associated with a platform like Facebook,
| are missing from HN.
| cryptoz wrote:
| For what it's worth, my experience is the opposite. The
| vast majority of negative psychological triggers I see in
| my online life are on HN, not facebook or twitter or
| reddit.
|
| > I think everyone can agree there is a dramatic
| difference between a website like Facebook and a website
| like HN
|
| No we cannot all agree on that! For one I completely
| disagree. Also I 100% consider HN social media. It checks
| all the boxes the way I see it.
| yesenadam wrote:
| Well, I'm not the vast majority hehe. On FB I just chat
| with my friends around the world and sometimes while
| doing that, look at their pictures of what they've been
| up to. It's so nice. My friends are amazing. I've no idea
| why everyone acts like you are forced to look at your
| "news feed" on FB or see ads.
|
| On here, it's all-too-frequent crazy/nasty/snarky/jerk
| comments. Yes, _negative psychological triggers_ is a
| good way of putting it! Like the other day[0] I found the
| people from the US claiming Australians wouldn 't have to
| put up with the lockdown if we only had guns, really
| disturbing. Then yesterday, the guy who's surprised when
| people move to Australia, because the people there are ok
| with censorship[1]. When I discovered !!Con after being
| on HN a lot it was like "OMG, there are places where
| programmers congregate and it's actually fun, joyous,
| positive and supportive!" haha.
|
| [0] For reference. Actually reading all these comments is
| not recommended. What a shitfight.
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28451066
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28452423
| benjaminwootton wrote:
| I'm the same.
|
| I left Twitter and LinkedIn this year which were my main vices.
| Probably 70k reasonably organic connections down the drain.
|
| However, I feel much happier and relaxed and have better
| relationships online and offline with a smaller group of
| people.
|
| Would definetly recommend binning social media. It's a toxic
| time sink.
| neonnoodle wrote:
| I appreciate this essay and I think your observation is true,
| broadly speaking. However one thing I find consistently lacking
| from the "digital minimalism" space is recognition of the things
| that social media has eliminated or made harder. The pandemic has
| compounded this problem. It's not just that using social media
| for relationships is individually easier--it's that the network
| effects eventually make it so that social infrastructure moves
| online and eliminates non-digital avenues for community. The
| logistics of IRL meetups are an enormous hurdle compared to
| instantaneous online communication, so people just...stop doing
| IRL events. My friends and family lead busy lives and rely on
| social media to maintain relationships because the alternative
| social infrastructure simply _does not exist_. It's like car
| ownership--more cars makes city planning revolve around cars,
| undermines the critical mass for public transit, and makes
| everything that ISN'T car-based more difficult. It's not just a
| matter of personal choice at that point, but of commons.
| asdff wrote:
| I really don't think this is true anymore at least in my
| generation. I'm in my late 20s and my family and friends really
| don't seem to post much content anymore on social media after
| graduating college. It's pretty much for consumption of memes
| and other internet content and could be cut out easily since
| its a time sink, vs years ago when people were much more active
| and no one ever followed commercial accounts or people they
| didn't personally know. These days I just call and text people,
| way less friction and I have everyone's number I care about.
| mr_cyborg wrote:
| I would say this is largely true for myself and my peers, but
| to older relatives Facebook is conflated with real life and
| actually keeping in touch.
| prophesi wrote:
| I'm also in my late 20's, and my core friend group still
| coordinates via Messenger and FB Events. Much easier to send
| a mass invite, including people you aren't too close to, when
| IRL meetups finally do occur. Not to mention the event
| reminders, and timeline cards that say x is attending y this
| Saturday for the network effect to do its thing.
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(page generated 2021-09-08 23:00 UTC)