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Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

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Re: Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

#81

Post by brightball »

philipodonnell wrote: post #61
jdietrich wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I agree with the sentiment elsewhere in these comments that the solution isn't to completely delete your accounts (I think they can have some value when used in moderation) If social media really is addictive, then moderation might not work. Most alcoholics aren't capable of having just one drink, most smokers aren't capable of having just one cigarette. Absolute prohibitions are cognitively much easier than moderat…

You may find this article interesting that criticizes the abstinence-based approach of Alcoholics Anonymous. Research has shown that cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing and medication to control withdrawal symptoms is more effective for a large population than absolute prohibition. In fact, I wonder if there are medications that address withdrawal symptoms from social media? https://www.google.com…

I'd have to wonder how medication plus prohibition would work. AA is more than simple prohibition though. It's a program to help people come to grips with the negative impact addiction has had on their lives while helping them to work to clean up the mistakes. I think it's harder to measure the impact vs sheer statistics because people often talk about hitting rock bottom before they go to AA. Rock bottom usually means your life is at a point where it's broken, you are broken, relationships are broken and you feel like you can't ever be forgiven for what you've done.

AA helps you rebuild your life. It's a whole lot more than just coping with addiction.

At some point over the last couple of years AA started coming under attack for some inexplicable reason. There's a lot more to it than just statistics.

Re: Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

#82

Post by thro32 »

evgen wrote: post #57
thro32 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public vs private is irrelevant. There are just bigots who can not tolerate different opinions.

> There are just bigots who can not tolerate different opinions. Nor are they obligated to. To paraphrase, I may defend your right to speak your opinion but I am not required to be your friend or to spare you from any social consequences of your speech. Make no mistake, there has never been a time when unpopular speech did not have consequences for the speaker and if this bothers you then feel free to exercise your r…

Is "lynch mob" and "getting fired" covered under "social consequences" or under "defend your right to speak"?

Re: Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

#83

Post by [deleted] »

evgen wrote: post #57
thro32 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public vs private is irrelevant. There are just bigots who can not tolerate different opinions.

> There are just bigots who can not tolerate different opinions. Nor are they obligated to. To paraphrase, I may defend your right to speak your opinion but I am not required to be your friend or to spare you from any social consequences of your speech. Make no mistake, there has never been a time when unpopular speech did not have consequences for the speaker and if this bothers you then feel free to exercise your r…

[deleted]

Re: Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

#85

Post by ethanbond »

thro32 wrote: post #51
throwaway-hn123 wrote: post #38

So if your co-worker believes that, for example, black people and gays are subhuman and expresses that view you think that's ok and we should all just put up with it?

Yes, it is free country. Big part of HN believe that black people, gays and even women are "subhuman" who need special help and special protection.

Eh no. They think there's a long, well documented history of abuses against those people and acknowledge that those abuses didn't just fade away — stopping them has taken and will continue to take conscious directed effort against perpetrators of abuse.

The crux of the problem is what it takes to become a "perpetrator of abuse," and we must all be cautious of expanding that group too aggressively.

Re: Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

#86

Post by cuantos »

More importantly social media is bad for your mental health. It hits the brain in many of the same ways as the 'news' and those intentionally boring phone games. It causes dopamine dysregulation which leads to a dependency. Consider the anxiety you feel if you need to go to the bathroom and cannot find your phone. This dopamine dysregulation destroys your mood and motivation.

Being social is a good thing. However companies have figured out they need addictive properties in order to be successful. I previously worked on optimizing companies for user engagement and the addictive properties naturally fall out of the process. If social media satiates your desires you will actually use them less. Think about it; why are your keys always in the last place you look? Because once you find them you stop looking. If you want to keep people on your site you hide their keys. People love a challenge and will be even happier when they find them.

It's particularly bad with modern (low information) news media. I'm a compulsive news junkie* so I have to avoid the news in order to get anything done. I quit facebook and google over their insistence on pushing 'news'. It's junk food for the brain. It's low information and only gives an illusion of being informed. E.g. the recent election.

* Note: I consider HN to be social 'media' news and I am aware that I'm here 'chipping'. I do so intentionally in effort to avoid fettishising vices. Plus HN is as close as I get to an online group of peers. I only use HN after self-flagellating while repeatedly muttering "the flesh is weak".

Re: Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

#87

Post by amelius »

hashtagMERKY wrote: post #31

This part really resonated with me: > Consider that the ability to concentrate without distraction on hard tasks is becoming increasingly valuable in an increasingly complicated economy. Social media weakens this skill because it’s engineered to be addictive. The more you use social media in the way it’s designed to be used — persistently throughout your waking hours — the more your brain learns to crave a quick hit…

Yes. If somebody would have told us 20 years ago that we would all have a TV-set on our office desks today, we wouldn't have believed them. But the reality is that we indeed have a good equivalent of it, and with highly addictive content.

Re: Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

#88

Post by cousin_it »

throwaway-hn123 wrote: post #38

So if your co-worker believes that, for example, black people and gays are subhuman and expresses that view you think that's ok and we should all just put up with it?

If you want to endorse firing people for their online views, next time don't use a throwaway.

Re: Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

#89

Post by ethanbond »

maxt wrote: post #74

This article assumes we are at the whim of social when infact many people have tamed social and, for lack of better phrasing, made social their bitch. Read The Distraction Addiction: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16131064-the-distraction...

That seems like an incredibly overconfident attitude. I actually can't name a single person who uses social media in a highly productive way. Like what is even considered productive on social media? I don't mean just workplace productivity, but even conducive to personal growth or producing more empathy or more understanding of the world or deeper friendships etc.

That shit doesn't happen in Facebook.

Re: Quit Social Media, Your Career May Depend on It

#90

Post by tcrews »

naiyt wrote: post #56

Have there been any studies done that link social media and a decreased attention span?

If MS' ad division is admitting this publicly and saying advertisers should prepare for it [0], you can be sure it's something.

0 - https://advertising.microsoft.com/en/WWDocs/User/display/cl/...

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