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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

#531

Post by gaius »

rjromero wrote: post #345
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…

I'm curious, what is it in the human psyche that causes us to have such a desire to stay plugged in to social media? Especially when the content we go through usually only ends up white noise to us.

As mammals we are fundamentally social creatures, and if we can't socialize then we become anxious. It's built in - you need to be a part of the tribe/pack/village/whatever because over many years of evolution, going it alone wasn't a successful survival/reproductive strategy.

There are hacks to mitigate some of the negative effects, which pre-date FB et al. You might carry a photo of a loved one, and that's enough to trigger that part of your brain that craves contact. You might have a pet or a "companion animal" as they are called these days. Children (and some adults) have meta-pets - stuffed toy animals.

FB quite deliberately leverages these urges - it is designed to trigger all the fear-of-being-outside-the-tribe that evolution gave you. Why does it tell you that all your friends are at an event, say? To make you feel like you should have been paying more attention to FB so you could have gone too..

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

#532

Post by gaius »

heartbreak wrote: post #362
rjromero wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, what is it in the human psyche that causes us to have such a desire to stay plugged in to social media? Especially when the content we go through usually only ends up white noise to us.

Fear of missing out, or FoMO: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_missing_out

Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning_chamber

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

#533

Post by Noseshine »

forgetsusername wrote: post #529
Noseshine wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because a comment made on a public worldwide-readable forum is not private, and you know that before you sign up with an account, so it's not like you accidentally made a public comment that was meant to be private. Protecting private communication is about just that - stuff that actually is private (to begin with). Public opinion and the law may of course change, the issue that something uttered in public, be it by…

> Because a comment made on a public worldwide-readable forum is not private, and you know that before you sign up with an account, so it's not like you accidentally made a public comment that was meant to be private. Protecting private communication is about just that - stuff that actually is private (to begin with). That's an incredible strawman. Nothing you argue is a reason why we can't delete posts with our acco…

Your entire tone is completely out of place here, on many levels.

  > That's an incredible strawman
Merely yelling "strawman" whenever you don't like an argument doesn't mean it is one. Since I'm talking about the issue itself it can't be a "strawman".

  > Nothing you argue is a reason why we can't delete posts
I didn't argue "can't". You are inventing things. Sure it's possible. Did you read the previous comments of the conversation before commenting? I get the feeling you didn't.

  > depends where your values are: privacy or
I wrote about just that - I wonder which comment you read when you wrote that comment? You reply feels like you didn't bother reading what people incl. myself wrote, it's so disconnected. Not good.

Again: It is NOT a private post, it was posted on a PUBLIC forum, and pretty much guaranteed not by mistake! I wrote about that.

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

#534

Post by heyAaronHatch »

As someone who's quit social media several times, I can confidently say that my life is far better with it. Saying you never post and rarely look at it is like saying 30 years ago that you hardly ever call your friends and rarely pick up your phone because it's distracting and mentally damaging. And yes, I understand that it's a flawed analogy because social media updates are far more frequent than phone calls, but the analogy is still strong. We can make excuses for why all communication platforms are bad.

At the end of the day, you gotta do what you gotta do. If you have to avoid social media to stay mentally healthy and to get your work done, OK. If you can still do your work and remain mentally healthy while using social media, OK.

I don't see the point in using anecdotal evidence, limited research, and popular myths to prove that social media is bad or that we should delete it. If it doesn't work for you, stop. It's like telling the world that alcohol is bad and that we're better off not doing it because you have a problem with alcohol. I'm not here to defend alcohol. I am here to suggesting considering that alcohol isn't necessarily evil. And I'm also here to say the same about social media.

This idea that social media is inherently evil because of the psychological tactics used is academically interesting but practically just a way for you to get onto your soap box and sound profound. It might also be a way for you to rationalize your choice for having somewhat regretfully deleted your Facebook. I get it. I did that for a long time. I see now that my problems with social media were mostly my own issues; and I see now that I can maximize the benefit of social media without becoming mentally disturbed or financially ruined.

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

#535

Post by jimktrains2 »

mason240 wrote: post #523
jimktrains2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regardless of your privacy settings, it's public to the system. There have been reports of accounts that can see all accounts, and regardless, if Facebook decided to change their policy, things could become public with no input from you. You have no expectation of anything on Facebook not being public.

This is also true of email.

I never said it wasn't? Email often ends up passing through other servers you or your counterpart don't control.

You could in theory have it communicate directly with your counterpart's server over TLS, which would provide a good deal of privacy, but then you're trusting your counterpart's server. Given that most people aren't capable of running a mail server, it's not an ideal solution.

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

#536

Post by Angostura »

base698 wrote: post #201
veidr wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ballot is secret for precisely that reason — it's not possible to judge people based on their vote. But making public your support for Trump — or the KKK, or NAMBLA, or Hacker News — is a completely different thing. You can and should be judged on the basis of the ideas and opinions that you promote.

Speech and ideas of all colors need to flourish. That's how bad ideas get discussed and stamped out: think of natural selection. Right now we have a situation where groups are too afraid to discuss so these bad ideas fester in their own filter bubbles. On Liberty: Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with it ought not to medd…

Bad ideas get stamped out by people pointing out they are bad ideas. If a CEO supports a spectacularly bad idea, it is not a problem if someone gives him the boot.

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

#537

Post by Angostura »

eternalban wrote: post #125
ethanbond wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not really what he said. He said that a Trump victory makes some people fearful, and he wants a workplace that fosters the opposite of that, and that if you cannot foster an inclusive and diverse workplace that you are not welcome. I don't think what he did say was quite eloquent and it was clearly emotionally heated, but it didn't imply nor state that Trump voters are unwelcome.

What he said: http://media.grubhub.com/media/press-releases/press-release-... He very explicitly says that any employee that disagrees with his statement should resign and the "statement" included his political views. Will wearing a t-shirt with "I heart America" get you fired at GrubHub? It's on Matt's list of no-nos: nationalist.

> Will wearing a t-shirt with "I heart America" get you fired at GrubHub? It's on Matt's list of no-nos: nationalist.

Where does he say that?

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

#538

Post by Angostura »

FreezerburnV wrote: post #93
ethanbond wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not really what he said. He said that a Trump victory makes some people fearful, and he wants a workplace that fosters the opposite of that, and that if you cannot foster an inclusive and diverse workplace that you are not welcome. I don't think what he did say was quite eloquent and it was clearly emotionally heated, but it didn't imply nor state that Trump voters are unwelcome.

"... and these views, have no place at Grubhub. ... If you do not agree with this statement then please reply to this email with your resignation because you have no place here." Obviously only excerpts from the full email[0], but seems to contradict what you just said pretty heavily. If I was someone who voted for Trump that worked at Grubhub, I know that I would have been afraid for my job after that email. Possibl…

Oh, I love out of context quotes. Can I do one from the same e-email.

"the new administration deserves our open minds and a chance to lead... never stop believing that the fight for what's right is worth it"

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

#539

Post by Angostura »

dpweb wrote: post #111
TheGirondin wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- GrubHub CEO saying that anyone who voted for Trump is not welcome.

Appropriate to say that hateful comments are not welcome in the workplace. Not appropriate to bring politics into it with Trump. Employees should not be made to feel unwelcome because of their political affiliation. Quick example, as awful as sexual harrassment is - the code of conduct at your workplace - it doesn't say - Sexual harassment (like the kind Trump does) will not be tolerated. They manage to get a point a…

Is it fair to say that Trump had made hateful comments? If so - in what way is it unfair to bring Trump up on the day after the election?

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

#540

Post by djsumdog »

sotojuan wrote: post #180
erichocean wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No: all of those are "single use" items, i.e. you typically only consume them once. Games and social media, OTOH, are designed for continuous consumption without end. Here, "being addictive" is basically the only thing that matters (and in fact, is the only variable companies actually measure).

This is why I've stuck with single player games. Aside from a summer where I spent 12 hours a day on Counter Strike, I only play single player games enough to just finish the main story (don't care much about unlockables or anything crazy). I finish them and that's it!

I've never actually played an MMORPG. I avoided EverQuest in University when everyone was playing it. I never got into WoW (I did have a friend who lost his virginity to a girl he met on WoW so...I guess it helps some people).

I feel religiously opposed to them now when I see how involved people get into those games. I'm all okay with Quake/CounterStrike/Left4Dead type games where you shoot-em-up with a team for a bit and then it's over. Those are good breaks when you've been on a project for hours.

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