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Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

nytimes.com

21–30 of 228 posts

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#21

It's interesting how the vast majority of responses to this post are from people who have either left facebook entirely, or severely crippled it. Are the majority of HN folks off facebook, or is it just the vocal ones?

I posted a poll to Facebook asking how many of my friends had deleted Facebook; apparently not a single person has deleted it.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#22
Contrary to every comment so far, after I stopped using FB for some time, I've now started to use it again. It is not that I care much about what dinner some random friend is having, but I've started to use it to publish some photos that I take with my smartphone.

I don't care much about the upvotes, but as I do a lot of walking on the mountains around my house, I now have a kind of a motivation to snap a photo, add some effects or change the colors a bit (on the phone itself) and publish.. :)

Oh, and there's someone I follow who posts a lot of beautiful places on my country, places I eventually would like to go..

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#23

It's interesting how the vast majority of responses to this post are from people who have either left facebook entirely, or severely crippled it. Are the majority of HN folks off facebook, or is it just the vocal ones?

Just vocal ones. Not being on Facebook is met with bewilderment usually, so online its easier to find other people that are relatable by speaking up. Many people that are tied to Facebook share the same woes and may be looking for more inspiration about how to simply live without Facebook.

So there's simply value in saying that you aren't on it, when these kind of threads or sound boxes pop up.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#24

I did leave FB for awhile. But I realized that there are groups on Facebook that I do find interesting. I do get the occasional event invite on FB, sometimes personal, sometimes even work related. And, there are some people I enjoy communicating with, on Facebook. But, I really don't have much interest in what most of my friends post. Luckily, it's easy to just "unfollow" them to declutter my feed. They are still on…

Maybe a groups and events app would have a lot of utility.

They could probably bake it into messenger.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#25
post #10
post #3

I'm not sure where I read this suggestion, but a couple of months ago I unfollowed everyone on FB. Now my newsfeed is basically empty - and my Facebook experience is much improved. I highly recommend it.

What is your Facebook experience now? Just Messenger?

I did the same thing. Still have Messenger, but without push notifications.

It works beautifully. The immediate FOMO fades quickly.

Nothing of value is lost. Real friends and important info finds a way to get through.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#27
I've ended up just moving the messenger into a fluid (osx) window on my status bar and not having the site in my browser all the time has helped a lot.

Being able to pop down just the messages with a click and back off straight after means I'm only going to the site every other day to check the notifications for a few minutes.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#28
post #6

Outside of Silicon Valley, people are marginally bewildered when you tell them you don't have Facebook. Inside Silicon Valley you'll quite often run into someone that works at Facebook and they'll switch to a psych analysis algorithm to understand how their service is not catering to you, while trying to mask their offense. It must be good because of the daily active user number! Yeah well Tobacco has a high DAU too.

I remember a professor who equated smartphone use with smoking, he told people to go outside with the smokers if they wanted to use their smartphones/Facebook.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#29

Contrary to every comment so far, after I stopped using FB for some time, I've now started to use it again. It is not that I care much about what dinner some random friend is having, but I've started to use it to publish some photos that I take with my smartphone. I don't care much about the upvotes, but as I do a lot of walking on the mountains around my house, I now have a kind of a motivation to snap a photo, add…

Instagram might be a better fit though?

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#30

It's interesting how the vast majority of responses to this post are from people who have either left facebook entirely, or severely crippled it. Are the majority of HN folks off facebook, or is it just the vocal ones?

Probably just vocal ones - I still use it, but I have a pretty healthy relationship with it, and the internet in general from having had to keep away from it while in Marine Corps training, and actively challenging myself to refrain from logging in for a period of time as an exercise in self-control.

I will casually browse it now and then to keep up with how friends are doing. I pay attention to some FB groups and post there sometimes, but they are groups on things I am interested in. I'll post one update every few days so people know what's going on in my world. Most of my time with FB is spent on Messenger though, as friends and I chat and organize get togethers there. FB is really convenient in this regard since there's less friction with being FB friends than there is with asking for someone's number.

I don't worry about having to always check the internet though - if I'm busy doing something, the internet can wait.

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