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Social Media Is the New Smoking

theroamingmind.com

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Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#71

Post by olleromam91 »

voidifremoved wrote: post #24

I broke my phone about a year ago, and it took a few days to sort out a replacement. In that time I went through exactly the same process I did when I quit smoking. I became aware suddenly of all the time, all the gaps, all the moments that I had filled with a quick look at my phone. And once it passed - elation, freedom, seeing the world with open eyes and a clear head. I was sad when my new phone arrived, and looki…

I was hospitalized for a few days and didn't have access to my cell phone. When I was discharged and handed my phone...I didn't even want to turn it on. Never gone back to that impulsive behavior since.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#72

Post by Nightshaxx »

I think that the basic idea of the article is frighteningly true; social media is becoming that thing I use when I feel sick, bored, or just want to escape reality.

The problem is smoking feels the same wiether 1 person is doing it or 1 million people do it; social media only really works when everyone you know does it. This makes it even scarier when you realize this will make it exponentially harder for we as a society to make a decent dent in social media: if your high depends on others, you might pressure others into sustaining your high.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#73

Post by hiq »

xrange wrote: post #47
Mc_Big_G wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally get it but, and I had this mild disagreement with my wife recently, what if I'm on duolingo learning Spanish? What if I'm checking my investments or making a trade? What if I'm texting with a friend who just lost a loved one? You can't make assumptions about what people are doing on their phones all the time. I spend too much time on my phone, but a lot of it is useful and productive. With that said, I'm fi…

>what if I'm on duolingo learning Spanish? What if I'm checking my investments or making a trade? ...ah, the Paul Erdos defense: http://amphetamines.com/paul-erdos.html > I spend too much time on my phone, but a lot of it is useful and productive. Looks like we might need to an another item to the list: http://www.magicmgmt.com/magic/abuse-excuse/

I'm all for raising the awareness about how dangerous any addiction can be, but comparing amphetamines and alcohol to using a smartphone is a bit far-fetched.

There are many things you can do with a smartphone, many uses are bad, but some are good. I'm in the same case as the post you replied to. I use my smartphone to review flashcards and read books when I commute, and I don't see any better way to use my time.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#74

Post by yomly »

thesuitonym wrote: post #56

I don't know about you, but I don't find that I'm missing out on anything by pulling my phone out when I'm waiting for my car to warm up. I don't think I'm wasting time because when I start getting bored with a movie that I'm watching, I pull out my phone and check my messages. I don't miss the ten minutes of watching the news before leaving for work that has been replaced with ten minutes of Facebook. Maybe reading…

I don't think your experiences are reflective of the masses.

I lack citations but here are some observations that I hope are recognised enough to be apparent.

People often find themselves unintentionally browsing Facebook mindlessly.

People also get addicted to the chase of social validation via likes.

People have been shown to be exhibit social anxiety caused by others' lives appearing to be more glamourous than their own thanks to cherry picking and smart photo taking.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#75

Post by aphextron »

thesuitonym wrote: post #56

I don't know about you, but I don't find that I'm missing out on anything by pulling my phone out when I'm waiting for my car to warm up. I don't think I'm wasting time because when I start getting bored with a movie that I'm watching, I pull out my phone and check my messages. I don't miss the ten minutes of watching the news before leaving for work that has been replaced with ten minutes of Facebook. Maybe reading…

>Again, I want to stress that I'm not saying we shouldn't look into the negative effects of social media. We certainly should. But we also shouldn't assume these things are bad because people with poor impulse control are ruining their lives.

The problem is not so much with the addiction to social media itself. There are certainly people who overdo it, but I don't think anyone is arguing that time wasted on Facebook is somehow the downfall of civilization. The real sinister part is the subtle ways in which social media affects your behavior and thoughts when you're not using it.

These 'news feeds' have become people's reality. There is no more critical thought or exploration of a priori ideas for most people. Their world is defined by the 'news' and other information fed to them by algorithms. It narrows your view of reality to a strictly defined set of terms that are easily digestible and form a coherent narrative; the exact opposite of what life really is.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#76

Post by toomanybeersies »

ImaCake wrote: post #58
thinbeige wrote: post #4

I remember one vacation which was the first after many years: I was lying at the beach enjoying the view. I was so happy that I could afford some vacation after years of suffering and watching millions of vaction pictures from my friends on Facebook. Avid for revenge, I took a picture of the stunning beach view and wrote in big letters 'MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS'. At that moment I realized what Facebook is about (…

This is why my facebook is entirely memes. I'd much rather look at lame captions poorly matched with cute cat and dog pictures, than see yet another 'My life is better' post.

I think it's how you look at it.

I look at pictures of my friends doing cool things as inspiration to keep doing cool things. Not in a competitive sense, but seeing my friends having a great time inspires me to keep traveling and keep doing interesting things.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#77

Post by rwcarlsen »

thesuitonym wrote: post #56

I don't know about you, but I don't find that I'm missing out on anything by pulling my phone out when I'm waiting for my car to warm up. I don't think I'm wasting time because when I start getting bored with a movie that I'm watching, I pull out my phone and check my messages. I don't miss the ten minutes of watching the news before leaving for work that has been replaced with ten minutes of Facebook. Maybe reading…

Filling the empty space doesn't seem bad at first. Except you miss out on time to just think. Time in the shower just standing there doing nothing but thinking in the water is some of my favorite time. Always needing to be consuming something that is short-term satisfying is likely to lead to difficulty having the patience for longer-term ideas/thoughts. Side effects can include increased general anxiety and missing out on conversations/connections with people around you among other things. Eventually, the habits can take up more than your empty/down time and start eating away at time you should/want to spend doing other things like playing with your kids, etc. It's a slow process that is hard to detect until you arrive at a place you're rather dissatisfied with. It happened to me.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#78

Post by aphextron »

whowouldathunk wrote: post #65
thesuitonym wrote: post #56

I don't know about you, but I don't find that I'm missing out on anything by pulling my phone out when I'm waiting for my car to warm up. I don't think I'm wasting time because when I start getting bored with a movie that I'm watching, I pull out my phone and check my messages. I don't miss the ten minutes of watching the news before leaving for work that has been replaced with ten minutes of Facebook. Maybe reading…

That sounds like addiction to me. A lack of stimulation causing restlessness. Counseling and meditation help me with this, but it's on ongoing struggle.

Here's an incredible (science based) talk about re-framing addiction as a type of 'accelerated deep learning', not a brain disease. This has been helping me a lot lately.

One of my favorite takeaways: "...[the addiction model] along with organizations like AA have people spending their lives thinking that their addiction is outside in the parking lot doing pushups and running laps getting ready to kick their ass.". His point essentially being that addiction is nothing but a learned behavior which can be suppressed and unlearned, but the disease model leaves people feeling helpless to their biology and genetics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOSD9rTVuWc

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#79

Post by jimbokun »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #76
ImaCake wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why my facebook is entirely memes. I'd much rather look at lame captions poorly matched with cute cat and dog pictures, than see yet another 'My life is better' post.

I think it's how you look at it. I look at pictures of my friends doing cool things as inspiration to keep doing cool things. Not in a competitive sense, but seeing my friends having a great time inspires me to keep traveling and keep doing interesting things.

Unless you don't have the money to do those things.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#80

Post by godot »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #76
ImaCake wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why my facebook is entirely memes. I'd much rather look at lame captions poorly matched with cute cat and dog pictures, than see yet another 'My life is better' post.

I think it's how you look at it. I look at pictures of my friends doing cool things as inspiration to keep doing cool things. Not in a competitive sense, but seeing my friends having a great time inspires me to keep traveling and keep doing interesting things.

This is also exactly my view about Facebook usage. I think it's a good, healthy use case of it, especially for people with means to (which you and I appear to be).

I think the general negative view is because people without the means (for example, money, to travel, for variety of reasons), simply become more miserable as they watch friends travel on FB.

It's probably a more complicated sociological topic. Many would like to paint it just black or white though.

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