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Why our outdated brains are making us unhappy

medium.com

11–20 of 94 posts

Re: Why our outdated brains are making us unhappy

#11
post #8

To be honest I found instagram much more real than other social media platforms. Especially the story modus seems to make people more open to show their real emotions even when they are unhappy.

The only thing Instagram is good for at this point, is marketing your business.

Re: Why our outdated brains are making us unhappy

#12

> Today, we live in a completely different world as our ancestors. Yet, our biology is still exactly the same. Is that really true? I've heard this kind of argument so many times that it seems right, but I've rarely seen any scientific evidence to back it up. Surely our bodies have evolved in some subtle and diverse ways over many thousands of generations?

Our ancestors couldn't digest cow milk as adults. We've only had farming for around 10,000 years, but people in regions that practiced dairy farming have already developed lactose tolerance.

Re: Why our outdated brains are making us unhappy

#13

What I've noticed is that Instagrams recommendation algorithms are creepily accurate. If you like browsing pictures of butts you'll get lots of butts and of the exact kind that you'd like. I'm not sure how they do it. I don't even post on Instagram. And yet I'm addicted now to the Explore tab. They've genuinely managed to build something addictive in a way that other networks are not. Also Instagram is completely san…

Oh woah, definitely not sanitized of politics. Probably because I follow some politicians, I get recommendations for these crazy, aggressive political meme pages. I see some very very hot button stuff on my feed.

Count yourself lucky that Instagram looks politically sanitized!

Re: Why our outdated brains are making us unhappy

#14

> Today, we live in a completely different world as our ancestors. Yet, our biology is still exactly the same. Is that really true? I've heard this kind of argument so many times that it seems right, but I've rarely seen any scientific evidence to back it up. Surely our bodies have evolved in some subtle and diverse ways over many thousands of generations?

While not conclusive, I think the easiest way to reason this is that evolution needs a much longer timespan than a few thousand years, assuming ancestors means sometime after "civilizations" started

Re: Why our outdated brains are making us unhappy

#15
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parts of the cycle are also relevant for community forums such as HN.

Agreed, at least it's civil here, and related to my occupation.

Also, the minimal design, and the lack of an algorithm targeting my personal preferences with the express intention of tricking me into reading more stories makes a huge difference.

I really enjoyed commuting by bike, to the point I would go to certain places solely for the bike ride, and leave within a few minutes. I was also addicted to smoking. HN is like my bike addiction, while FB and Twitter feel more like my smoking addiction.

Re: Why our outdated brains are making us unhappy

#18
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, at least it's civil here, and related to my occupation.

Also, the minimal design, and the lack of an algorithm targeting my personal preferences with the express intention of tricking me into reading more stories makes a huge difference. I really enjoyed commuting by bike, to the point I would go to certain places solely for the bike ride, and leave within a few minutes. I was also addicted to smoking. HN is like my bike addiction, while FB and Twitter feel more like my s…

That's a good analogy. Yes, HN is from an era before the social engineering began.

Re: Why our outdated brains are making us unhappy

#19
Instagram follows the same path as Facebook when it comes to curating content to the core of user's likes and dislikes. When a content that is tailored to the user's preference starts to surface more on the feed ,it tends to keep the user engaged passively even if not active, leading to ad revenue for the company. Once you are out of the platform and exposed to different, if not opposing views,people find it tough to handle and lead to depression.
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