How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#121

Post by Yetanfou » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 11:02 PM UTC

pmlnr wrote: post #116

Yetanfou wrote: post #79

Don't use Facebook or any of their properties like Instagram, Whatsapp, etc. Just as important, tell others not to use Facebook (et al). Tell your children not to use Instagram and Whatsapp (they won't care about Facebook as that is 'for older people'). When someone proposes using Facebook to plan something point out that Facebook is not the right venue for such activities, use email instead. If your neighbourhood wa…

Don't this, don't that - geez. Tell what TO do, what TO use. Saying not to without solutions is completely useless noise.

Smokey told you not to play with matches. Way back in time one of your ancestors told another of your ancestors not to play in the crocodile-infested Limpopo river. Frank Zappa sings about some parents warning their children to watch where the huskies go and not to eat that yellow snow.

Sometimes it is necessary to warn people about something. They can make up their own mind about what to do instead, it is not as if the internet is useless without Facebook (et al) after all? Do you really think it is necessary to tell people what to use instead of Facebook when the options are so abundant and clear, not to mention the fact that they were around when Facebook was naught but a glint in the eye of whomever M.Z. got the idea from?

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#122

Post by serpentstar » Tue, Jan 09, 2018, 12:30 AM UTC

tzakrajs wrote: post #108

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I call this the "eat less and exercise" advice. That is, when some dismiss the obesity epidemic in the US by saying "people just need to eat less and exercise". Of course, this is nominally true, but at the same time, it's useless advice. People have been hearing that they need to eat less and exercise for decades, and Americans keep getting fatter. Unless you change something at a more fundamental level, "willpower"…

Except you need to eat. Facebook is cocaine.

False. Interacting socially is required for human survival. Like eating--not like cocaine.

Facebook's encroachment on the social sphere has real consequences for individuals like you and me. You pay a heavy cost if you forego it completely. Missed invitations, missed opportunities. Lack of presence means a lack of visibility to others.

Re: How to Fix Facebook Before It Fixes Us

#123

Post by kleer001 » Thu, Jan 11, 2018, 5:51 PM UTC

jessaustin wrote: post #52

kleer001 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the impression that well meaning teachers, parents, guardians, friends, strangers, and everyone else HAS been trying very hard for a very long time. Socrates, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad, you think they were trying their darndest? The problem is that even if we give ourselves well meaning instructions that will benefit ourselves in the medium to long term, invariably we will come to betray ourselves. Personally I t…

In my experience teenagers are often better at ignoring "lower brainstem" attacks than their "teachers, parents, guardians," etc. Much like a DOS attack, ignoring this shit early and often is the dominant success strategy.

I'd be very interested in your experience as that goes against what I understand about human neurocognitive maturation as echoed by insurance rates, suicide rates, violence, teen pregnancy, etc...