Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#491

Post by TheRealDunkirk » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:22 AM UTC

erickhill wrote: post #380

duxup wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't even know what Twitter is for except mutual high fives over the most superficial "look at me" memeish stuff. It's worse than facebook as far as the "get attention" vibe. Granted all social media is about getting attention, and I don't think there is anything wrong with it necessarily. Attention is nice, there is good reason for it, but when the message is so tailored to just that and there isn't anything else…

It took me about 10 years to finally "get Twitter". I used to use it for professional reasons, posting what I considered relevant content. For the most part no one really cared. The engagement was almost always nil. Sort of like saying something intelligent, out of the blue, to a crowded stadium of people doing the same thing. Then, 2 years ago I created a new account that ONLY focused on a personal hobby of mine: re…

I did the same thing with trying to avoiding politics and entertainment, and just following programmers and development thought leaders. Yeah... They almost all wind up being political too. I simply cannot find a way to find interesting accounts that don't wind up talking about politics and current events. I don't care. I don't want to use Twitter for that, but apparently, Twitter doesn't want me to use the service for anything ELSE. (And, before someone suggests it, yes, my list of muted words is already long.)

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#492

Post by spookthesunset » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:29 AM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #460

spookthesunset wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Angry political screeds are hard to filter out nowadays. A sign of the times. A lot of people are just really pissed off right now. I also think a lot of people that used to ignore politics realized that it matters...

It's really not "now", it's just that the tables have turned. For the previous two terms, the other party was in power, and the out-of-power people could only whinge about it. And that's the same thing that's happening now.

It isn't even the same thing and you damn well know it.

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#493

Post by allthecybers » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:30 AM UTC

jwally wrote: post #298

Note I wrote my father in law when he had gone too far down the rabbit hole and legitimately worried about the poison it spreads around his demographic: I left Facebook when I read some press release about it being designed from the outset to make you feel bad because it keeps you engaged; hoping someone agrees with something you liked or shared and the dopamine hit it releases. I don’t like feeling manipulated and m…

It astounds me that Facebook still has as many users as it has but that there isn't also an exodus of employees from Facebook. You have to be really drunk on the koolaid to think that your company is doing anything good in the world. Twitter the same.

How is it with all our technology, the cutting edge are these digital septic tanks (or sewers if you live in the city)?

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#494

Post by pandapower2 » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:33 AM UTC

allthecybers wrote: post #493

jwally wrote: post #298

Note I wrote my father in law when he had gone too far down the rabbit hole and legitimately worried about the poison it spreads around his demographic: I left Facebook when I read some press release about it being designed from the outset to make you feel bad because it keeps you engaged; hoping someone agrees with something you liked or shared and the dopamine hit it releases. I don’t like feeling manipulated and m…

It astounds me that Facebook still has as many users as it has but that there isn't also an exodus of employees from Facebook. You have to be really drunk on the koolaid to think that your company is doing anything good in the world. Twitter the same. How is it with all our technology, the cutting edge are these digital septic tanks (or sewers if you live in the city)?

>You have to be really drunk on the koolaid to think that your company is doing anything good in the world.

Or just willing to take the paycheck while pushing everything else to the back of your mind.

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#495

Post by randycupertino » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:56 AM UTC

starpilot wrote: post #383

jwally wrote: post #298

Note I wrote my father in law when he had gone too far down the rabbit hole and legitimately worried about the poison it spreads around his demographic: I left Facebook when I read some press release about it being designed from the outset to make you feel bad because it keeps you engaged; hoping someone agrees with something you liked or shared and the dopamine hit it releases. I don’t like feeling manipulated and m…

My sister has gone down the same rabbit hole. She really thinks she's "fighting the good fight" by posting a fresh outrage every day. She's glued to a changing handful of posts, replying rapid-fire to anyone who disagrees. I used to post (4-5 times per year) photos of my vacations, but I don't want to feed the whole lifestyle porn/envy cycle.

I used to waste time doing this and would argue with right-winger family who was brainwashed by Fox news. I finally realized no matter how good your points are, and no matter how eloquently said or rationally stated you will just flat out never convince someone or change their opinion on policy based on a facebook discussion. Literally the only thing arguing politics on there does is polarize people, and further entrench everyone onto their already premade opinions. I started putting myself in their shoes and realized how futile their arguments were because I'd never consider a right wing perspective. Then I realized what a waste of time it was to even engage at all. I unfollowed everyone, stopped logging in and have been a lot happier. If I want to check up on someone specifically I search them and go straight to their page. Otherwise I don't even bother reading the timeline anymore. I went from daily checking facebook to about 2x a month. It's awesome.

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#496

Post by randycupertino » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:58 AM UTC

unethical_ban wrote: post #321

jwally wrote: post #298

Note I wrote my father in law when he had gone too far down the rabbit hole and legitimately worried about the poison it spreads around his demographic: I left Facebook when I read some press release about it being designed from the outset to make you feel bad because it keeps you engaged; hoping someone agrees with something you liked or shared and the dopamine hit it releases. I don’t like feeling manipulated and m…

Yep. I've heard of this movie but haven't watched it yet - though my sibling assures me it is a copy of our experience with our parents. They were conservative/moderate at one point, but now regurgitate radical right-wing talking points without defending them, and say that "everyone just reads what they want to believe" but applies it only to me and my New York Times, moreso than them and their literal fake news pedd…

That movie reminds me of my own family and it is so sad. I think they got radicalized when they retired and had nothing to do other than sit around watching Fox and listening to Rush Limbaugh. They used to be normal, reasonable people and now they're absolute nutters.

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#497

Post by cheeze » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 4:01 AM UTC

brobdingnagians wrote: post #12

I realized I was checking facebook a lot each day whenever I had a spare moment, but didn't have anything really interesting happening, and I wanted to engage more with those around me and have more time for down-time thinking. So I deleted the app, knowing that making the threshold higher for checking it would reduce my usage, now I might check facebook once a month on my desktop, and still nothing happening, so it…

I worry if not Facebook its something else. I deleted fb but now I check this website a hundred times a day...

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#498

Post by gordon_freeman » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 4:05 AM UTC

jwally wrote: post #298

Note I wrote my father in law when he had gone too far down the rabbit hole and legitimately worried about the poison it spreads around his demographic: I left Facebook when I read some press release about it being designed from the outset to make you feel bad because it keeps you engaged; hoping someone agrees with something you liked or shared and the dopamine hit it releases. I don’t like feeling manipulated and m…

But what's the point of traveling to places if you can't tell all your friends about all the places you are traveling to? Or books you're reading? Etc.

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#499

Post by spookthesunset » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 4:07 AM UTC

rland wrote: post #445

spookthesunset wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Angry political screeds are hard to filter out nowadays. A sign of the times. A lot of people are just really pissed off right now. I also think a lot of people that used to ignore politics realized that it matters...

Things are so weird now. We should feel good that everyone is engaged in dialogue about our grand civic project, right? But when you actually stare out onto the landscape of discussion, there isn't a valuable exchange of ideas to observe. While political opinions are more numerous, they're divorced from evidence and calcified. As useful as no opinion, and possibly worse. (Then again, that's my opinion, right?)

> We should feel good that everyone is engaged in dialogue about our grand civic project, right?

It is people trapped in their echo chambers. Some chambers are better than others (some, much better, but alas). I personally don't hold much hope for things to ever get de-calcified without some kind of large-scale real-world incident to force it. It is almost like two entirely different species of humans at this point who are almost incapable of empathising with each other.

(and note, in many cases, refusing to empathise.... I refuse to empathize with alt-right supporters for example.)

Re: Facebook exodus: Nearly half of young users have deleted the app

#500

Post by randycupertino » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 4:07 AM UTC

wgerard wrote: post #6

Anecdotal obviously, but I'm surprised at how pervasive the "Facebook listens to your conversations through the app" rumors are, even among the more technically literate. I'm curious how much of an effect that rumor had on this finding.

I thought it was just a rumor until I experienced it firsthand. I was walking down a long hallway at work with a coworker between meetings. At one end of the hallway my zipper broke on my backpack. We walked and talked about backpack zippers though the corridor while I held my phone in my hand walking. She and I were talking about if you could sew in a new zipper or you'd have to buy an entirely new backpack. And if you could hand-sew in the new zipper or if you'd need a sewing machine. When we got to our next meeting we were 10 minutes early so I logged into facebook. BOOM- ZIPPER ads and backpack ads. I'd search for nothing about zippers, hadn't googled zippers, and my backpack zipper had just broken at the previous meeting. Literally the only way it could have known about that to show me those ads had been that it was listening via my microphone.