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Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

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Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#11

Post by Kiro »

stareatgoats wrote: post #10
Kiro wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hacker News and Reddit are the worst though.

Reddit can be, but HN is IMO the best social media site there is in the IT space, because of the clear guidelines, active moderation and well thought out mechanics which for example enables both flame-war suppression and anonymity, no small feat.

Two problems I see with HN: 1. It's the most addictive social media I know. 2. Due to the "downvote if you disagree" policy you get downvoted for simple opinions and that makes you really depressed when you happen to have opinions about stuff that's not in line with the general HN crowd.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#13

Post by skilled »

I have a Twitter account that I don't post on, but use it to follow a few people whose content I enjoy and so it gives me a nice 'latest feed' I can check once a day. My Reddit use is in a similar place, but I do see myself using it more often whenever I want to burn some time. And HN for the latest news in Tech and other interesting (not watered down) topics.

Deleted my Facebook account simply because FB as a platform sucks. I could log back on in 5 years and my feed would still look the same. Never used Instagram before.

If you want to socialize on the web, then IMO, it's better to work on something you like -- project, website, etc, -- and build a community around that.

I'll occasionally check Quora since sometimes people ask you to answer questions, but that's about it.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#14

Post by mav3rick »

Kiro wrote: post #11
stareatgoats wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit can be, but HN is IMO the best social media site there is in the IT space, because of the clear guidelines, active moderation and well thought out mechanics which for example enables both flame-war suppression and anonymity, no small feat.

Two problems I see with HN: 1. It's the most addictive social media I know. 2. Due to the "downvote if you disagree" policy you get downvoted for simple opinions and that makes you really depressed when you happen to have opinions about stuff that's not in line with the general HN crowd.

You shouldn't take the internet so seriously. Don't let any rando hurt your self esteem. If someone says you're wrong try to find out if there is some truth in their argument. Best case you grow , worst case life remains the same.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#15

Post by FahadUddin92 »

So let me explain it. I started being active on the internet after learning no one would be friends with me (I was in class 6 back then). I would spend time figuring out things, talking to people and then social media evolved. I am still pretty active on social media but the main reason people are active on social media is they don't have people around them that listen to them.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#16

Post by zwarag »

When you open Social Media there is a reason for that. I figured - for me at least - it comes from an emotional impulse. By concentrating on that impulse, I discovered that it comes from “need” to socialize. Trying to fulfill that need by going on a social media platform is just convenient but does not really satisfy that need. So instead, I now call or meet with some family members/friends.

In the progress of growing up I kinda unlearned that. But know that I rediscovered it, I feel much better/balanced. Other benefits are that I can concentrate and perform at my studies/work much better than before.

I don’t know if that helps anybody but I thought I’d share this experience.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#17

Post by clarry »

stareatgoats wrote: post #10
Kiro wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hacker News and Reddit are the worst though.

Reddit can be, but HN is IMO the best social media site there is in the IT space, because of the clear guidelines, active moderation and well thought out mechanics which for example enables both flame-war suppression and anonymity, no small feat.

IMO the guidelines, moderation and mechanics all work way better on lobste.rs than here. Here the hivemind effect is pretty damn strong too, so it's going to be frustrating to try have a fruitful discussion if your opinion doesn't align with the group. Here there are enough toxic people that discussions often turn into tiresome, flamey back-and-forth between a handful of people. And here there are too many people with opinions but no expertise. So the signal to noise ratio gets really bad and you can't assume the people reading your comments can understand subtler points; if you do, it's quite inevitable that a bunch of people with opinions but no expertise will pile up on the comment and it feels like flamebait.

When I post here, I kinda have to indulge in a ton of self-censorship. Most of the time I end up not posting the comment I wrote because it feels like it won't be a worthwhile discussion. Or it'll be just another comment buried among a few hundred others; just noise, not discussion. It's not satisfying.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#18

Post by icelancer »

rwnspace wrote: post #6

I've deleted all my social media accounts besides Reddit and HN. The only thing that's stopping me from visiting these two is addiction. I don't read the news, mostly, why bother? It does much more harm than good. You don't need 1000 hrs of newsreading to vote effectively. My next step is to make a personal website with some contact details and a scraper script for the links in the HN top 30-40 that I can run as a cr…

> I don't read the news, mostly, why bother? It does much more harm than good.

It's weird that this is a minority opinion (I happen to agree with you). Some 20 years ago we lacked the ability to consume even 10% of the news we are exposed to today if we just open Twitter, and democracy wasn't collapsing.

(some argue we are in a worse spot today, though I disagree - strife does not equal inequality)

The cable news cycle combined with social media with the majority of people thinking that their opinion is worth something has led to some interesting results. I expect the next generation of people in the United States to mostly get over this bug in the system via selective apathy.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#19

Post by icelancer »

Kiro wrote: post #5
kobiguru wrote: post #3

I agree with the conclusions. I got rid of all social media except for Reddit ( for ML related discussions) and Hacker News. I always calmer since. It amazing how fast my mind felt better from the negativity.

Hacker News and Reddit are the worst though.

For that to be true you have to have one hell of a selective group of people you follow on Facebook and Twitter. Hacker News is without question the best "social media" site I read and has mostly maintained its quality over the years I've been here.

Reddit, however, is godawful.

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