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Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

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Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#61

Post by Zelphyr »

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #24
icelancer wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 cyc…

> with the majority of people thinking that their opinion is worth something has led to some interesting results What do you mean?

Everybody is shouting at each other about how right they are and not listening to what others are saying to try to understand their point of view. The net result being giant echo chambers clashing against one another and the media using that for fun and profit.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#62

Post by village-idiot »

yyww wrote: post #59

This is probably true, but I don't know what else to do (counting HN as social media) - I don't really have any friends or interesting activities. Basically go to work, do work, go home, repeat. Anyone have any suggestions on how I could live a more interesting life and/or have friends? Sorta pathetic to be posting this here but since every other comment is talking out eliminating social media use, maybe some comment…

I recommend a gym, specifically a class based one like a boot camp or CrossFit. These tend to have a similar cohort of people who show up at the same time every week, so you’ll get an hour of exercise and social time wrapped up into one package.

Friendship is created by repeated interaction. Anything that has you running into the same people repeatedly will typically create friendships.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#63

Post by graeme »

yyww wrote: post #59

This is probably true, but I don't know what else to do (counting HN as social media) - I don't really have any friends or interesting activities. Basically go to work, do work, go home, repeat. Anyone have any suggestions on how I could live a more interesting life and/or have friends? Sorta pathetic to be posting this here but since every other comment is talking out eliminating social media use, maybe some comment…

Find a hobby you enjoy and do that. Also, fix any obvious flaws, such as poor dress, being out of shape, persnonal hygiene, etc. lastly, practice small talk: when at a store, make a comment to the clerk, try to make them smile, etc

The goal is basically improve socialization skills (small talk), remove frictin to friendships (hygiene, fitness, fashion), and then put yourself in situations where you meet people (hobbies).

A local couchsuefing group can also be good, if you staet couchsurfing hosting.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#64

Post by village-idiot »

kopo wrote: post #30
jelly_dev wrote: post #2

About half way through my college education I decided I would only use Facebook for messages and otherwise eliminated all social media from my life aside from Reddit and Hacker news. Since then I found my outlook on life has improved dramatically and recommend most people do that. The problem with social media is you only see the interesting parts of people's lives, so you're forced into a loop of thinking your life…

HN and Reddit arent that different from other social media sites. All of them in my mind are "All You Can Eat" info buffet tables. This is just the current approach we have of dealing with a new world overloaded by info. It will change as we learn more and more about how it effects people. In the real world nobody healthy visits an "All You Can Eat" buffet everyday. Same thing will eventually happen with information.

Reddit and HN provide what I call “false novelty”. It’s a torrent of new information and entertaining images, but none of it really provides any sort of lasting impact beyond the first 5 minutes or so.

When you do new things in the real world, these become major events that anchor your memories and sense of time. You can probably vividly remember some vacations, concerts, your first kiss, and a thousand other novel life experiences very vividly. But while Reddit feels novel in the moment, in the rear view mirror it is just a featureless void of “Reddit was here”, with no strong memories left to justify the time spent.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#65

Post by andrew_ »

yyww wrote: post #59

This is probably true, but I don't know what else to do (counting HN as social media) - I don't really have any friends or interesting activities. Basically go to work, do work, go home, repeat. Anyone have any suggestions on how I could live a more interesting life and/or have friends? Sorta pathetic to be posting this here but since every other comment is talking out eliminating social media use, maybe some comment…

If you're not already active, get a cheap gym membership and force yourself to go for a few hours a week. I'm not talking about the meat-head bodybuilding sort. You may enjoy it, you'll be healthier for it, and you may meet others there which share interests.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#66

Post by jeffhiggins »

schindlabua wrote: post #51

My policy is to decrease on push notifications as far as possible. WhatsApp and Telegram still have the privilege but that's it. I feel like by seeking out information rather than it coming to me, I at least am making a conscious decision to waste time on social media. Interestingly, implementing that had the effect of me now spending hardly any time on there at all. Funny how that works!

I’ve started leaving DND mode on 24/7. I go to my notifications, they don’t come to me anymore. This also prevents your iPhone from being DOS’d by a phone call at any moment.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#68

Post by kstenerud »

yyww wrote: post #59

This is probably true, but I don't know what else to do (counting HN as social media) - I don't really have any friends or interesting activities. Basically go to work, do work, go home, repeat. Anyone have any suggestions on how I could live a more interesting life and/or have friends? Sorta pathetic to be posting this here but since every other comment is talking out eliminating social media use, maybe some comment…

Take a job in another country; every day becomes an adventure as you navigate different cultures, different people, different customs, different cities, different bureaucracies, different governments, different foods, different activities, etc. Plus, you become a more well rounded individual. It also gives you valuable soft skills (cultural relations).

Many places offer working holiay visas.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#69

Post by Fnoord »

jeffhiggins wrote: post #66
schindlabua wrote: post #51

My policy is to decrease on push notifications as far as possible. WhatsApp and Telegram still have the privilege but that's it. I feel like by seeking out information rather than it coming to me, I at least am making a conscious decision to waste time on social media. Interestingly, implementing that had the effect of me now spending hardly any time on there at all. Funny how that works!

I’ve started leaving DND mode on 24/7. I go to my notifications, they don’t come to me anymore. This also prevents your iPhone from being DOS’d by a phone call at any moment.

I'm doing the same (on Android, and push notification is broken anyway on microG). Sometimes I get 'anonymous' phone calls. Those are annoying. But people who know me, know I prefer e-mail etc.

Re: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

#70

Post by malvosenior »

DanBC wrote: post #48
SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea? Have a pro-gun discussion on HackerNews and tell me how it’s so much better than Reddit. HN has its own problems. For one, there is a growing discontent for different opinions (downvote happy), and two, there is one “channel”, so it’s mob rule for opinion.

> Have a pro-gun discussion on HackerNews and tell me how it’s so much better than Reddit. You're not meeting resistance to reasonable opinions. You're breaking out of your US filter bubble and discovering that the rest of the world thinks US gun ownership rights are fucking weird.

You just proved their point.
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