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Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

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Re: Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

#61

Post by jamesjyu »

sytelus wrote: post #55

First, you need to look at human attention as a commodity just like gold - available in fixed quantity and everyone wants piece of it. It turns out that FB managed to conquer large portion of human attention after it emerged. This also meant massive attention transfer from news media to FB. However until year ago, FB benevolently gave back significant pie of its attention share to news media by heavily promoting thei…

Nit: the avg person in the US spends 27 minutes per day on Facebook. This is small compared to TV/Netflix/YouTube, which is upwards of 4 hours per day.

This is why Facebook had a huge push into video—they wanted a slice of that pie. They haven't made much headway there.

Re: Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

#62

Post by quest88 »

filoleg wrote: post #52
shahbaby wrote: post #47

Tobacco is inherently bad for you. Facebook can be depending on how you use it.

>Facebook can be [bad] depending on how you use it. The same can be said about many things, including movies, video games, twitter, kitchen knives, construction tools, etc. Not trying to diminish your point btw, I wholeheartedly agree with it.

Yea, like the news.

Re: Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

#63

Post by adrianmonk »

SilasX wrote: post #5

I think it's a good (if inflammatory) analogy: in both cases, people are aware, in the abstract, of dangers, but systematically underestimate them by a big margin. People knew "smoking is bad for you", but didn't appreciate how bad. People know "Facebook violates privacy" but not the depth of the profile they've made on you across numerous websites. People know "You shouldn't compare yourself to others and feel bad a…

One important area where the analogy doesn't work: smoking can't be done safely in moderation.

Some people have trouble stopping themselves from going too far with Facebook. For example, comparing themselves to others, obsessively spending time, sharing things they shouldn't, or getting dragged into drama and fights.

But for others it's entirely possible to just get on Facebook occasionally, discuss innocuous stuff, and keep in touch with people. That's not destructive or harmful. It's not a "vice" (to use the article's terminology) for me to hear that a relative is doing OK after surgery or to see that a friend enjoyed their vacation to the Rocky Mountains.

Re: Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

#64

Post by logicprog »

chc wrote: post #58
Circuits wrote: post #17

An addiction to social media... you have got to be kidding me? If you have an addiction to social media then the problem is with YOU, not social media. FB has problems but people spending to much time on it is not one of them or rather not for people who have any sense of self respect, discipline and dignity. If you can't regulate the time you are spending on FB and it is altering your life then that is your fault. C…

People say all of the same things about alcoholics and drug addicts. It's defect with the person, they're irresponsible, they lack self-respect and discipline, they're just bad parents — I've heard literally all of these about substance abusers. So for me, this comment doesn't seem to highlight differences as much as similarities.

Except that you can have a chemical dependancy in alcohol or drugs, so if you want to, you can realistically argue that continued addiction is the drug or alcohol's fault. How does that work for continued addiction Facebook?

And if we're talking about how the addiction started, yes, if you get addicted it is your fault, if you knew there was even a remote possibility of getting addicted. If someone decided to poke a beehive, is the resulting sting the bee's fault, or the stick's, or is it theirs?

Re: Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

#65

Post by ma2rten »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #56
patrick5415 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deleted my Facebook about 5 years ago but hung on to my Instagram. I was never very active, but about a year ago I noticed a similar trend to the behavior you describe: I’d post something and wait with bated breath to see how many likes it got. Didn’t like how that made me feel, so IG got deleted too.

I find that this behaviour happens to me everywhere, even on HN. Often, I'll spend ten minutes writing a comment, only to realise that I'm only replying because I want the attention, and that what I have to say really doesn't add anything to what's already there. That's when I end up backing out and erasing away what I wrote. (I almost did that now, but I decided to post anyway.) And when I do end up posting, it's im…

I don't really have anything to add, but if you could give me an upvote that would be great.

Re: Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

#66

Post by logicprog »

Circuits wrote: post #24
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if people said the same thing about booze.

The differences between an addiction to alcohol and an addiction (if you can call it that) to social media are few and far between. Tbh, making a comparison between the two is heartless, careless and seriously undermines people struggling with alcohol addiction, grow up.

Exactly. It's like the commandeering of the words "trigger warning", applying a concept that had a specific, and horrific meaning for real people to a bunch of barely related things so that people can feel better about themselves.

Re: Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

#67

Post by chillacy »

sytelus wrote: post #55

First, you need to look at human attention as a commodity just like gold - available in fixed quantity and everyone wants piece of it. It turns out that FB managed to conquer large portion of human attention after it emerged. This also meant massive attention transfer from news media to FB. However until year ago, FB benevolently gave back significant pie of its attention share to news media by heavily promoting thei…

Before it was cool to hate on fb it was cool to hate on reading the news: attention grabbing amygdala stimulating headlines keep you coming back for more.

Re: Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

#68

Post by chillacy »

tosser0001 wrote: post #60
randyrand wrote: post #10

Who else finds this really silly? FB is just a social network. It's where dumb people post dumb things. How does it deserve this much new press.

I think the election of Donald Trump was the triggering event for the backlash. There are a significant number of people that feel it was one of the principal reasons why he was elected. I know several people that quit in direct response to that. I find it odd that it is simultaneously a dying platform and an all-consuming monstrosity that must be destroyed. Anyone who reads these types of threads and didn’t know wha…

I’m afraid that line of logic is going to lead the democrats to lose 2020 if they keep blaming Russia, Facebook, etc instead of trying to actually appeal to swing state voters.

Re: Treat Facebook Like Big Tobacco

#69

Post by MikusR »

throw20102010 wrote: post #33
panarky wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who doesn't smoke, it's awkward to read these articles that assume inevitably of tobacco's influence. You can quit. We can quit. Sometimes I run into a group of smokers that I want to be more involved with. When I mention I want to be involved but not breathe pollution, there is usually sympathy and a response that there are others interested in quitting smoking, too. Many organizations are smoke-free, and…

Snarky, but poignant. However, note that there are many government funded programs to help people quit smoking if they want. The government doesn't ban smoking, but it does tax it to encourage healthier behavior. There is no such funding to help people get rid of social media, and there are no such taxes to push people towards other options.

They tax it to get money from addicts.
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