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Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

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Re: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

#51

Post by Forgivenessizer »

banana_giraffe wrote: post #37
papreclip wrote: post #18

I open facebook for 2 minutes a week and scroll through my relatives' baby and pet pictures. I don't get how the site is such a specter of misery for some people Twitter I would understand a little better. It's such a tar pit of negative energy, insults, rage bait, etc

I'm very happy that there are those that can interact with Facebook without negative side effects. If you're in that category, I hope the site adds value to you and you enjoy it. I can't. Yes, it's a failure on me, but my experience is better without Facebook in my life. You mention negativity, and that's part of it. I saw a steady stream of "the world's on fire" type posts. The other side, the rosy view of my friend…

The main problem is in the name. It's a face book. As a famous male model said, "it's a face game", when asked why he didn't body sculpt. The face is hardest to change. If you're kind of ugly like myself, you'll never win in the superficial arena, because no striving beautifies but the soul. And I will assure you no woman was attracted by a pure soul ever, get the thought out of your mind. Power, yes, such as the power of the church and the security of it, but not authentic and actual virtue observable and present and real, never in the least, except as a mask, but not from the self, attested by the difference of fervency, no fever of devotion is caught by a woman for goodness itself.

So, the simple reason why fb sucks is that women are in charge of it, it's the gossip corner. And therefore it descends into the angst of pettiness and uselessness, as these are the names of the servants of the superficial.

But the reason why fb is a problem is the fault only of men, wimps who won't give it the one finger salute and delete it.

Re: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

#52

Post by partiallypro »

Facebook is still the best way to get people to gather. I have recently started a fan club for a soccer group, and without Facebook it would have been impossible to organize. No other social media platform addresses that need, that I know of, that has a massive reach to get people with common interests. Organizing events and reaching people is made much easier.

Re: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

#53

Post by graeme »

new2628 wrote: post #38
papreclip wrote: post #18

I open facebook for 2 minutes a week and scroll through my relatives' baby and pet pictures. I don't get how the site is such a specter of misery for some people Twitter I would understand a little better. It's such a tar pit of negative energy, insults, rage bait, etc

I drink one glass of fine red wine once a week while having a nice conversation with a good friend. On other occasions I have a shot of strong brandy before stepping out on a cold winter evening. I don't get how alcohol is such a specter of misery for some people.

Fair point, but the analogy is off: the feeds aren’t the same. Most people don’t get too anxious about relatives babies and pets.

It’s like one person has juice and the other has brandy.

Re: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

#55

Post by vidanay »

ghastmaster wrote: post #11
merpnderp wrote: post #2

Can relate, I haven’t missed it a bit.

Ditto. From my experience and assumptions by many media I've seen, people tend to post the best of what is going on in their lives to social media. Subsequently, not seeing the bad or mundane in comparison to oneself, causes anxiety. There are many other aspects to the social media that might affect life satisfaction. Time spent on the platform rather than being productive is one that comes to mind.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same. I quit FB a month ago, and sadly not a single "friend" has emailed me or phone called me since then asking "yo, what's up dude?"

Re: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

#56

Post by ajross »

banana_giraffe wrote: post #37
papreclip wrote: post #18

I open facebook for 2 minutes a week and scroll through my relatives' baby and pet pictures. I don't get how the site is such a specter of misery for some people Twitter I would understand a little better. It's such a tar pit of negative energy, insults, rage bait, etc

I'm very happy that there are those that can interact with Facebook without negative side effects. If you're in that category, I hope the site adds value to you and you enjoy it. I can't. Yes, it's a failure on me, but my experience is better without Facebook in my life. You mention negativity, and that's part of it. I saw a steady stream of "the world's on fire" type posts. The other side, the rosy view of my friend…

Right, which is why the result in the headline seems misdirected. "Facebook quitters" are, in fact, a special group. They/you recognized problems that were addressed by quitting facebook! And the study found that when this population removes something they feel is a problem, they feel better. That's... not really surprising, if you think about it. And importantly, it's not a result that says "social media will make everyone feel bad".

I'm one of the normies like the grandparent comment. I don't use Facebook all that much, and most of what I see there is just a stream of banal life events from a selection of people that I'd otherwise not hear from. Most of it isn't that interesting directly, but I'll admit that my life is enriched by retaining these relationships I'd otherwise have dropped. It's definitely not something I feel bad after using.

Obviously that's not your experience, and there's nothing wrong with that. Certainly you shouldn't be forced to use this platform if it makes you unhappy. Really this just goes down to "people are all different and we all have to find our paths through the world". Technology changes the battlefield a little at the margins, but it hasn't changed the war.

Re: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

#57

Post by WhompingWindows »

sakisv wrote: post #9

I wonder, have fb quitters stopped using all social media? Have they also stopped visiting news websites? My point is, is Facebook the only negativity inducing platform? I know for me it isn't. The question is how do you deal with the rest of them? Do you balance news intake against the impact on your mental health or you stop consuming news entirely, because in the end whatever it's set to happen will happen regardl…

I only use HN and Reddit.

The only regret I have about deleting FB two years ago: not copying down friends' birthdays.

The solution? Ask them.

Re: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

#58

Post by WhompingWindows »

4ec0755f5522 wrote: post #43

FB is mostly a tool for evil but it's got some amazing parenting resources. On the evil side you have the anti-vax nutters but you also have supportive parent groups for whatever weird disorder/issue/disease/problem your kid might have where the evidence-based stuff is winning out. Global scale organizing of these resources is a net benefit for sure. I suppose 10 years ago they would have been on yahoo groups. 10 yea…

Is that a net benefit, though? Couldn't those communities re-organize onto platforms that don't harm democracy and rationality? On the one hand, anti-vaxxers have caused a lot of damage, and FB aided in that; on the other hand, FB in general has taken revenue and power from those groups, and do we want FB to have more or less power?

Re: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

#59

Post by adamwong246 »

FB FOMO is a such an issue for myself. I remind myself that no one has a perfect life but nonetheless, I find myself driven to inspect profiles of people I admire, only to be horrified when I realize how much younger, but still more successful, they are than myself, or they do more interesting work, or are paid more, or live in a more appealing city, or take nicer vacations or inhabit more attractive bodies.

It's perfect recipe for feeling inadequate. I console myself by knowing someone is lurking my profile, thinking the same thing.

Re: Facebook quitters report more life satisfaction, less depression and anxiety

#60

Post by agumonkey »

papreclip wrote: post #18

I open facebook for 2 minutes a week and scroll through my relatives' baby and pet pictures. I don't get how the site is such a specter of misery for some people Twitter I would understand a little better. It's such a tar pit of negative energy, insults, rage bait, etc

There a 'depressing' side of passive information intake. It satisfies but thinly. If your life is not balanced you can kinda get stuck on thin, aptly named, feed.
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