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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

#131

Post by koonsolo »

anderber wrote: post #101
INTPenis wrote: post #89

What gave me the most satisfaction is quitting the news. Incidentally I don't have or use any social media either. Except imgur and sometimes among the funny memes I get news. But I'm afraid for people I meet who always remind me of all the awful things they've seen in the news. I'm aware of none of this until someone tells me. And yet my life is the same as everyone elses. Not knowing what is going on, living in a c…

I absolutely understand what you're saying. But part of me feels an obligation to be informed to hold those in power accountable. If everyone follows the advice of avoiding the news, what effect would that have in our Govenment?

I noticed that certain politicians do their best to reach the media and news, and others just do their job.

Why would the news be the best source to judge your politicians?

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

#132

Post by vaylian »

Cytobit wrote: post #118
INTPenis wrote: post #89

What gave me the most satisfaction is quitting the news. Incidentally I don't have or use any social media either. Except imgur and sometimes among the funny memes I get news. But I'm afraid for people I meet who always remind me of all the awful things they've seen in the news. I'm aware of none of this until someone tells me. And yet my life is the same as everyone elses. Not knowing what is going on, living in a c…

Is HN not social media?

That's debatable. Where is the social element? If you stretch the definition of social media long enough you could also call the usenet, mailing lists or Wikipedia social media.

HN isn't really about human connections or personal interactions. We might discuss them, but HN isn't designed or usually used for creating them.

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

#133

Post by medymed »

gzu wrote: post #84

The overwhelming theme of social media is propagating envy. Look at this amazing vacation, look at how handsome I am, look at this happy family with baby and wedding photos, look at all my money, look at me landing a great job, look we just bought a beautiful new house. How can one be content with your own life if you're constantly comparing yourself to everyone else. Removing images and video might go a long way.

Also, adding some degree of anonymity. It’s much easier to delight in a story/post where there’s less orientation of the story to an attention-hungry identity and less social pressure on friends to ‘like’ and so forth. Not that anonymous social forums are without problems.

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

#134

Post by firethief »

koonsolo wrote: post #131
anderber wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely understand what you're saying. But part of me feels an obligation to be informed to hold those in power accountable. If everyone follows the advice of avoiding the news, what effect would that have in our Govenment?

I noticed that certain politicians do their best to reach the media and news, and others just do their job. Why would the news be the best source to judge your politicians?

I'm struggling to think of anything that could serve as a better source, or even a reasonable runner-up. Am I taking a broader interpretation of "news"? I would agree that cable news is probably a net negative; web aggregators like Google are hazardous, and following individually-selected news sites is a lot of work, but what else is there?

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

#135

Post by koonsolo »

codegeek wrote: post #127

In my humble opinion, there are 2 types of people who use facebook: 1. The show offs who want to share every little detail about their every little thing in life. 2. People who want to keep tabs on their family/friends occasionally. I started as #1 back in 2004 when fb was still early on and slowly graduated to #2.

You forgot 1 other nasty group: those who feel better by judging others. You won't see them post or comment, but they will judge everyone behind their back.

I've see several cases like this from up close, including one extravagant girl (who wasn't doing anything wrong, just posting a lot), that basically cut out her entire family so she could post without all the gossiping.

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

#136

Post by izzydata »

whatshisface wrote: post #116
izzydata wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having the privilege to live in complete ignorant bliss is nice I guess. What could go wrong?

If something goes seriously wrong I will hear it via word of mouth. I would also notice something change in stock prices, gas prices, and many other vital signs of the hyper-connected global economy that I interact with every day. I guess if everyone I ever talk to follows me in quitting the news, I will consider checking it occasionally.

Not wrong for you. Wrong for the world. There exists other people.

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

#137

Post by coldtea »

anderber wrote: post #101
INTPenis wrote: post #89

What gave me the most satisfaction is quitting the news. Incidentally I don't have or use any social media either. Except imgur and sometimes among the funny memes I get news. But I'm afraid for people I meet who always remind me of all the awful things they've seen in the news. I'm aware of none of this until someone tells me. And yet my life is the same as everyone elses. Not knowing what is going on, living in a c…

I absolutely understand what you're saying. But part of me feels an obligation to be informed to hold those in power accountable. If everyone follows the advice of avoiding the news, what effect would that have in our Govenment?

>I absolutely understand what you're saying. But part of me feels an obligation to be informed to hold those in power accountable.

So, how does that work out for you?

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

#138

Post by HuShifang »

anderber wrote: post #101
INTPenis wrote: post #89

What gave me the most satisfaction is quitting the news. Incidentally I don't have or use any social media either. Except imgur and sometimes among the funny memes I get news. But I'm afraid for people I meet who always remind me of all the awful things they've seen in the news. I'm aware of none of this until someone tells me. And yet my life is the same as everyone elses. Not knowing what is going on, living in a c…

I absolutely understand what you're saying. But part of me feels an obligation to be informed to hold those in power accountable. If everyone follows the advice of avoiding the news, what effect would that have in our Govenment?

A valid point. But I think that occasional (perhaps regularly scheduled) and mindful checks of select, thoughtful news sources that aren't overly focused on driving engagement with clickbait topics, article titles, etc allows you to stay sufficiently informed without succumbing to the stress-storm that is most news media. Think big picture, often long-form reporting vs. a heavy reliance on "breaking news", opinion pieces, and lifestyle-focused content.

(Some sources I like: PBS Newshour, ProPublica, the Economist, the Financial Times, the New York Review of Books.)

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

#139

Post by mc32 »

anderber wrote: post #101
INTPenis wrote: post #89

What gave me the most satisfaction is quitting the news. Incidentally I don't have or use any social media either. Except imgur and sometimes among the funny memes I get news. But I'm afraid for people I meet who always remind me of all the awful things they've seen in the news. I'm aware of none of this until someone tells me. And yet my life is the same as everyone elses. Not knowing what is going on, living in a c…

I absolutely understand what you're saying. But part of me feels an obligation to be informed to hold those in power accountable. If everyone follows the advice of avoiding the news, what effect would that have in our Govenment?

Problem is these days the news tends to be more narrative than plain news.

Even things that weren’t typically political or politicized these days they are.

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

#140

Post by banads »

firethief wrote: post #134
koonsolo wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed that certain politicians do their best to reach the media and news, and others just do their job. Why would the news be the best source to judge your politicians?

I'm struggling to think of anything that could serve as a better source, or even a reasonable runner-up. Am I taking a broader interpretation of "news"? I would agree that cable news is probably a net negative; web aggregators like Google are hazardous, and following individually-selected news sites is a lot of work, but what else is there?

You can look at their voting record, or who they take money from. There a number of "non-news" websites that have this information.
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