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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

#141

Post by mnm1 »

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…

Yeah, I totally agree. I quit this past May except for the occasional half hour to hour news/comedy show every week or less. In over half a year, I haven't missed anything important. If something is truly important, it'll filter through and I will look it up specifically. If not, even if it is center stage and historical news, it's really irrelevant. It speaks wonders to the helplessness and hopelessness in this country, however. There is little any one of us can do to change anything. So I stopped trying and hoping and I am less depressed, less angry, and more into my own life and doing things that I enjoy. I'm still just as helpless as before. No change there. Also, one doesn't need to go cold turkey. Reading the news once a week or even once a month would be plenty. Few news stories move fast enough that they require daily or even weekly attention. None affect my life, really.

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

#142

Post by awb »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #128
j-c-hewitt wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can delegate your concern to a political party, which is essentially all you are able to do as a citizen in a country like the US particularly if you live in a state that does not have a lot of referenda. If you want to learn more you can spend more time on researching the issues. Otherwise you could vote on a single issue, or just pick the party that is supposed to represent people like you with a similar hierar…

The problem with the strategy you describe is that if too many people use it, politicians can just openly lie about what's happening in the world and what they're doing about it. A voter who has identified with a party and is no longer interested in learning the facts has no way to correct for this.

Perhaps, but there are usually people in positions of power that care and for better or worse probably have more influence than the general electorate.

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

#143

Post by dionidium »

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?

Here's how I solve this problem: I subscribe to the Sunday print edition [0] of the Boston Globe [1]. It comes on Sunday and I read it over coffee.

There's no practical reason to be informed beyond what's in your city's Sunday print edition. Anything more than that is entertainment.

[0] It occurs to me that city dailies are so out of fashion that some of you might not understand why I recommend the Sunday edition. The Sunday edition is the largest edition of the week and repeats stories that appeared on other days. It also includes some features and sections that are not included on any other day. If you only get one day, you want Sunday.

[1] This could be any big-city paper (e.g. The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe). It doesn't matter.

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

#145

Post by chakerb »

Unfortunately I can't quit Facebook because it's the only way to know people from the other sex. I tried Tinder for a couple of months and it didn't work for me. My assumption is that people feel safer to interact with you if you have friends in common. That's said, I don't use Facebook that often, if I start talking with someone and we enjoy each other company, I kindly ask if we can use WhatsApp and if so, I will stop using Facebook for a period of time.

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

#146

Post by banads »

izzydata wrote: post #136
whatshisface wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What degree of practical responsibility does a person in Brazil have for something bad happening to someone in Sierra Leone?

Abstaining from frequent infotainment aka "news" does not equate to being ignorant of important things happening in the world, nor does it equate to abdicating responsibility for all the things you can practically influence.

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

#147

Post by leot »

coldtea wrote: post #137
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 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?

You could say the same about not voting.

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

#148

Post by sykick »

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?

The problem as I see it is that it is almost impossible to be informed enough to hold people accountable. In the U.S. at least the news is almost always of the form: “ Person from party A (which you are a member of) destroys person from Party B”. Or, “Party B seeks to destroy Issue C”.

There is virtually no nuance in the reporting. There’s no dissection. For example, the situation with Syria is quite complicated as Turkey, U.S., Russia, Kurds, and Assad all have conflicting goals and desires. Yet all of the reporting I’ve seen on this conflict has been absurdly reductionist and used to garner support/hatred toward the party in power by the adherents/adversaries of said party in power.

I understand the desire to have an informed populace but I think that is no longer possible. It is too easy to sway large swaths of the public. Witness the rise of anti-vaxers and other thoughtless beliefs. Even if I tried to be relatively informed it wouldn’t matter because the vast majority of the people are not psychologically prepared to withstand the pressure of subtle, sustained propaganda.

I have resigned myself to the fact that the republic is dead in the sense of what the ideal of a republic ought to be. I too avoid news and social media. I don’t count this website to be what I call social media since there is no identifying information about myself on here and none of my friends knows about my posts on this website.

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

#150

Post by sykick »

leot wrote: post #147
coldtea wrote: post #137

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. So, how does that work out for you?

You could say the same about not voting.

In the context of the article and the point OP made it’s working out great not being informed or voting. At least for me. I don’t stress or get worked up by stuff. I feel like I’m a lot happier these days. Deliberate ignorance is not for everyone but it does work well for me.
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