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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

#211

Post by sjtindell »

Angostura wrote: post #200
sykick wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 T…

So read something like The Economist or the paper version of the NYT?

The NYT I definitely now class with all the rest. In my opinion The Economist stands alone as the only publication I can trust to be nuanced and informative.

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

#212

Post by godelski »

dabbledash wrote: post #202
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?

“Hold those in power accountable” could mean many different things, but if you’re referring primarily to voting, then reviewing high quality sources every few weeks or once a month will probably give you better information then following the daily news cycle. I think if people in general took that approach, the effect on the government would be positive. Citizens consuming politics as entertainment and politicians ap…

> reviewing high quality sources every few weeks or once a month will probably give you better information then following the daily news cycle.

I have found this to be effective. I'll read something like Reuters a few times a month. Events that are major that I need to care about sooner are talked about and I can't escape, so I go read up on them.

The truth is that there's not enough happening every day that needs your attention for you to stay informed (at least informed enough. Because we can't all be experts on everything, which I think the daily cycle gives you the impression that you are).

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

#213

Post by ralmidani »

keenmaster wrote: post #130
ralmidani wrote: post #72

I use FB almost exclusively for news about the Middle East, especially Syria where the Assad regime actively targets journalists who tell the truth about what is happening there and very few Western journalists are going into the areas the regime is bombing. I have vowed to not use FB once the regime is gone, people can gather freely, and real news media can operate openly. My FB feed is mostly depressing these days,…

One of the benefits of social media is supposed to be transparency, and I believe that. However, isn't it an indictment of global callousness that so many people have seen Assad's destruction of Syria and no one is helping? In fact, Russia's bot armies far outnumber Syrian refugees on Facebook, and they're spreading confusion on the whole situation. They're making it seem like Syria is some sectarian black hole, wher…

Thank you for your kind sentiments! I do what I can. I think most decent people who aren’t blinded by ideology are sympathetic when they find out what is going on. Two Syrian documentaries made it to the Oscars this Sunday, although disappointingly a film with an Obama association was given the prize.

I think it’s important to distinguish between regular people on the one hand and politicians and bureaucrats on the other. I still have faith in a large section of humanity, which sees these atrocities and is outraged by them, but often feels powerless to stop them.

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

#215

Post by jfengel »

dave5104 wrote: post #170
AJ007 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are largely being informed by PR people and lobbyists. Also facts are generally missing or just wrong when published in real time. Books gives a much more accurate and accountable view of events.

Not sure how books really solve that. If I was interested in following the recent impeachment, what books am I going to read? I'm sure there will be plenty available within the year, but that's a little late for anyone who wants to know what's going on right now.

That's precisely it. There will be plenty of books available before November, and their authors will have had a few months to digest what happened and its aftermath.

And November is the only time it really matters. Until then, you can shake your tiny fist, but in November you get to make a choice that counts, literally.

You could follow it in real-time for the entertainment value, if you want. But if you actually want to make an informed choice when it matters, you'll have no trouble finding a book that summarizes it, and it will take far, far less time than trying to keep up with it (and remember it all come November).

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

#216

Post by throwaway21320 »

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?

It seems like most of the people I know who spend hours a week watching political news end up having no clue who to vote for when it comes to local elections where they have the most impact. I've worked the polls multiple times and have seen this over and over.

A lot of the news is mental junk food, and the idea that they are doing it for a better society is usually just an excuse for a bad habit. Even on the topics the news covers, people are usually left with a cartoonish narrative that's often worse than being completely ignorant on the issues.

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

#217

Post by themodelplumber »

cryptozeus wrote: post #214

My problem is these are my escapes. If I don’t use them then I do not know what else to do with my time.

A very good point. And we can't really say for sure if _you_ would have a better experience, should you decide to give it up.

I like the idea of providing people with more contextual and appropriate psychological support than just "hey look, some evidence that it can be a good idea to quit."

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

#218

Post by themodelplumber »

wronglebowski wrote: post #26
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…

Personally I’ve changed to leveraging social media to pursue my work and some specific interests. No friends or family. HN for stay current in my industry. A very curated Twitter via a third party client for following specific tech creators. No FB, IG or Reddit. No keeping up with the Jones’s or lusting after others lives. If I want to talk to someone I make a habit of doing it regularly. I text friends and family at…

I do FB for hobbies... The groups can be pretty amazing, from tabletop RPG resources to ham radio hardware support to just watching a favorite musician like Haywyre uploading "musical sketches." There's a lot of good stuff.

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

#219

Post by zepto »

banads wrote: post #191
dave5104 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how books really solve that. If I was interested in following the recent impeachment, what books am I going to read? I'm sure there will be plenty available within the year, but that's a little late for anyone who wants to know what's going on right now.

Books definitely won't help you satisfy impulsive urges for 24/7 live updates on such minutiae; but then again, what practical use would you have for trying to stay perpetually up to date on the current status of the impeachment process?

The impeachment is already forgotten.

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

#220

Post by PTOB »

godelski wrote: post #207
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?

May I suggest consuming news through text rather than video? In fact, the more boring the better. I see a big issue is that the news is frequently emotive based. In some cases this is helpful, when terrible stuff is going on. Other cases it makes mundane things seem worse. Or it makes things that don't affect us and/or we have no control over emotionally important. The latter is particularly harmful, imo. A lot of th…

Where do you get the boring stuff? Please, I'm drowning here.
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