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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

#301

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 still read the news, just to stay up to date, but I gave up trying to engage in discussions about it. I still like discussing politics, but only with close friends who I've known for years, they won't blatantly disregard my opinion because I have a different one.

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

#302
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

This assertions along the lines of "it's a privilege to be able to be politically disengaged" is just an empty slogan weaponizing empathy to guilt whoever it's directed at towards supporting your political leaning. It's also a privilege to be able to be politically engaged. Both ways of being are completely protected and legal (in America at least). And both privileges are available to all - even the disadvantaged gr…

I think the idea is that if you are privileged enough to have the time to be politically engaged, you are morally obligated to use that privilege to make society more just. Failing to do so is a moral failure. Note that this perspective could be equally applied regardless of other frames of reference, e.g. it could equally mean you feel obligated to advocate for UBI or lower taxes, whatever you think would make the biggest difference.

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

#305

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…

My wife is from Canada so I spend a lot of time in BC. The effect of not being surrounded by American news is almost transformative. At my home in austin it can be 6am and "the president did this awful thing...there was a murder over here...the senate did this awful thing...there was a terrorist threat over there..." morning ews in canada is "a bear was spotted in the park and we are facing a syrup shortage."

TLDR: if you want to improve your well being, first recommendation is to start drinking a gallon of water per day. Second recommendation is to avoid the news, especially the political stuff.

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

#306
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the issue with the "i dislike mainstream media" argument is that its usually made by people who have a simultaneous and unspoken desire to have the "correct" information and opinions gift wrapped and personally delivered to them.

contrarians are superficially similar to skeptics.

i like this

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

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would somebody less privileged be negatively affected by not knowing about the news ? Mind you, it's not about being affected by what's in the news, of course you're affected when the government decides on a new policy ... but how does knowing about it on the same day or in the same hour mitigate that?

" of course you're affected when the government decides on a new policy ... but how does knowing about it on the same day or in the same hour mitigate that?" It saves people a nasty surprise when the policies they relied upon fall out from under them, or to try and head off future issues by calling up their representatives. For example, I was able to call up my representative regarding changes in immigration policy.…

I know, imagine if social security went away because hezbollah was killing people. Definitely need to pay attention in case that happens!

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

#308

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…

I refused to get on FB for many years, until I was finally convinced to do it. I never did more than post funny pictures I found around the internet.

And then the next political cycle hit and I straight up quit. I found the political ads more offensive than anything, and I've never been back since.

FB is a terrible place, ignore the poster you're responding to because they very well could be putting on airs while you're trying to be more honest about things. That's the nature of social media, of which HN is included.

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

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world (not the U.S. alone) should engage in a large peacekeeping mission in Syria. Why? Because Syrians aren't subhumans. I'm actually being completely serious when I say that. 500k+ Syrians Arabs have been slaughtered. Tens of thousands are being tortured and raped in ways that would make Satan blush. We're talking about a government that removed the genitals of the 12 year old kid (Hamza Al Khatib) that started…

>The world (not the U.S. alone) should engage in a large peacekeeping mission in Syria. Is this statement actionable? It's hard enough to influence one's own country. How would one get the world to act?

Most interventions into a genocide in the past century were by a coalition of nations. I don’t mean literally every nation on Earth.
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