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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

#391

Post by DonaldFisk »

kungtotte wrote: post #386
DonaldFisk wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I'm arguing for is to stay well-informed, and that usually involves delving a bit deeper than just passively listening to news broadcasts or passively reading news sites. Yes, you can visit web sites which help you to decide who to vote for by asking you questions (and which, incidentally, collect your responses for whatever purpose they choose), but your answers, and the recommendation of who to vote for, might…

I totally buy your argument that an informed public is a good thing and a requirement for a functioning democracy. I vehemently disagree that the current news media is the way to reach that goal. As things stand as of this moment I think we would be better off if nobody read the news. Misinformed is no better than uninformed, and often worse.

> I vehemently disagree that the current news media is the way to reach that goal.

Yes, you need to learn what's happening, and why, from a variety of sources.

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

#392

Post by sykick »

celticmusic wrote: post #371
sykick wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You appear to be upset. I'm sorry that what I wrote made you think that I'm immoral and that I'm a piece of shit. This exchange exemplifies what started all these threads. That is, that it's better off for people to quit social media. Had we discussed this in person I'm certain you'd not think I'm a piece of shit. What's missing in internet discussions like this is the assumption we make about people when we first me…

more pretense. I'm condemning you and your stance in no uncertain terms, the way I would a man who stood by and allowed the rape of children while they considered the act from the perspective of the perpretrator. People like you actively make this world worse through your rationalized inaction.

I have not written anything to suggest that I advocate standing by while children are raped or that the U.S. should not have fought WWII. Indeed I specifically wrote that the U.S. should have fought WWII. How does one draw such wild and clearly false conclusions? You should try reading what I wrote without already forming a conclusion. I didn’t even say that intervention in Syria was wrong. I just said that the situation there was nuanced and suggested that in depth analysis was warranted. How does that imply anything about my beliefs on WWII or the rape of children?

You’ve committed numerous argumentative fallacies. It behooves you to reflect on your responses and reflect on how it came to pass that you think a person who claims the situation in Syria is complicated implies they are a piece of shit and implies that they would not try to stop Hitler.

Where have I suggested that inaction is always the best course? Where have I suggested that intervention is never warranted?

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

#393

Post by sykick »

pbourke wrote: post #356
sykick wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty damning conclusion given the paucity of evidence to support it. Are you so sure you have enough facts to determine that I'm morally corrupt? What evidence do you have that I think there is no act so atrocious that I wouldn't act without considering the nuance? All you know about me is that in the case of Syria I think it's nuanced. I haven't made any statements about other situations so how can such a…

> Did we invade China to prevent the mass killings that occurred under Mao? Did we invade Cambodia to prevent the Khmer Rouge? Did we really care when Saddam gassed Iraqi Kurds? Why did we support Saddam invading Iran but not Kuwait? Where was our moral outrage at the former? Where was our moral outrage when Latin American dictators brutalized peasants whilst we supported them militarily? You're citing these as prece…

Let me try to say my position in a different way. Clearly genocide is wrong and it would be great if it were stopped every time it happens. Humans are easily manipulated and in this era of Facebook we can see the result of this fact. Something as obviously stupid as being anti-vaccination has gained traction. If we can convince large numbers of people that something so clearly beneficial as vaccinations are in fact dangerous then how much easier is it to convince large numbers of people that in Country A something bad is happening and we need to invade?

If invading another country can be reduced, in its essence, to “we are good, they are bad” then this effectively gives carte blanche to those in power with bad intent. They just need to easily manipulate the masses into thinking that Country A is bad.

The U.S. has been fantastically inconsistent when it comes to intervening for humanitarian reasons. It has effectively become the case that if those in power don’t like the leadership in a given country they just need to drum up moral outrage in order to unleash our military forces. This is a bad state of affairs because it is so easy to paint a given country in a bad light. Since thoughtful consideration is not a requisite for military action we tend to engage in military conflicts for dubious reasons and for short terms goals without considering long term implications. This is bad as I see things.

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

#394

Post by wayoutthere »

ajross wrote: post #56
banana_giraffe wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 e…

> 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

This was part of the problem for me; it made me think I had more friends than I actually did. What I really had was an app that showed me what everyone I used to know at some point was up to, and many of us start to mistake that for friendship. At some point I had the epiphany that I don't really know the kids from my high school friend circle anymore, and keeping up with them doesn't improve my life. We had our time, the friendship fizzled out as they tend to do, and the healthiest thing for me was to just move on.

My life improved after quitting Facebook because it forced me to be more intentional with who I spend my time on. Rather than passively blasting everyone's news feed with something, I send it individually to the people I want to see it. It makes me be an active participant in friendships, which is something I've had trouble with (at least when using Facebook).

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

#395

Post by anderber »

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?

ProPublica to me is the best. Of course they don't cover everything, but what they do cover, they do an excellent job.

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

#396

Post by izzydata »

INTPenis wrote: post #382
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?

It's far from complete ignorant bliss, things aren't that black and white. Another commenter said I would have missed the nationalist party in germany starting to harass jews if I didn't watch the news. My reply below: I'm pretty sure I would hear about kids breaking shop owners windows for being of a certain cultural origin. Even without checking the news. Like I said, some news manages to filter through to me. And…

Complete ignorance is the conclusion of that line of thinking. The fact that this person hears "some" news is only an unfortunate consequence of existing in a world with other people. If they could they would remove that from their lives too so they could be even happier.

Complete ignorance was the premise of my remark so it doesn't really make sense to say it's far from complete ignorance.

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

#398

Post by banads »

pbourke wrote: post #361
banads wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> What degree of practical responsibility does a person in Brazil have for something bad happening to someone in Sierra Leone? That's a great example. The hypothetical Brazilian could vote for a politician that does not promote burning the rainforest [1], which contributes to the negative effects of climate change on the people of Sierra Leone [2] [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49450925 [2] https://…

How does abstaining from watching the news prevent someone from being able to vote for a politician that claims to care about climate change?

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

#399

Post by polishdude20 »

minusSeven wrote: post #339
projektfu wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The news these days has no attention span and pounds on the most catchy story all day. Right now it's novel coronavirus. I bet people who watch CNN are highly stressed out about it. I caught a few minutes during a tour of the CNN center and I was glad I won't be seeing that reporting all day. As soon as a more gruesome story comes along, the reporting will change, it'll forget about the virus, and life will go on. Th…

This is easy to say and hard to accomplish in reality. Unless you give specific to dos and don'ts, you will have to change a lot of your habits.

It's almost as if large scale change requires a great effort.

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

#400

Post by MockObject »

apatters wrote: post #317
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?

Here's the secret, most "news" makes your view of the world less accurate, not more. So like with many things, the key is quality over quantity. Check out the Media Bias Chart: https://www.adfontesmedia.com/static-mbc/?v=402f03a963ba To know what's going on you only need 10 minutes a day skimming stories from a few outlets at the top of the triangle. You can have a remarkably well rounded knowledge of global affairs…

> Check out the Media Bias Chart: https://www.adfontesmedia.com/static-mbc/?v=402f03a963ba

Where NPR, NYT, and CNN are deemed neutral and balanced, eh?

Such determinations say more about the determiner than the determined.

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