Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure • Hacker News Board

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#11

Post by dna_polymerase » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:24 AM UTC

purplecats wrote: post #2

> A recent Oxford Internet Institute study also found there was “little association” between social media use and mental health in teenagers. I thought bbc used to be a credible news source. When did they stop being so?

I'd argue that the BBC got the study wrong. The authors state:

> "Our main goal was to investigate how associations between adolescents’ technology use and mental health had changed over time."

And conclude:

> "Although we found little evidence suggesting that technology is becoming more harmful over time, [..]"

There is no need for social media to become more harmful over time to it being bad enough already.

The title of the study (There Is No Evidence That Associations Between Adolescents’ Digital Technology Engagement and Mental Health Problems Have Increased) gives away the constraint really. Yes, okay it did not become worse, but it might be harmful from the beginning.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#12

Post by martin_a » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:27 AM UTC

coddle-hark wrote: post #6

martin_a wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be some kind of mistake, yes. Having a look at what younger relatives are doing for likes and how important recognition and appreciation by friends in social media is for them, I find it hard to believe that there's "little association" when things don't go as planned.

Young people have pretty much always optimised for the recognition and appreciation of their friends though. It’s just more visible to adults now, which is probably a good thing.

Totally, yes. Just thought about how badly I wanted to be one of the cool kids in school. Failed terribly in doing that, and I also know how terrible I felt about that.

That's why I'm wondering when the whole "seeking for appreciation"-thing has moved from real life to Instagram (kind of), are there no bad feelings, feelings of rejection and failure involved, when my new post doesn't get the likes I'm looking for?

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#13

Post by coldtea » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:27 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #8

martin_a wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be some kind of mistake, yes. Having a look at what younger relatives are doing for likes and how important recognition and appreciation by friends in social media is for them, I find it hard to believe that there's "little association" when things don't go as planned.

> Having a look at what younger relatives are doing for likes and how important recognition and appreciation by friends in social media is for them, I find it hard to believe that there's "little association" when things don't go as planned. But...that’s how older generations have always responded to what younger people do for social approval, and older people interpreting what they see that way as a precipitous decl…

>But...that’s how older generations have always responded to what younger people do for social approval

That's a combination of

(a) a relatively modern myth ("It was always that way"),

(b) a cherry-picking from millenia for instances where that did happen (which wasn't "always" - many periods, even for centuries on end, had almost no change between generations regarding lifestyles. For some rural places that was even true for millenia.).

(c) from the cherry-picked cases where it did happen, ignoring the subset that it was also a totally valid criticism (e.g. in the decline of golden-era Athens or the fall of Rome, or the Weimar Republic), when the change in culture and attitudes eventually killed the community/city/republic.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#14

Post by papito » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:28 AM UTC

What I really need is a way to lock myself out of the account, especially Twitter, without suspending it. Like, disable the login for a day, but I am still on the platform. The electric fences I put up myself never work.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#15

Post by e17 » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:28 AM UTC

Moodles wrote: post #5

purplecats wrote: post #2

> A recent Oxford Internet Institute study also found there was “little association” between social media use and mental health in teenagers. I thought bbc used to be a credible news source. When did they stop being so?

I can’t tell if it’s the BBC or perhaps just me getting older (and wiser, or dumber depending on your perspective) but I’d say the BBC has got worse over the last 5 years or so. It’s usually not factually incorrect, but I’ve definitely noticed the story selection and emotive language choice doesn’t seem neutral to me. I can tolerate non-neutral news outlets I guess, but what I dislike is one that purports to be neutr…

It's the BBC that is getting dumber, not you my friend. I check in with the headlines every now and then and every time it's either government propaganda or bullshit Love Island celebrity nonsense.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#16

Post by simonswords82 » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:30 AM UTC

In my view this is Instagram providing platitudes in an attempt get ahead of a growing consensus that social media is bad for people and society overall

The harm inflicted by social media is infinitely more complex and sinister than a simple count of likes on posts.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#17

Post by martin_a » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:31 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #8

martin_a wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be some kind of mistake, yes. Having a look at what younger relatives are doing for likes and how important recognition and appreciation by friends in social media is for them, I find it hard to believe that there's "little association" when things don't go as planned.

> Having a look at what younger relatives are doing for likes and how important recognition and appreciation by friends in social media is for them, I find it hard to believe that there's "little association" when things don't go as planned. But...that’s how older generations have always responded to what younger people do for social approval, and older people interpreting what they see that way as a precipitous decl…

As already written in the other comment: I find this result hard to believe because I think the offline experiences former generations had, would transer to online generations, too.

But yes, the youth is always terrible. I've read that in the Hagakure, but I think it has already been mentioned/been a "fact" in ancient Greece, too. ;-)

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#18

Post by dragonwriter » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:31 AM UTC

coddle-hark wrote: post #6

martin_a wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be some kind of mistake, yes. Having a look at what younger relatives are doing for likes and how important recognition and appreciation by friends in social media is for them, I find it hard to believe that there's "little association" when things don't go as planned.

Young people have pretty much always optimised for the recognition and appreciation of their friends though. It’s just more visible to adults now, which is probably a good thing.

> It’s just more visible to adults now

Its always been visible to adults and has been a perennial complaint of adults about the youth.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#19

Post by headmelted » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:33 AM UTC

Or.. and hear me out here..

Just close your account completely?

We’ve seen a great many of the people that built these systems come forward to explain that not only do they regret their role but that the harm being caused is worse than most people believe.

I’ve also not seen or heard anyone (even people that currently work there) argue that these networks are in any way a net positive for society or the vast majority of participants. This should be a red flag to you as a user.

Maybe we could do something similar to what goes on cigarette packs.

BROWSING STAGED AND MANIPULATED PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR MENTAL HEALTH.

Re: Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

#20

Post by deergomoo » Thu, May 27, 2021, 10:34 AM UTC

Instagram can actually be a nice place, if used as a platform to look at cool pictures and not at all as a social network. I never added any friends or family, I just follow accounts and topics I'm interested in. So my feed is almost entirely pixel art, cool architecture, and retro console mods, and it's very pleasant.

Considering they're Facebook-owned, I see surprisingly little effort to cram low-effort garbage down my throat. I've even bought a couple of things via ads, as they seem to be pretty aligned with my interests (as you would expect from that level of data collection).

The only real issue I've had is that a weirdly large number of people seem to tag their family photos with the #architecture hashtag.