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Instagram lets users hide likes to reduce social media pressure

bbc.com

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

#81

Post by codyb »

durovo wrote: post #45
offtop5 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll give it another 5 years before social media is viewed on the same level as cigarettes. The best thing I've ever done for my mental health was deleting social media. I realize I'm not significant enough to argue of other people about my own life. As long as you're not harming anyone else you're free to do whatever you want. Social media says no you have to shape your entire life around what people you'll never me…

And now you hang out at HN which is totally different from social media. Where people never seek approval from the masses. Chastising other people as a concept does not exist on HN. HN, the not-social media, does not even have a concept of likes.

This is the only social media I use anymore and while I still may drop it, and while I still do occasionally check my karma after posting, it’s easily the most rewarding social media experience I’ve dealt with given the concentration of talent; and the emphasis on quality, interesting content.

You’re not wrong of course, but it feels a bit exaggerated.

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

#82

Post by 72deluxe »

elliekelly wrote: post #78
72deluxe wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried just not using it?? Or developing self control?? Surely it's like saying bottles need to be harder to get into because I like drinking alcohol too much... Or cars need to accelerate slower because I love speeding and can't resist permanently holding down the accelerator pedal, even at risk to my own health and wellbeing

We add deliberate friction to dangerous activities all the time. Speed bumps, for example, for those who lack the “self control” to follow the posted limits.

That's a good point, but we don't only sell blunt knives in case someone goes on a stabbing rampage.

Nobody would blame the knife for the rampage.

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

#83

Post by 72deluxe »

hhh wrote: post #47
72deluxe wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried just not using it?? Or developing self control?? Surely it's like saying bottles need to be harder to get into because I like drinking alcohol too much... Or cars need to accelerate slower because I love speeding and can't resist permanently holding down the accelerator pedal, even at risk to my own health and wellbeing

I don’t think this is a fair comparison. Phones are on people essentially 24/7 now, there are few/no times where you are not connected. For alcoholism, a fair comparison would be a flask that buzzes to remind you it’s there and tell you there’s something you should check inside. Telling people to just ‘develop self control’ is extremely hard when on a societal scale, these services are becoming increasingly interwove…

All choices have effects. If you are suffering mentally due to your activities and cutting out causes "social suffering", surely it is an active choice where you decide one is greater than the other?? And even more so in the case of your mental health - what's more important, your mental health or seeing photos of your friend's dog?

What even is "suffering socially"? If I am an alcoholic and decide to quit drinking, is it the local pub's fault if I won't see my friends again? I am surely "suffering socially" as all my friends are at the pub.

An individual's actions weigh on that individual alone. I don't see how you could say otherwise? If I walk out of a room of people, who else should it weigh on? I walked out of the room.

If I leave the local bowling club, is it their fault I won't see them as often? I quit the bowling club, not the other way around.

You are right that some things are interwoven but they are not mandatory. People survived in the 1980s without the Internet, without Facebook and without Instagram. How did they ever manage??

Or are you saying that I need to use Instagram to be able to live a normal life? If so, I don't exist because I don't have an Instagram account. And that was a deliberate decision - it weighed on me alone.

If we replaced the word "Instagram" with "AOL", you can see how faddish such "necessary" tech is and how blown-out-of-proportion the issues with not having an account are. Imagine the horror of not being on AOL in the 90s... yet people survived. Or replace "Instagram" with "Bebo" or "MySpace" - is it still necessary to have such things??

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

#86

Post by ezekg »

patrickmcnamara wrote: post #43
totaldex wrote: post #10

Even with positive intentions, I'm not convinced this will solve the problem in any meaningful way. Turning off likes might be perceived as someone being unhappy with their social media status relative to their peers (ie, not getting as many 'likes' as their friends), which signals its own stigma. Users will be forced into a new dilemma: Enable likes and accept the 'social media pressure', or announce to everyone tha…

When they were testing this in Ireland over the last year, there was no option to see likes at all. That probably makes more sense than this.

Up until recently, that was the case for my IG account as well. I'm based in the US.

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

#87

Post by mumblemumble »

durovo wrote: post #45
offtop5 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll give it another 5 years before social media is viewed on the same level as cigarettes. The best thing I've ever done for my mental health was deleting social media. I realize I'm not significant enough to argue of other people about my own life. As long as you're not harming anyone else you're free to do whatever you want. Social media says no you have to shape your entire life around what people you'll never me…

And now you hang out at HN which is totally different from social media. Where people never seek approval from the masses. Chastising other people as a concept does not exist on HN. HN, the not-social media, does not even have a concept of likes.

For my part, HN is the only thing like social media I still use. (Though I'm deliberately not counting things like irc and discord.) And now that I've been off social media long enough for my baselines to shift, I'm realizing I have some similar problems here, too. There's a difference in magnitude, of course, but not so much in form.

So, yeah, you're absolutely right. And lately I've been actively considering canceling my subscription and spending more time just reading books.

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

#89

Post by alistairSH »

deergomoo wrote: post #20

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 dow…

Same.

On IG, I follow a minimal number of family/friends (basically people I see in meat-space at least monthly, plus a very few childhood friends who I still see when we're in the same town). Beyond that, I follow a few cycling and car feeds.

On FB, I actively unfollwed or defriended everybody but family. 99% of my FB use today is marketplace groups and that's 2-3x week.

I've been much less stressed after making those changes. No more anxiety-porn in the feeds. No more politics. Etc. Just close friends, bicycles, and sometimes cute animals my wife forwards.

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

#90

Post by 72deluxe »

geden wrote: post #84

Now we just need Spotify to hide play counts... These have a terrible effect on artists.

Yes, and also need to hide the speedometer in cars because my mother-in-law drives incredibly slowly and being a passenger has a negative effect on my mental health.

We also need to abolish the "top apps" features in the various app stores because my apps didn't sell well and it had a terrible effect on me.

We also need to ensure that everyone in the Formula 1 finishes at the same time, holding hands, because the "losers" at the end didn't win and they felt bad....

Where does the madness end?? It turns out that life is unfair - who knew?!

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