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Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

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Re: Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

#31

Post by apeace »

ewzimm wrote: post #15

Does anyone else find it hard to personally connect with the well-researched claim that people respond with a fight-or-flight response to ideas that challenge their core beliefs? I've always found ideas to be more interesting the more they challenge my core beliefs. This is true of math and science, but especially true of things like religion. I remember how wonderful it was as a teenager to find challenges to the id…

I can relate to it. Being challenged on a core belief is an uncomfortable feeling for me. I've learned that in order to be open minded I need to pause, listen, and take as much time reflecting as I need before I respond. Oftentimes that means I bow out of a debate with "That's interesting, I hadn't thought of that before, I really want to think about that". For me, it takes a lot of discipline to not give in to the fight-or-flight reaction, and really digest something that challenges me. And I'm not always perfect at it.

Ironically, I feel like online platforms should be a better venue for that type of thing, since it's asynchronous and you don't have people in front of you awaiting your response. Obviously it doesn't tend to work that way, though.

Re: Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

#32

Post by mjevans »

htrp wrote: post #21
ewzimm wrote: post #15

Does anyone else find it hard to personally connect with the well-researched claim that people respond with a fight-or-flight response to ideas that challenge their core beliefs? I've always found ideas to be more interesting the more they challenge my core beliefs. This is true of math and science, but especially true of things like religion. I remember how wonderful it was as a teenager to find challenges to the id…

Public key encryption, especially PGP, is useless in a modern computing context. Windows has solved almost all identity management issues for the end-user base. (did that trigger an emotional response?? It bothered me to write it)

Sadly, I agree with the first half; for normal end users anyway. (Open)PGP / GNUpg are uselessly cumbersome, slow to adapt standards, useful tools that are ill-suited to the needs of most end users and have horrifically bad UI.

The second half is total bunk though, and I'd like to hear how you think that's possibly the case. Maybe there's an angle I'm missing since I don't use that platform for those things. I suspect it was just made up to see what the reactions were.

Re: Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

#33

Post by wuliwong »

haolez wrote: post #12
ramesh31 wrote: post #9

As someone who's recovered from multiple substance addictions in the past, it is so painfully obvious when I see social media addicts. It's literally the exact same behavior. The compulsion, the lack of awareness, the ignoring of friends and loved ones while mindlessly scrolling; it's all there. Social addiction is even more sinister because the feedback loop is scientifically optimized in a way no substance could ev…

No substance could ever match? More powerful than hunger? I strongly challenge that.

I would think a strong challenge would contain _some_ rebuttal?

Re: Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

#35

Post by nonameiguess »

standardUser wrote: post #5
donw wrote: post #2

I disconnected from nearly all social media about four years ago, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I did not even notice the recent Facebook outage in my daily life, and wouldn’t have even been aware of it without HN.

In the past several years I was able to leverage Facebook groups to meet people and find activities when I moved abroad, furnish an apartment when I moved back, discover a niche retro gaming community that I adore, share photos and memories with old friends when a high school friend passed away, collect stories and remembrances that were shared for an uncle who died and share those with his elderly, non-tech parents,…

In contrast, I have done none of those things, but because I have no idea if anyone else I might have otherwise connected with or known has done them, either, I've lost nothing. It's not like I have no one to tell stories to or no communities I'm a part of. I just didn't find them on Facebook. People still tell me when family or close friends die. I didn't become unreachable.

Re: Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

#36

Post by ewzimm »

htrp wrote: post #21
ewzimm wrote: post #15

Does anyone else find it hard to personally connect with the well-researched claim that people respond with a fight-or-flight response to ideas that challenge their core beliefs? I've always found ideas to be more interesting the more they challenge my core beliefs. This is true of math and science, but especially true of things like religion. I remember how wonderful it was as a teenager to find challenges to the id…

Public key encryption, especially PGP, is useless in a modern computing context. Windows has solved almost all identity management issues for the end-user base. (did that trigger an emotional response?? It bothered me to write it)

That's a great one, and it hits close to home. I'm a huge believer of libre software. I'm typing this response in the vim-based text editor of w3m inside a Terminology terminal on dwm. Just today I fully moved the business I manage off the StatusNet/GNU Social network plus OwnCloud which I've run for the last decade to Microsoft Teams because using AzureAD and Office365 was more efficient for everyone. I haven't changed my beliefs, but I appreciate the best solutions wherever I can find them. If a better option comes along, I'll gladly take it!

Re: Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

#37

Post by treeman79 »

itake wrote: post #23
captainmuon wrote: post #14

Are they taking about the same Facebook? I find it utterly boring and only use it for messenger anymore. It used to be addictive, before social media, when it was a social network. You were interacting with real people, you could meet new people, "stalk" people you know IRL, share stuff about yourself or find out stuff about others. You would try to find your crush on FB and check see if you have common acquaintances…

+1. My news feed is like 90% memes and ads. I have like 3 friends that actually make interesting text posts that foster discussions. Everything else is a waste cognitive energy.

I Facebook for support forums for autoimmune conditions. It is drastically better then Reddit for finding answers or suggestions.

Every question gets dozens of answers many of which are very insightful and useful if repetitive.

The sort of stuff that doctors don’t like to explain like my bloodwork says this what does that mean and what should I do next. people will have excellent answers.

Re: Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

#38

Post by speedybird »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #17

Imagine if nicotine had network effects (edit: I mean as strong network effects as fb). You can't quit unless all your friends do too. I hear some alcoholics have a similar challenge when their social life revolves around drinking with peer pressure not to abstain.

My father picked up smoking when he joined the Navy so that he could participate in the smoke breaks. Fortunately he managed to quit when he got out. I wager many started smoking for the same reason, and never quit.

Re: Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

#39

Post by nonameiguess »

ramesh31 wrote: post #9

As someone who's recovered from multiple substance addictions in the past, it is so painfully obvious when I see social media addicts. It's literally the exact same behavior. The compulsion, the lack of awareness, the ignoring of friends and loved ones while mindlessly scrolling; it's all there. Social addiction is even more sinister because the feedback loop is scientifically optimized in a way no substance could ev…

I'm pretty sure there are substances that can match whatever addictive qualities you get from reading a screen. My best friend from high school died while detoxing from alcohol. I'm reasonably sure social media withdrawal is not physically dangerous.

Re: Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit

#40

Post by speedybird »

wuliwong wrote: post #33
haolez wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No substance could ever match? More powerful than hunger? I strongly challenge that.

I would think a strong challenge would contain _some_ rebuttal?

When people get hungry enough, they become willing to eat even their friends and family.
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