Facebook is an addiction treadmill most may never be able to quit • Hacker News Board

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

#111

Post by suzzer99 » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 9:57 PM UTC

ramesh31 wrote: post #13

standardUser wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

This is always the response. But I would say ask yourself, do you truly need these things? Or are the fleeting superficial connections that you maintain through social media simply distracting you from seeking truly meaningful interactions, and substituting an artificial (although comforting) facade in its' place? If you truly care about someone, you will call and talk to them. Or orient your life in a way that facil…

I drove from Mexico to Panama. The Pan-American highway group and several of the expat groups were indispensable sources of information.

I was able to get out of Nicaragua during the big protests in 2018 because someone on the Nicaragua expat group told me they were letting foreign-plated vehicles through the roadblocks. I never would have had the nerve otherwise to walk up and say, "Hey, I'm an American, that makes me special, please let me through."

Several hiking groups here in LA have also been invaluable for me.

Not everyone has the same lived experience.

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

#112

Post by fsckboy » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

ljm wrote: post #107

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…

> Are they taking about the same Facebook? I find it utterly boring and only use it for messenger anymore You are not 'most people' then

he wrote a substantive post, the main thrust of which you're not responding to.

what he said is how captivating he found facebook before they made a number of changes to it. So he is actually saying he is a part of most people, give what he says some creedence.

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

#113

Post by itake » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

nmstoker wrote: post #103

itake wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly could curate my following list more, but that takes too much time. Manually unfollowing ~1.1k is boring. Also, I am in FB groups b/c at one point they were important to me (like looking for housing in SF). I don't exactly want to leave the group b/c I know I will need it later, nor do I want to deal with unfollowing all of the groups I don't are about.

Sounds like being the FB equivalent of an IRL hoarder! Why not drop out the groups and rejoin in the unlikely event you really do need them later? Most people I know get by very well with no FB groups at all.

I've certainly done left and rejoined before. I worry that Group moderators might not allow me back in (either they stop accepting new members or get annoyed at someone for jumping in and out). Also, there is some friction with joining Groups. Group owners ask filter questions and delay admissions by days. You can "unfollow" groups, but that requires a few clicks.

FB groups are the best way for me to find roommate-style housing. "{city|country} expat" Groups help me plan my travels and answer questions. I don't know of other platforms that provide this service for me at low costs.

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

#114

Post by coliveira » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 10:03 PM UTC

colpabar wrote: post #50

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…

I deleted my account several years ago and tried to get my girlfriend at the time to do the same thing. She was in favor of the idea, but facebook would show her a bunch of people with a message like "but what about all these people, won't you miss them?" and it did a great job of picking people who she most likely would not have kept in contact with if not for facebook, so she never deleted it. I think FOMO is the m…

You don't need to delete your account, you just need to delete the app in your phone and the job is done.

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

#115

Post by rvbissell » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 10:05 PM UTC

haswell wrote: post #60

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 grew up in a very religious (technically a cult) setting. Earlier in my life, I believed some of it. I bristled at the suggestion that what I'd been taught might be wrong. I relished in the opportunity to practice "apologetics" and debate non-believers - a concept that appealed to me deeply at the time. And then, I grew up and left the bubble. I was fortunate enough to get a job working with people who held diverse…

I'm not sure why you were net-downvoted; your anecdote was on-topic, relative to the comment you replied to.

I have a similar background, and your use of 'of this world' may possibly indicate that we both suffered at the hands of the same cult.

Within myself, I have personally experienced both the fight-or-flight reaction to dis-confirming datapoints, and also excitement at learning something new. The former happened more often when I was still in the clutches of the cult. I think it boils down to how psychologically invested you are in your beliefs, at the time of feeling the cognitive dissonance.

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

#116

Post by rvbissell » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 10:11 PM UTC

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 suspect it depends on how much social and psychological equity you have invested in the core beliefs, when they get challenged. If you've never experienced much indoctrination, I can completely understand why it would be hard for you to relate.

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

#117

Post by amelius » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 10:12 PM UTC

gfxgirl wrote: post #41

itake wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+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.

maybe you need to curate your feed? mine is no memes and few ads which I ignore. it's all posts from family and friends . also stopped following friends who I aren't close and friends that post too much

If you unfollow people, Facebook will just fill the gap in your newsfeed with more stupid memes and ads.

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

#118

Post by harpersealtako » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 10:17 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #73

ramoz wrote: post #19

The author who wrote this has tweeted, on average, 1-2x a day for 10 years. https://twitter.com/jaronschneider Twitter has by far become a more egregious platform for society (an information/propagation architecture that exploits how people process information, imo). For me, Facebook is nothing more than a hometown forum. I havent logged on in months.

> Twitter has by far become a more egregious platform for society I'm always surprised that Reddit gets a free pass in these discussions. Reddit has been home to some of the most egregious bad communities and misinformation hives. Their invisible-hand moderation system allows a small number of moderators to completely control the conversation in a subreddit. Banning dissenters and removing comments that don't agree w…

I think the hypocrisy isn't as much as you might think. Think of it like this: Facebook is like Walmart, Reddit is like a shopping mall. Malls and Walmarts have plenty of garbage products alike, but at Walmart you HAVE to walk past garbage to get to the thing you want, whereas at a mall you can just beeline straight to the one store you want to go to.

I can't avoid things I don't want to see in facebook unless I have zero friends and only subscribe to community topics (eventually a friend will post a link or opinion on a topic I don't want to see in social media), but if I literally only care about pictures of bees, I can just exclusively follow the pictures of bees subreddit.

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

#119

Post by BitwiseFool » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 10:23 PM UTC

npunt wrote: post #79

BitwiseFool wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Twitter has by far become a more egregious platform for society" Absolutely. Not only are the people on Twitter much more toxic, the trending feed is way more prone to manipulation and influence campaigns. If I don't know someone directly on Facebook, I'm probably never going to see their stupid hot-takes. No such separation on Twitter. Also, whenever I scroll through Facebook, more than half the posts are advertis…

I wouldn't take your personal experience on Facebook to be universal. Being a public social network, Twitter's toxicity and distortions are much more visible than Facebook's, and the user experience is far less varied because of common touchpoints like Trending Topics and celebrity posters. Facebook is a far more unique experience per user, so personal experience isn't a great way to understand others experience. A l…

I'm never logged in as a user and I don't have an account. So I imagine what I see is likely what other people tend to see if not logged in.

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

#120

Post by ed_elliott_asc » Wed, Oct 06, 2021, 10:25 PM UTC

root_axis wrote: post #105

ed_elliott_asc wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think my wife is addicted, she will pick up her phone to do one thing but first goes to Facebook and scrolls, then she forgets what she was using her phone for. Maybe not addicted but she has a habit of going to Facebook every time she uses her phone.

That doesn't seem at all like addiction to me, that's just a mundane routine. If she had a panic attack when FB went down this week then I think we could say it's an addiction.

I think you are right, I was interested what would happen while it was down and she was fine once she knew it was down, until then she kept saying her internet wasn’t working.