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Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

theglobeandmail.com

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Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#101

Post by cameronperot »

sysadm1n wrote: post #52
macksd wrote: post #7

As a side note, I'm a little saddened when I see friends apologize for their posts. There's such a reaction to "influencer culture" that people feel like foodgrams and humblebrags are a terrible thing, and in excess they certainly can be, but I think from most people it's a billion times better than strawman political arguments and manipulative media that is far worse for our mental health than just comparing ourselv…

Stick to messenger apps. It's tough, I know, because of network effects, but I managed to convert about 20 friends of mine to use Signal. I deliberately avoid Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp since they can be intercepted easily, and if you're caught making a joke about ISIS, the Whatsapp police can unencrypt your messages which kinda sucks. Instant messages are more personal and you're not broadcasting your life to 5…

> if you're caught making a joke about ISIS, the Whatsapp police can unencrypt your messages

Would you please clarify this? I know that messages flagged by the recipient can be read by moderators [1], but I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at here.

I'm not defending WhatsApp (I've advocated for Signal since the days of TextSecure), but AFAIK the messages are encrypted using the Signal protocol, so I'm not sure how the "WhatsApp police" would be able to determine if you said something specific without the recipient reporting it.

[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/09/whatsapp-end-to-end-...

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#102

Post by LegitShady »

macksd wrote: post #7

As a side note, I'm a little saddened when I see friends apologize for their posts. There's such a reaction to "influencer culture" that people feel like foodgrams and humblebrags are a terrible thing, and in excess they certainly can be, but I think from most people it's a billion times better than strawman political arguments and manipulative media that is far worse for our mental health than just comparing ourselv…

The only reasons there is value in facebook (to me)

1) To get updates on friends or family I don't talk to regularly, including their garden food pictures.

2) To use facebook marketplace, because in my region its basically taken over the online classifieds and if I want to buy or sell something facebook is the way to go currently.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#103

Post by hcrisp »

xdavidliu wrote: post #26
cblconfederate wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it 's not just missing error bars, this is not a sample, period. so it's not something reliable.

it is a sample. It's just not an unbiased sample [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sample_(statistics)#Kinds_of_s...

Very unbiased. Only sampled people who were online and ostensibly only those who used Facebook. Since maybe ~60% of people use Facebook, I don't think the results speak for _all_ Canadians. If it did that's saying a lot for secondhand effects of social media platforms.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#104

Post by munk-a »

cronix wrote: post #97
munk-a wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is primarily that some folks have moved all of their online connections onto facebook - they've put all of their eggs in that basket. If you want to keep up with them at all you need to at least have the bearest presence on the platform. This is less about that dude from highschool and more about your cousin.

> If you want to keep up with them at all you need to at least have the bearest presence on the platform. So, if you texted "Hey cousin, it's been awhile, how's it going?" you wouldn't get a reply?

To what number? The one they have now or the one they switch to without telling anyone in a few months?

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#105

Post by dclowd9901 »

darkerside wrote: post #17
chickenfries wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you that I wish social media was full of more posts like this, but foodgrams and humble brags as you put it are also one of the reasons I avoid social media these days. Seeing a feed of the best moments of other peoples lives leaves me feeling depressed. "Comparison is the thief of joy." I'm happy for my friends, but seeing it all collected in one place makes my own life feel inadequate. I'm much happier…

It's strange... I thought we were wired as a species to live vicariously, to feel joy when others are blessed, and feel pain when they suffer. You're not the only one that doesn't get that out of Facebook... Why? Is it the quantity? The format? What turns it into a place of covetousness and bitterness?

It's the bias. You _only_ see the best moments out of the lives of others. When watching TV or movies, we used to become depressed about comparing ourselves to celebrities and their silly TV lives, until some of the sheen of Hollywood has been torn down to reveal how utterly awful achieving and keeping a 6-pack of abs can be. Or how 6 broke idiots could never actually afford a huge flat in NYC. Now I think people see it for what it is, and it doesn't depress them anymore.

But seeing people who are your peers, who have mostly followed the same paths as you being far happier and living much full and rich lives (by appearance), and _only_ seeing that, I think, becomes a subtle reminder of your own failings.

We just need to see some of that sheen taken down. If, somehow, we saw _all_ of the shit people go through in their lives, and not just the good, maybe social media would be way different.

Personally, I find it incredibly shallow to post about food you're eating or places you're visiting. That's just money, and you might as well just take a picture of the money you're spending. I prefer to see things people make in my feed (art, woodworking, metalworking, electronics, etc.). It impresses and inspires me to see people out there making the world better with their minds and bodies, not just consuming.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#106

Post by pasquinelli »

chickenfries wrote: post #11
macksd wrote: post #7

As a side note, I'm a little saddened when I see friends apologize for their posts. There's such a reaction to "influencer culture" that people feel like foodgrams and humblebrags are a terrible thing, and in excess they certainly can be, but I think from most people it's a billion times better than strawman political arguments and manipulative media that is far worse for our mental health than just comparing ourselv…

I agree with you that I wish social media was full of more posts like this, but foodgrams and humble brags as you put it are also one of the reasons I avoid social media these days. Seeing a feed of the best moments of other peoples lives leaves me feeling depressed. "Comparison is the thief of joy." I'm happy for my friends, but seeing it all collected in one place makes my own life feel inadequate. I'm much happier…

i also avoid social media, but for the opposite reason. i'm not bothered seeing everyone else's greatest hits, but curating my life and thoughts to present to an audience was wearing me down, and when i finally realized that's what i was doing, i got off it.

presumably there are some personality types that social media works well for, as opposed to personality types that work well for social media, of which there are clearly a lot.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#107

Post by filoleg »

iamdbtoo wrote: post #16
vadfa wrote: post #2

If it's over 50% then it's no problem, they can just quit it without fearing network effects. There will be enough users in the new platform.

The "they can just quit it" part is directly at odds with the "harms their mental health" part. Not being able to quit something that is harming you is at the core of addiction.

We don't ban alcohol, videogames, twitter, tv shows, or buying excessive amounts of food, despite a giant number of people in the US suffering from addiction to those. War on drugs was a failure.

At some point, you have to draw a line at where you take personal responsibility. The utility to those who can use those things I listed above responsibly outweighs the potential danger and plies of those who use "addiction" as their primary argument for bans (aka I have no self-control, so you should not be able to use those things responsibly either).

I am not saying "let's make heroin recreationally legal, just use it responsibly", since both utility and danger are gradients, and for heroin they are of very dubious value. But for something that has no physical addiction component at all, like videogames or facebook, I am sorry, it is on you.

And please, no pedantry with "I get hits of dopamine when I browse my FB feed, so it is a physical addiction too!". This is not what physical addiction means in the context.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#108

Post by pasquinelli »

darkerside wrote: post #17
chickenfries wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you that I wish social media was full of more posts like this, but foodgrams and humble brags as you put it are also one of the reasons I avoid social media these days. Seeing a feed of the best moments of other peoples lives leaves me feeling depressed. "Comparison is the thief of joy." I'm happy for my friends, but seeing it all collected in one place makes my own life feel inadequate. I'm much happier…

It's strange... I thought we were wired as a species to live vicariously, to feel joy when others are blessed, and feel pain when they suffer. You're not the only one that doesn't get that out of Facebook... Why? Is it the quantity? The format? What turns it into a place of covetousness and bitterness?

that's a very simplistic idea of humanity. yes, people can feel joy when others are blessed, but they can feel anything else they can feel also. surely you're familiar with envy at least.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#109

Post by mikepurvis »

chickenfries wrote: post #11
macksd wrote: post #7

As a side note, I'm a little saddened when I see friends apologize for their posts. There's such a reaction to "influencer culture" that people feel like foodgrams and humblebrags are a terrible thing, and in excess they certainly can be, but I think from most people it's a billion times better than strawman political arguments and manipulative media that is far worse for our mental health than just comparing ourselv…

I agree with you that I wish social media was full of more posts like this, but foodgrams and humble brags as you put it are also one of the reasons I avoid social media these days. Seeing a feed of the best moments of other peoples lives leaves me feeling depressed. "Comparison is the thief of joy." I'm happy for my friends, but seeing it all collected in one place makes my own life feel inadequate. I'm much happier…

How do you suppose Tiktok fits into all this? On the one hand, it's still a glamorous best-of reel, but it's also a lot more silliness, with sketch comedy and various remix formats (lipsync, duet, etc) being a big thing, not to mention significant subcommunities posting earnestly about topics like self esteem, mental health, etc (and with the needed community-management tools to enable the resulting discussion to not just become a Twitter-style free for all).

I'm not a super active user, but as an observer, I do wonder if much of it is pushing those same buttons but in a perhaps more subtle way— like a lot of "wellness" creators who cultivate an apparently authentic persona from which to deliver a never ending stream of motivational you're-worth-it type content meant to encourage and uplift, but that ultimately rings a bit hollow.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#110

Post by white-flame »

macksd wrote: post #7

As a side note, I'm a little saddened when I see friends apologize for their posts. There's such a reaction to "influencer culture" that people feel like foodgrams and humblebrags are a terrible thing, and in excess they certainly can be, but I think from most people it's a billion times better than strawman political arguments and manipulative media that is far worse for our mental health than just comparing ourselv…

> Forget the rest of the trash on Facebook

The thing is, Facebook actively pushes the trash at you, because trash content monetizes the best.

The only effective avoidance mechanism is to not use it (unless there's some facebook-specific browser plugin that strips it all out).

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