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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

#161

Post by BikiniPrince »

Pxtl wrote: post #131
johnchristopher wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really do believe there's a solution for that. We need whatsapp/telegram/signal to display a feed based on user's status and nothing more. It's almost free, frictionless and free from ads (for now). But sharing without the widest audience (just to the social graph of your contacts). It could bring back Google+'s circles so you don't share the same stuff with colleagues and friends and family, but your feed page wou…

Imho, the big toxic thing on Facebook wasn't the "news", it was "your friend liked this" and "your friend commented on this". That's where we get inundated with awfulness. My friends don't post/share terrible stuff, but they do occasionally interact with terrible stuff.

Well if you learn to live your life and enjoy time with your friends you will be much happier.

I don’t care what my friends are doing outside of our interactions. Maybe if they started to murder puppies in their spare time.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#162

Post by klyrs »

cronix wrote: post #67

I'm getting kind of tired of the narrative that "x is evil/bad/harmful, but I'm too weak (we won't admit addiction) to not use x. Everyone I know uses x. Government needs to regulate x (so I don't have to change my ways)." I deleted my account over a year ago now, because I do view them as evil and do cause overall societal harm. It's not life ending. You'll adjust and then wonder why you didn't do it sooner. I made…

Good for you, and, I quit too. But the reason I joined is that I miss out on a lot of in-person interactions, because friends of mine use fb to invite folks to events. What you're describing as a "superficial relationship" was actually "membership of a few small groups." Interacting with those people was a positive in my life, and I miss them. It's not just okay, but actually healthy, to have relationships that aren't lifelong and deep.

I bemoan the loss of "church community" despite never having been a churchgoer. It's nice to show up, blend in, make time with a few familiar faces, and leave. Non-intense social interactions are good. People who only have intense social interactions tend to have bad social anxiety, because their brain isn't accustomed to anything between zero and 100. The good part about fb is that it can be used to facilitate that. I'd happily have a profile on the Facebook Events platform, if it existed as a separate product. But since it necessarily comes with all the other baggage, it's healthier for me to miss out.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#163

Post by CJefferson »

cronix wrote: post #67

I'm getting kind of tired of the narrative that "x is evil/bad/harmful, but I'm too weak (we won't admit addiction) to not use x. Everyone I know uses x. Government needs to regulate x (so I don't have to change my ways)." I deleted my account over a year ago now, because I do view them as evil and do cause overall societal harm. It's not life ending. You'll adjust and then wonder why you didn't do it sooner. I made…

Isn't "x is evil/bad/harmful. Government needs to regulate x." basically the entire purpose of society?

I enjoy living in a society, and not having to worry about if every food I eat might poison me, or every bridge I walk over might fall down. If we decide, as a society, it would be better to ban Facebook, why shouldn't we?

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#164

Post by kansface »

cronix wrote: post #67

I'm getting kind of tired of the narrative that "x is evil/bad/harmful, but I'm too weak (we won't admit addiction) to not use x. Everyone I know uses x. Government needs to regulate x (so I don't have to change my ways)." I deleted my account over a year ago now, because I do view them as evil and do cause overall societal harm. It's not life ending. You'll adjust and then wonder why you didn't do it sooner. I made…

> Real relationships don't depend on x platform. All they require is you, and the other person.

Hear Hear!

> Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

Then don't use it!

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#165

Post by Unklejoe »

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?

> feel joy when others are blessed, and feel pain when they suffer.

Most people will probably acknowledge that it's more complicated than that. I think it might have to do with how easily comparable the other person's life is to our own.

I can't explain it well, but here's an example:

I saw a video of a child surprising their step-dad with paperwork for the official name change (kid accepting the Dad's last name). The Dad cried out of joy.

The video made me feel good.

On the other hand, seeing someone that I graduated highschool with getting promoted and being more successful than me makes me jealous.

Why? Because he has something and I don't, but would be within the realm of possibility to achieve. This behavior can also be observed in monkeys, so I don't question it too much.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#166

Post by Unklejoe »

It always seemed pretty obvious to me.

Everyone is fake on social media, but it's not always apparent that it's fake (it it was, then it would defeat the purpose).

What happens when it seems like literally everyone is living a better life than you? You feel like shit.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#167

Post by RealityVoid »

whimsicalism wrote: post #139
RealityVoid wrote: post #50

I used to think, untill recently, that Facebook was just a tool and all this hatred was overblown. After all, I modulated my use of it just fine. My usage is sparse, and I use messenger to talk with people I know, it kept us together. I can see how community and bringing old friends together is precious. But, recently, I realized someone I used to be very close has mental problems. Undiagnosed, but there is no other…

I think FB is probably bad, but I've also noticed that people have a tendency to blame delusional mental illnesses on whatever a person was going through/up to at the time it onset when it is often more like a timer went off.

Yes, most likely the ilness would be there even without Facebook. But the platform enables some destructive behavior while in the real life, I hope, more productive support structures could exist.

While mental illness is something you might be biologically predisposed, the outcome can vary wildly with or without support structures and good help. And I think on this end Facebook is profoundly destructive.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#168

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#169

Post by themacguffinman »

CJefferson wrote: post #163
cronix wrote: post #67

I'm getting kind of tired of the narrative that "x is evil/bad/harmful, but I'm too weak (we won't admit addiction) to not use x. Everyone I know uses x. Government needs to regulate x (so I don't have to change my ways)." I deleted my account over a year ago now, because I do view them as evil and do cause overall societal harm. It's not life ending. You'll adjust and then wonder why you didn't do it sooner. I made…

Isn't "x is evil/bad/harmful. Government needs to regulate x." basically the entire purpose of society? I enjoy living in a society, and not having to worry about if every food I eat might poison me, or every bridge I walk over might fall down. If we decide, as a society, it would be better to ban Facebook, why shouldn't we?

If we decide as a society that certain races are evil/bad/harmful and should have fewer rights, would that make it okay?

Just because a lot of people agree on something doesn't make it right or good. I'm not sure where you get the idea that society is just a platform for banning unpopular things. A lot of modern civics was designed specifically to counter that actually, things like constitutional laws, representative democracy, high courts, political parties; they all serve to counterbalance and moderate the pure majority opinion on how to run society.

You know, I also enjoy living in a society and not having to worry if any media I want to use or any business I ran might be banned because someone somewhere didn't like it.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#170

Post by [deleted] »

cronix wrote: post #67

I'm getting kind of tired of the narrative that "x is evil/bad/harmful, but I'm too weak (we won't admit addiction) to not use x. Everyone I know uses x. Government needs to regulate x (so I don't have to change my ways)." I deleted my account over a year ago now, because I do view them as evil and do cause overall societal harm. It's not life ending. You'll adjust and then wonder why you didn't do it sooner. I made…

[deleted]
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