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At Facebook / Meta, employees often questioned Mark Zuckerberg whenever a study like this came out. Zuckerberg noted that the same held true for news media. Reporters do not like to mention this.
Does this include HN? Asking for a friend. Snark aside, why is this a recurring obsession of HN posters?
The topic is related to technology (and thus easier to justify as relevant to the forum) and has a low barrier of entry to discuss. A significant majority of people in Western countries use social media and it doesn't require technical knowledge, so it's easier to share opinions about it.
Reading HN threads on social media is almost like consuming junk food: the arguments are predictable but comfortable and easy to digest. It's enjoyable in a perverse way, though not a real source of growth as the ideas aren't as hard to struggle with (versus threads on more technical topics).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Social media isn't the world, or a big matter. One can still read/engage with the news without having to deal with as many dark patterns. We don't have a public digital square, but I'm not going to help Zuckerberg et al further privatize it at my own mental expense.
idk about that, a lot of news sources feel like they're optimizing for clicks too. where is some boring neutral news? then am i to broken to even stick with something like at this point lol maybe i need the clickbait i agree with the main point, social media isnt the world. i think people forget that
In print form. That comes to your physical mailbox.
Newspapers are OK, but magazines are better, if you want "State of the world, processed and digested, after the fact, without the outrage of the moment leaking in."
I subscribe to... honestly more than I get around to reading fully, but part of it is to simply say, "Yes, I value this type of writing and information, please keep producing it."
There's some real things I want to appreciate & root into here, but as a geek growing up, one of my greatest & most persistence annoyances was how easy & happy it was for so many around me to pick being so ignorant, so blind, so insular. Heck yes ignoring the world & big matters makes you happier. Heck yes keeping blinders on & seeing less is safer, more secure, simpler. But fuck that. Fuck ignorance. Face things, se…
Social media isn't the world, or a big matter. One can still read/engage with the news without having to deal with as many dark patterns. We don't have a public digital square, but I'm not going to help Zuckerberg et al further privatize it at my own mental expense.
Is it the dark patterns that are causing anxiety and depression?
Does this include HN? Asking for a friend. Snark aside, why is this a recurring obsession of HN posters?
For me it includes HN.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Social media isn't the world, or a big matter. One can still read/engage with the news without having to deal with as many dark patterns. We don't have a public digital square, but I'm not going to help Zuckerberg et al further privatize it at my own mental expense.
> One can still read/engage with the news without having to deal with as many dark patterns. Is it the dark patterns that are causing anxiety and depression?
Imo the social media panic is mostly people afraid of genuineness & earnesty, or people jist afraid of an idea they dont at all have any connection to or understanding of.
There is a very very real problem that this world lacks accessible role models. That we dont know who to look to, that we dont have local examples. That's not a social media problem: that's just ehat happens when the well-to-do parts of the economy stratify up & up & up & real living gets trashy cheap & hard. Some people fall for the shallow signs that are projected, on social media or in other cultural distribution mechanisms (music is a big longstanding distributor of cultue for example). But the lack of real meaning far far far outstripsy concern with social mediacs ability to let shallow symbols spread.
At Facebook / Meta, employees often questioned Mark Zuckerberg whenever a study like this came out. Zuckerberg noted that the same held true for news media. Reporters do not like to mention this.
Depends on the news source. There is a noticeable difference between Tweets and unverified Facebook posts, news media from Buzzfeed or Salon, articles from a local newspaper, articles from The New York Times/Washington Post, and articles from the Financial Times or The Wall Street Journal. Not all news is designed for outrage. Several publications publish in-depth articles in a neutral way, where you can actually lea…
I don't think I get anxiety from content "designed for outrage". But if I go to the front page of the Washington Post, here's what I see:
>Buffalo shooting suspect wrote of plans months ago, online messages show
>Only 22 saw the Buffalo shooting live. Millions have seen it since.
>A barrage of ‘never-ending gunshots’: Inside the Buffalo massacre
>Ukraine ends bloody battle for Mariupol, evacuates fighters in steel plant
>Republicans are bringing extremism to the mainstream
>White Americans must speak out against white supremacy
>Russia is losing. That might make Putin more dangerous.
I'd say that these headlines are more in the "giving me anxiety" camp than not.
At Facebook / Meta, employees often questioned Mark Zuckerberg whenever a study like this came out. Zuckerberg noted that the same held true for news media. Reporters do not like to mention this.
Yes, the correct headline and takeaway should be: "Taking a break from ALL media makes you happier", or rather, "go outside and spend time with real people".
I also shifted how I get news: I don't read or watch "event-oriented" journalism (aka, reporting) and shifted entirely to analysis (through radio and press). The biggest win is that the timeframe is different, as analysis requires perspective, opposite to reporting which only focuses on the now.
I feel like I have a better, deeper, understanding of the world now, and with a slower pace, allowing a quieter perspective (which does not prevent from objective worry wrt current events).