131–140 of 486 posts
What I think is, it's the comparison and less focus span, that leads us anxious. Though social media has a role to play in this. We also have to accept the fact that it has become a part of our lives, so understanding the core of problems we face would work in long run.
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I think social media is like our generations tobacco, everyone uses it and it is considered fashionable and cool but eventually it will start to come to light how unhealthy and insidious all the data harvesting, time sinks and gamifying social interactions at scale can be, especially with children who have much of the spare time to dedicate to it.
I think it’s like combining the addictiveness of tobacco with the time sink of television. Tobacco is addictive but I’m not sure if it is a time sink.
For me, I've found that social media doesn't affect my level of happiness and/or anxiety directly. What it does do, is take up a lot of my time almost imperceptibly - leaving less time for other, more meaningful activities. It makes me feel like I'm running out of time every day, which in turn causes a feeling of anxiety.
I think social media is like our generations tobacco, everyone uses it and it is considered fashionable and cool but eventually it will start to come to light how unhealthy and insidious all the data harvesting, time sinks and gamifying social interactions at scale can be, especially with children who have much of the spare time to dedicate to it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my opinion, yes. HN has been a significant contributor to my cynicism. There have been enough submissions in the past where I already knew what to expect from the comments section, especially in cases where my stance on the matter is already firm/obvious (such as with tech regulation, climate change, complaints about Twitter threads being reposted to HN, articles about social media dooming us like this one). My re…
Every time I see a Firefox announcement of any kind I know the top comment will be a link to bugzilla showing some 15 year old bug that the commenter thinks is absolutely critical or something about the CEOs pay. Maybe if you are lucky, page 2 has comments about the actual article.
However, I have noticed that this trend is starting to change so there is hope! I am not sure if it is because the HN community has changed, or if Google has changed its public perception (unlikely I expect)
For me, I've found that social media doesn't affect my level of happiness and/or anxiety directly. What it does do, is take up a lot of my time almost imperceptibly - leaving less time for other, more meaningful activities. It makes me feel like I'm running out of time every day, which in turn causes a feeling of anxiety.
In topics like these on HN, people often compare social media (SM) with tobacco/drugs. I still disagree with this comparison. For one, social media is not inherently bad like smoking/some drugs. The only SM I use currently is Instagram. I spend 30 minutes or less per day and I’m usually happy at the end. In fact I would argue IG made me a better person — I got into fitness, helped me connect with a football club I no…
These sorts of responses always come up to these kinds of posts and, with respect, they always seem to come down to: "I don't have any issues with social media so I can't see why anyone else does" But imagine saying to an alcoholic: "I can have a few beers on a Friday night and then stop, and so can the majority of my friends, so I dont see what the problem is."
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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…
And you could say the same about social media. I'm on facebook. I get no outrage. I unfollowed anyone who posts it and FB doesn't insert any. As an example right now my FB feed is: > Picture of a the blood moon eclipse a friend took > A Picture of a CD cover of a song a friend is listing too > Pictures from my sister visiting her best friend in another state. > A funny gif from a friend making fun of crypto crashing…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
And you could say the same about social media. I'm on facebook. I get no outrage. I unfollowed anyone who posts it and FB doesn't insert any. As an example right now my FB feed is: > Picture of a the blood moon eclipse a friend took > A Picture of a CD cover of a song a friend is listing too > Pictures from my sister visiting her best friend in another state. > A funny gif from a friend making fun of crypto crashing…
I'm latching onto your post because a number of those are advertisements / promotions; social media has turned a lot of people into unpaid marketeers. In a sense, I mean I get that people are fans of e.g. TV shows, but still. Anyway here's some that I think are advertisements in disguise:
> A Picture of a CD cover of a song a friend is listing too
> A poster of the new Japanese Ultraman movie and a friend saying he saw it and really enjoyed it and is looking forward to the Masked Rider movie.
> A friend saying he loved the video game "The Final Station"
> A friend posting a link to a music video she loves
> A friend posting about a game they made at a game jam
> A friend saying he started doing trip planning for families going to Disneyland.
> My aunt posting a picture of flowers my uncle bought her.
> A friend posting about a show he went to in Argentina
> A friend who makes one off dresses on etsy posting her latest creations
> A friend posting he likes "Picard" but it should have had a "Shut up, Wesley" scene.