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Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

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Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#291

Post by guerrilla »

lrvick wrote: post #220
id wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If other people find their ideal job, have a tropical vacation, etc. it makes me feel... good? Those are good things in general, although the tropical vacation might make me also feel concerned about the climate. The problems I have with social media are that - it steals a lot of time - a lot of content gets me by evoking negative emotion - it's taxing to get exposed to so many different ideas, clips, heated discussi…

Having actually thrown away my phone, and lived in the woods, I can say I recommend the former as a fantastic mental health improvement. Living in the woods, not so much.

What's wrong with the woods?

Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#292

Post by JeremyNT »

id wrote: post #168
charstacker wrote: post #149

Consider the following scenario: You're pleased and content one minute, thinking your life is going fine the next. You have a few minutes to kill, so you log onto Facebook and begin scrolling... First, you notice a friend's post stating that she has accepted her ideal job. Then you read a coworker's too political rant. You continue browsing and see a video of your neighbour enjoying a fantastic tropical vacation. And…

If other people find their ideal job, have a tropical vacation, etc. it makes me feel... good? Those are good things in general, although the tropical vacation might make me also feel concerned about the climate. The problems I have with social media are that - it steals a lot of time - a lot of content gets me by evoking negative emotion - it's taxing to get exposed to so many different ideas, clips, heated discussi…

I don't think this is incompatible. While you may feel happy for them, seeing the upper bounds on "the good life" could also subtly impact your own expectations and the way you think of yourself.

This doesn't even need to be an effect you can detect, moment to moment, but more of a subconscious push to "want more" from life due to observing what other people are doing.

Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#293

Post by cpsns »

lr4444lr wrote: post #264
alickz wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not alone. Also when I see US dev salaries posted I feel like as a European I'm missing out big time.

On that latter point though, go look at a US metro region specific tax calculator for those salaries, then subtract an extra $200 a month (or $500 for families) for health insurance premiums, and look at average rent in those areas too. The differential is still there, but less than you probably thought.

It's still easily twice what I am making in Canada and our wages are closer to America than Europe's are.

The worst part for me is working directly with Americans and knowing they're getting paid for more for the same job.

Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#294

Post by nonrandomstring »

funcDropShadow wrote: post #260
nonrandomstring wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Makes we wanna throw away my phone and live in the woods What I tried to aim for in Digital Vegan 1[] is to get people thinking about tech as a healthy balance . It is actually rather common to have these extreme swings, all or nothing, total technological connection or living off berries in a woodland shack. It's called splitting in psychology, and the conditions around technology are geared to maximise it. That's…

> So to me it makes sense to define "hacker" as someone who has mastery over technology. A master is not dominated by their own creations and desires. Part of mastery is choosing exactly how much, and what type of technology to use, and not allowing other people to foist that upon you. I like that definition and they way you argue. But don't forget that i.e. Meta and all other social networks are paying hords of hack…

I think you make a really good point. One should in no way underestimate the strength of an adversary. Nor the extent of ones own vulnerabilities. These guys have almost unlimited powers of money to employ PhDs in psychology, UX "attention engineering", disinformation, and other kinds of manipulation. Therefore "self-hacking" is kind of where it's at for this stage of the battle.

The plus side is that:

1) We know what they're up to now, and that is half the struggle.

2) We know that they are indeed adversaries (enemies of democracy and mental health), and that is also important.

Past that point, even a small number of us who are well educated, resourceful, and committed to clear communication, can have a significant impact. At the very least we can defend ourselves and help others to build intellectual self-defence.

And we are changing things. Even two years ago this discussion and the comments in this thread would have been unthinkable. We would have been shouted down by social media zealots and labelled "weirdos" (which I think is the very essence of hacker spirit - proud to be on the "weird" side of the fight right now).

Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#295

Post by guerrilla »

yawboakye wrote: post #158
charstacker wrote: post #149

Consider the following scenario: You're pleased and content one minute, thinking your life is going fine the next. You have a few minutes to kill, so you log onto Facebook and begin scrolling... First, you notice a friend's post stating that she has accepted her ideal job. Then you read a coworker's too political rant. You continue browsing and see a video of your neighbour enjoying a fantastic tropical vacation. And…

this isn't a problem of social media but rather a problem of following current affairs. the cost of publishing has become so low that even news media dedicate whole articles to single tweets (and other social media posts by famous people). devout followers of social media (and perhaps news media, both television and internet) have become addicted to knowing/following the current thing. one can visit/use twitter, face…

> follow few things and people.

Everyone follows few things and people. You don't even know the names of all the pop stars to follow let alone their drama... or the news in every language you don't speak...

Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#296

Post by philip1209 »

I’ve been off of social media for about two years, and I haven’t looked back. But, I’ve realized that it’s been harder to stay in touch with people.

I think the answer is that personal newsletters will make a comeback. Even digital minimalists like Cal Newport have one! Without viral dynamics or an algorithmic feed, a good email seems to be the calmest way to stay in touch.

I’ve played around with tools like Substack, Revue, and Convertkit for maintaining a personal newsletter - but none of them fulfilled my needs. Blogs are so permanent - newsletters should be light and easy, and not loaded with growth hacker tools.

So, my project is Postcard - a personal newsletter software designed to replace social media: https://postcard.page

It’s still in the early days - but I’ll trade free lifetime access for feedback - just email me.

Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#297

Post by deepstack »

philip1209 wrote: post #296

I’ve been off of social media for about two years, and I haven’t looked back. But, I’ve realized that it’s been harder to stay in touch with people. I think the answer is that personal newsletters will make a comeback. Even digital minimalists like Cal Newport have one! Without viral dynamics or an algorithmic feed, a good email seems to be the calmest way to stay in touch. I’ve played around with tools like Substack…

Being off almost 10 years, life got significantly better and more interesting. Also stop using smart phone, or only use smart phone in airplane mode most of time. That also helped alot!

Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#298

Post by prashantsengar »

coffeeblack wrote: post #228
Gigachad wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the problem is I do get sucked in to the drama really. There is nothing really of value on twitter other than drama.

Twitter is great if you are interested in breaking news on specific topics. Most people aren’t though. Twitter is terrible for discussions, so there I agree with Joe Rogan: “never look at the comments”.

When I was a kid and new to FB, someone told me to check the comments on the meme pages. They used to be funny and I thought that I had been missing out. So I made a habit of checking comments of all the posts.

Now it is a cesspool of trolls everywhere.

Now checking comments used to generate so many negative emotions in me that I have told myself the same - "never look at the comments". I feel happier now.

Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#299

Post by cpsns »

lr4444lr wrote: post #217

Hot take: I read what other people sre doing on HN and I feel like I'm an utterly mediocre dev who's just pushing features at work to make someone rich, and I can't do much about it because I have a family relying on my income.

I definitely feel this one. I often feel completely worthless as a developer when I read sites like HN. I can barely grasp a lot of the cool stuff people are doing.

It makes me feel like I don't belong in the industry and seriously depresses me. It makes me think I really am an imposter.

Why do I keep coming back if that's what it does to me? I don't know.

Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious

#300

Post by nickstinemates »

harryvederci wrote: post #285
nickstinemates wrote: post #273

I think it depends on how and why you use social media. For me, having picked Twitter back up recently after having been mostly dormant for the past 4 years or so, it is about inspiration. The next thing for me is to create a startup. I am immersing myself back in to the heartbeat / pulse of what's going on and thinking about how my ideas intersect with this. There are a lot of inspiring projects I am following latel…

If twitter works for you then that's great, but if[0] you're purely seeking inspiration for creating a startup, you could consider listening to podcasts like Indie Hackers instead. It's probably way less of an attention black hole, but still inspirational. [0] I can't tell from your comment if that's the sole purpose. If not: never mind.

Appreciate the podcast suggestion. It's more about immersion than it is one specific thing. In addition to the social media angle, I am hopeful tech meetups come back in earnest in San Francisco at different startups; this is the melting pot of ideas and innovation and they're so much fun.
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