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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

#401

Post by moffkalast »

2pEXgD0fZ5cF wrote: post #357
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…

> If other people find their ideal job, have a tropical vacation, etc. it makes me feel... good? This sounds like a misunderstanding. Being happy for friends (real friends not "500 Facebook friends" friends) is not mutually exclusive with these news invoking bad feelings inside you (shame, feeling of inadequacy etc.)

> these news invoking bad feelings inside you (shame, feeling of inadequacy etc.)

Then perhaps it might make more sense to work on that instead, wouldn't it? I mean if we as a species became a little less jealous of each other, an utopia would be practically at hand.

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

#402

Post by moffkalast »

impjohn wrote: post #141

I've been away from facebook and instagram for about 4 years. Never caught the tik-tok or snapchat train, so the only consumption i do is light reddit and hackernews. The weirdest thing for others is that I can sit indefinitely without having to look at my phone and actually get lost in thoughts or even get bored. The downside is that it can isolate you. Where I live, if you're not on instagram you don't exist. My gi…

> or even get bored

That's key for creativity after all.

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

#403

Post by leokennis »

parasti wrote: post #36

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.

Ugh. I’m not even on Facebook or active on Twitter and I have the same. I need to read the newspaper. Then I need to know the Economist’s and The Guardian’s and the NY Times’ view on the daily news as well. Plus I need to keep up to date on the COVID situation and the war in Ukraine. Oh and I’m also behind on Better Call Saul. And I need to watch 1917 and Dune. And I want to read at least 10 pages in a novel every day. And my RSS feeds.

Oh, and I have a full time job and I need to exercise and I want to be in bed by 23:00.

I’m always in a hurry…

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

#404

Post by MikePlacid »

the_gipsy wrote: post #330
MikePlacid wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Politics: it is what most impacts your life, Doubt that. I’ve lived through some changes of the ruling party in my current country, the only changes I’ve observed were: 1) would taxes be 49.9% or 50.1%, 2) in which exact foreign country our military will be waging or supporting another useless war. Compare that to the price of the stock of your company… > yet you cannot change it, at all. Oh, you can. I’ve changed…

I don't know what country you're based on, but in my country there are huge differences in legislation between legislatures of right or left parties. Regarding impact, no, you individually have not changed a single thing. A single person in a protest or a single vote simply has no impact. Changing country is one way to take control, but I would argue that the politics itself are unaffected.

> in my country there are huge differences in legislation between legislatures of right or left parties.

Really? Somewhere in Europe? But I still doubt that these differences are something that “most impacts your life”. Let’s compare with the stock price of the company you are working in, e.g.

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

#405

Post by MikePlacid »

coffeeblack wrote: post #215
MikePlacid wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Politics: it is what most impacts your life, Doubt that. I’ve lived through some changes of the ruling party in my current country, the only changes I’ve observed were: 1) would taxes be 49.9% or 50.1%, 2) in which exact foreign country our military will be waging or supporting another useless war. Compare that to the price of the stock of your company… > yet you cannot change it, at all. Oh, you can. I’ve changed…

There was one president recently who didn’t start a new war (first president in 40 years) but I was told that he was “dangerous”.

True. But looking back - was that rather unusual change in politics, including no new wars started, something that “most impacted your life”?

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

#406

Post by id »

Teever wrote: post #381
id wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a misunderstanding. I'm also happy for complete strangers. Jeff Bezos is enjoying his Amazon money? Great for him. Also, I can't relate to feelings of shame or inadequacy because someone has something good happening to them. If anything, it motivates me to achieve the same.

To be clear here, what you're saying is that the feelings that others are describing are totally alien to you? Like you can't understand that humans act this way in these situations? I don't believe you.

I can understand, but I can't relate. I simply never had these feelings of envy, or it was too long ago to remember.

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

#407

Post by gilbetron »

lordnacho wrote: post #328
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…

Needs more explanation though. You meet your friend, he tells you about his new job, you congratulate him. You meet your coworker and chat to him about politics, and it's kinda interesting. You meet your neighbor after their trip and they show you the photos and you're fascinated. You meet your cousin in real life, you see he looks better, you compliment him. You don't feel like you need to do something yourself. Wha…

You only see the good online for the most part. In person, when they tell you about the amazing vacation, you hear about how their kid cried all the way on the 6 hour flight and how the wife got sick while over there. When they tell you about the new job, they also tell you how even though it is going great, they don't know about their new coworker that is being really annoying.

Online is 99% the good stuff (or the controversial stuff), in real life it is more nuanced and complex. I saw a bunch of relatives recently that I hadn't seen in about 4 years. I have 2 cousins that have kids that I see in pictures playing together all the time, and it makes me happy, but a bit guilty because my only child was born at a time where there are no cousins around his age. Turns out there's a bunch of stress in the relationship because the two groups of kids fight more than play.

Another cousin stayed in the corner, because he's a major MAGA guy and didn't want to interact with the more liberal rest of the group, obvious from his Facebook posts. Except that isn't the case at all, he's actually still divorcing his wife I thought he divorced 4 years ago, fighting a custody battle, and dealing with an injury where his company doesn't believe is worth him being off work for. Again, nuance and complexity adds humanity.

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

#408

Post by ac2022 »

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 think this depends on persons internal happiness. Happy people feel happier and sad people get sadder. This is based on my own experiences.

In my 20s, I was as happy as one can be. I posted a lot on social media and enjoyed posts of my friends. Loved food posts cause that gave me new resturants to try out.

Vacation pictures, I couldn't afford a nice vacation but vacationed via those pictures. Asked friends to post more pictures.

Friend got a job, it meant time for a party.

Now I am not as happy as I used to be. Now I do get annoyed with food and vacation photos. Feel jealous when friends are promoted. I rarely go on social media but when I do I immediately feel bad about myself.

Maybe I am just getting old.

Oh and yes when I was on Facebook, no one posted about politics. In fact, I remember reading my first few political posts of my friends and thinking whats wrong with them.

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

#409

Post by id »

clausewitz wrote: post #399
id wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But even when it comes to acquaintances, when I hear about their great new job or vacation, I don't feel envious or bad. I compare myself to other people, yes, and of course I'd like to have some of the things I see, but not to the point that I would feel bad. Does every story about someone being successful make you feel bad? I doubt it, as that is not my personal experience at all .

You keep grouping envy with inherently negative mindsets. Sometimes envy is just envy. As in, "damn, John is married with kids and a great job, and I'm still single and scraping by, I gotta get my shit together". I am not upset that John has these things, I am happy my friend John is happy. It also served as a reminder of what I want for myself, and thus, my envy is a motivator.

This is not envy in my opinion. You are not upset, you are happy John is happy, where is the envy exactly? You recognizing that he has something you don't?
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