Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#31

Post by JumpinJack_Cash » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:19 PM UTC

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #27

A cynical comment about regulation or curtailing this. Everyone agrees smoking causes health problems, is costly and doesn't offer anything. Smoking is regulated (taxes, labels, etc), but cigarettes are readily available everywhere - gas stations, convenience stores, etc. You would imagine that something so universally recognized as detrimental would cease to exist (either outlaws or society would just abandon it com…

> > doesn't offer anything

How can you say that? Have you ever smoked one after sex?

What about alcohol or binging Netflix shows or even sex itself? Life is all about tradeoffs. Tobacco has a place in the trillions of tradeoffs combinations that each human can generate with their own lives, and so does alcohol, Netflix and social media.

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#32

Post by carabiner » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:20 PM UTC

Adtech and social media are like secondhand smoking, something we've accepted as annoying but harmless, but actually extremely deleterious to our mental health. In 50 years, we'll look back at our current social media addictions in the same way people today look at Mad Men characters smoking everywhere 24/7.

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#33

Post by signaru » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:21 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #3

Makes sense. A depressed person, sitting inside, looking through the window at their friends playing outside, I guess would feel more depressed.

I had a bad boss who held my career back (he eventually lost his position due to fraud). Knowing I worked just as hard or maybe even harder than my friends and seeing them move far ahead in their careers just added to the misery and made me quit fb.

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#34

Post by doktrin » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:21 PM UTC

gamesbrainiac wrote: post #22

One of the best decisions I've ever made is to not jump on the Facebook bandwagon. When I was in high school, all the "cool" kids were using Facebook at home and then talking about Facebook in school as well. I honestly felt a lot of pressure to join and be active. However, I never fully gave in, and it did me a lot of good, since most people who post on Facebook talk about the best highlights of their day or their l…

I applaud your decision to stay off social media, and think you should continue to abstain.

That said, if you actually want to understand why the platform is or was popular to begin with you have to go beyond just viewing it as a masochistic FOMO factory. That’s an angle that gets talked about a lot in the wider media but it really is only a part of the story, and IMO a lesser one in the grand scheme of things.

There’s certainly an element of curated bragging to be sure, but in my experience what really keeps people engaged isn’t the unsubtle boasting but the outright fighting. FB users will quite literally treat their friend list as a stand-in for the broader world and vent their rage accordingly. For every “check my sunny vacay” post there are like 5 more along the lines of “YOU STUPID LIBS/CONS ARE RUINING THE UNIVERSE AND HERE IS WHY…”

That animosity and the back and forth exchanges it fosters is the really dark secret sauce at the heart of the experiment. Hate will always generate attention with the quickness, and it easily trumps envy as an engagement driver.

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#35

Post by themitigating » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:21 PM UTC

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #27

A cynical comment about regulation or curtailing this. Everyone agrees smoking causes health problems, is costly and doesn't offer anything. Smoking is regulated (taxes, labels, etc), but cigarettes are readily available everywhere - gas stations, convenience stores, etc. You would imagine that something so universally recognized as detrimental would cease to exist (either outlaws or society would just abandon it com…

What's a solution ? A ban of all social media? The same toxic environment can occur in a forum on any website.

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#36

Post by rvz » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:24 PM UTC

"Users addicted to a digital drug called Facebook increases depression on already depressed people" This is fundamental and applies to ALL social networks regardless.

The solution is obviously not to replace digital drug A (Facebook) with another digital drug B (TikTok). The solution is to delete all of your social media accounts.

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#37

Post by Karellen » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:25 PM UTC

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #27

A cynical comment about regulation or curtailing this. Everyone agrees smoking causes health problems, is costly and doesn't offer anything. Smoking is regulated (taxes, labels, etc), but cigarettes are readily available everywhere - gas stations, convenience stores, etc. You would imagine that something so universally recognized as detrimental would cease to exist (either outlaws or society would just abandon it com…

On the other hand, opiates are generally not readily available everywhere (and the current opioid epidemic in the US is an example of regulations and healthcare providers failing to work as intended, with Purdue Pharma pleading guilty to 3 Federal criminal charges a while ago as a result) which was not always the case. See also:

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/addicted

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#38

Post by Sakos » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:28 PM UTC

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #27

A cynical comment about regulation or curtailing this. Everyone agrees smoking causes health problems, is costly and doesn't offer anything. Smoking is regulated (taxes, labels, etc), but cigarettes are readily available everywhere - gas stations, convenience stores, etc. You would imagine that something so universally recognized as detrimental would cease to exist (either outlaws or society would just abandon it com…

It's always a trade-off between the values of a society and the degree to which something like cigarettes causes harm. Even the most authoritarian government isn't able to ban everything that it wants to ban. There are also hidden costs and economic incentives created by doing a complete ban that need to be considered, which might make a ban less effective and less appealing than other solutions.

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#39

Post by maxfurman » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:30 PM UTC

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #27

A cynical comment about regulation or curtailing this. Everyone agrees smoking causes health problems, is costly and doesn't offer anything. Smoking is regulated (taxes, labels, etc), but cigarettes are readily available everywhere - gas stations, convenience stores, etc. You would imagine that something so universally recognized as detrimental would cease to exist (either outlaws or society would just abandon it com…

I'm not defending smoking, but

> costly

Cigarettes are really cheap in places that don't heavily tax them

> doesn't offer anything

Human brains like nicotine. It is mildly effective as a mood stabilizer. I think we both agree that the bad health effects are not worth it, but it's not accurate to say there's nothing on the other side of that equation.

Re: Facebook addiction increases depression severity among already depressed people

#40

Post by oldsklgdfth » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 3:33 PM UTC

JumpinJack_Cash wrote: post #31

oldsklgdfth wrote: post #27

A cynical comment about regulation or curtailing this. Everyone agrees smoking causes health problems, is costly and doesn't offer anything. Smoking is regulated (taxes, labels, etc), but cigarettes are readily available everywhere - gas stations, convenience stores, etc. You would imagine that something so universally recognized as detrimental would cease to exist (either outlaws or society would just abandon it com…

> > doesn't offer anything How can you say that? Have you ever smoked one after sex? What about alcohol or binging Netflix shows or even sex itself? Life is all about tradeoffs. Tobacco has a place in the trillions of tradeoffs combinations that each human can generate with their own lives, and so does alcohol, Netflix and social media.

I say this as someone that has failed a bunch of time to quit smoking. Every time I smoke, I rationally know it's doing nothing for me, but can't help myself. It's not that good IMO. Not as clear a trade-off as alcohol. I think it's mostly a romantic image I have in my head.