Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out • Hacker News Board

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#21

Post by Hugsun » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:48 AM UTC

dns_snek wrote: post #10

MattGaiser wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many are conscious about not having the newest stuff and would prefer the pressure not exist.

Would that really help? There's a virtually unlimited supply of "stuff" one could desire & buy. There might not be a new iPhone this year, but would you look at that shiny new watch/console/TV/etc. Either you care about owning status symbols or you don't, I don't think taking one of them off the market would make a difference.

The peer pressures to have an iPhone within a lot of groups are very real and strong. Having a "Blue bubble" is shunned in many circles [1]. It's a sad reality. A part of it is likely iPhones managed to create a class of their own whereas nobody cares what brand of 65" TV someone has or who designed their 300 m^2 house.

[1]: https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-apples-imessage-is-winning-...

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#22

Post by HPsquared » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:48 AM UTC

kaashif wrote: post #19

mvdtnz wrote: post #3

Lots of people would be willing to do lots of things for lots of money until you actually give them the opportunity to do so. It's easy to spend hypothetical money.

I have literally asked people "would you pay $5 for this?" they say yes, then I tell them to buy it and they say no. When this kept happening I realised the only thing that matters in sales is... actually making sales. Everything else is window dressing.

Stated preference vs revealed preference.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#23

Post by xenospn » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:49 AM UTC

Did they actually take the money /pay and deactivate or is this all hypothetical? Because I don’t believe this for a second.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#24

Post by jessehattabaugh » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:50 AM UTC

Eumenes wrote: post #12

mvdtnz wrote: post #3

Lots of people would be willing to do lots of things for lots of money until you actually give them the opportunity to do so. It's easy to spend hypothetical money.

I'd spend lots of real money to get rid of social media once and for all. Like thousands. It would do alot of good for society.

I'd pay $100 just to get my family to install Signal

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#25

Post by paulcole » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:50 AM UTC

dclowd9901 wrote: post #8

mvdtnz wrote: post #3

Lots of people would be willing to do lots of things for lots of money until you actually give them the opportunity to do so. It's easy to spend hypothetical money.

$28 doesn’t seem like a crazy sum of money though. Passes the sniff test IMO.

$1 is a crazy sum of money when you actually have to spend it. Look at the entire app economy for proof.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#26

Post by doytch » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:50 AM UTC

This reminds me of carbon offsets where you get paid to not cut down a forest.

I’m eagerly anticipating the first social media company to take money from every user in order to shut it all down and burn the code.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#27

Post by boppo1 » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:51 AM UTC

nonethewiser wrote: post #15

[flagged]

Is it really worse than insta?

t. Insta user, never had tiktok

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#28

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:52 AM UTC

ggm wrote: post #14

nvoeiah wrote: post #4

>Among iPhone owners, a striking 91% of respondents indicate that they would prefer Apple to release the iPhone every other year rather than every year. Among respondents not owning the iPhone, this fraction is even larger, at 94%. I wonder why the 94% care so much about a phone that they do not even intend to own. I can't help but think that this study simply shows that more people should mind their own damn busines…

If I felt that an investment had a 2-3 year life before being semi-formally deprecated, I would feel more like buying it. The thing is, that I can't think of consumer objects I routinely buy where the pressure to show I have the "newest" one is so strong. Nobody cares if my kindle is old. Amongst my colleagues, like me it's a badge of honour to run an old phone. The last nokia standout only ditched it when they turne…

> The thing is, that I can't think of consumer objects I routinely buy where the pressure to show I have the "newest" one is so strong.

Let me introduce you to the Garment District (Fashion Industry).

People spend thousands for clothes they only wear for a couple of nights out, over a few weeks.

It's a fairly wild industry.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#29

Post by hsbauauvhabzb » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:52 AM UTC

This is not the dystopian future we imagined, yet here we are. I’m scared to think where we will end up in 20-40 years time as our marketing and psychology capability increases.

Re: Large shares of consumers use social media out of a fear of missing out

#30

Post by mullingitover » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:52 AM UTC

I'd like to see the results of a study for "How much would you pay to have your parents/grandparents Facebook accounts deactivated?" Facebook is probably leaving money on the table!