Now if only there were a way to delete my HN account...
The benefits of staying off social media
11–20 of 319 posts
Re: The benefits of staying off social media
#12> A futuristic dystopia. A place where the real world sucks. Where people consider talking to someone a chore. Connection, closeness, ambition are replaced by detachment and dogmatic slumber. Society is satisfied with shallow thoughts and the pursuit of artificially created stimuli in an imaginary world.
Beautifully written top-notch orwellian poetry. Seriously inspiring.
Also as someone who has only ever used social media as a low-level content creator (we used to be called deadbeat artists) I feel like this starts an important conversation about the new problems that develop when you stop consuming and start doing.
In my experience over the last decade there are fewer and fewer ways to find a community and any success as a creator of any kind without getting corralled into social media and furthermore getting corralled into being a daily active user / consumer as to not get shadow banned by any given app.
Doing rather than consuming feels much healthier than doom scrolling, but theres a larger dialogue that has to happen about the problems with creating in the 21st century imho.
Re: The benefits of staying off social media
#13Glancing at the article I can say I think it is spot on. I haven't disconnected from consumption entirely, but I notice an improvement in my mental state and the feeling of "living" that I have when I disconnect.
I am addicted to reddit and news consumption, in a casual way. It is simply habit to load up a tab with reddit. I'll get bored with the /r/all feed, close it, and reopen it. Then I'll hop over to news, HN, other things trying to keep my mind from focusing on anything else.
I have at times uninstalled reddit from my phone, and blocked reddit and certain news domains on my pihole, so that even if I slip into the URL bar unconsciously, I get slapped away.
Yesterday I turned my phone off, and went to the library to read some books. I felt a lot better than scrolling for distraction from my life's issues.
Re: The benefits of staying off social media
#14So does HN count as social media? I’m a recovering HN addict (couldn’t bear to keep noprocrast on). I’ve found getting into the flow in new projects keeps me off for days at a time, but not much else.
Yes it does. For the past few months I've been quitting it all.
Now I post here under a banned account like a lunatic. An addict.
At least no more Reddit, and of course no more Imgur, Youtube. Facebook/Twitter I never got into much.
Hopefully one day no more social media, period. My own blog where I'll dump all my brainfarts, and zero comments. Email at best.
I don't know how it got so bad. It's just a ridiculous impulse of sharing any thoughts, mostly the dumbest ones.
Re: The benefits of staying off social media
#15I have no idea how HN does it (I hear this "dang" guy plays a big role) but HN shows the possibility of a largely positive and edifying social media IMO. I have maybe needed a break from time to time though. I generally don't take that break but maybe I should... EDIT: I know we're not supposed to comment on downvotes but it was very funny to me that the first vote I got on this comment was a down. Like, "HN sucks! H…
HN is a huge echo chamber. That’s a characteristic of a most of social medias, and can have very bad consequences. But in this case it’s just geeks talking about tech. If you’d make HN general network, it wouldn’t be any better than other todays networks, as growth to general public is what kills them.
Re: The benefits of staying off social media
#16I am now off popular social media (Facebook, Instagram). The void is now replaced with other forms of social media (Reddit, Hacker News). Reddit, arguably, is more toxic than my version of Facebook - but it is strangers being toxic, and zero FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) which is prevalent on Facebook and Instagram.
If you use Facebook the old fashioned way (an actual network of friends) it's probably very pleasant. If you start joining "Groups" which are similar to subreddits, it's the most toxic thing I've seen. I never really was a real Facebook user with a network in the first place, but one day on a whim I went to the FB site where I still had my account and decided to join some random suggested groups. That's where it becomes toxic. Everything becomes incendiary things about the US president and usually further devolves into trolls saying openly racist things, there's no moderation and it's a real cesspool. And I'm talking about groups dedicated to hobbies and cartoons.
Re: The benefits of staying off social media
#17This may not be terribly popular, and its admittedly just conjecture, but I'm of the opinion that its less about the quantity of social media, and more how one interacts with it and even more so consumes it. Some platforms are clearly more toxic than others, though I'm increasingly of the opinion that they are all pretty toxic, just different flavors of "world outlooks" to choose from. I feel that those that actively…
> This may not be terribly popular, and its admittedly just conjecture, but I'm of the opinion that its less about the quantity of social media, and more how one interacts with it and even more so consumes it.
Yes. I am passionate about a sport. I manly follow that sports' athletes on Instagram. I take a look daily while on the toilet or idle and get tired of it after some minutes. The same goes for Reddit, I just follow a couple of niche subs and enjoy using both platforms. No politics and no "serious" topics.
Re: The benefits of staying off social media
#18I am now off popular social media (Facebook, Instagram). The void is now replaced with other forms of social media (Reddit, Hacker News). Reddit, arguably, is more toxic than my version of Facebook - but it is strangers being toxic, and zero FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) which is prevalent on Facebook and Instagram.
Why not stay off of social media entirely? If you think that Reddit is even more toxic than Facebook (which I agree with), then why visit the site?
Re: The benefits of staying off social media
#19This may not be terribly popular, and its admittedly just conjecture, but I'm of the opinion that its less about the quantity of social media, and more how one interacts with it and even more so consumes it. Some platforms are clearly more toxic than others, though I'm increasingly of the opinion that they are all pretty toxic, just different flavors of "world outlooks" to choose from. I feel that those that actively…
> I feel that those that actively participate (commenting, posting, responding, reacting) are more affected and more caught in the feedback loop. Those that more or less passively read these platforms, rarely interact, and largely work to keep "perspective" seem to have less of a tough time on it and allow it to impact their outlooks and moods less.
I agree, and I also think it matters what you read. If you're constantly reading political punditry, vapid clickbait stuff that constantly reminds you that there's somebody richer and more beautiful than you, etc., consumption alone is detrimental.
Re: The benefits of staying off social media
#20I am not on social media (I tried it for a year, then quit), and sometimes I find it weird why people treat it like a big goliath dystopian thing which will consume your entire life if you aren't careful.
It's not impossible, or even that difficult to leave (or not join) in the first place. You won't have convulsions/palpitations/stuff you get when you try to quit the genuinely addictive stuff. For sure it's a lot more convenient if you want to chat with people or see what they're up to, but life is not impossible without it. In fact passively quitting has made my life a lot easier; my time isn't wasted watching ads.
I wish people didn't put social media on such a villain-pedestal it doesn't deserve. I think that's one of the problems why people don't quit: avoiding personal responsibility into something that's said to be difficult.