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I deleted my social media accounts

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Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#121

Post by add-sub-mul-div »

iLoveOncall wrote: post #3

> and why you should too This is not actually explained in the article. It rightfully explains how X, meta and others have taken a turn for the worse to say the least, but it doesn't say why I should delete my Facebook or Twitter account. Neither do the hundreds of calls to delete such accounts in the past few weeks or months have. I get that the point is "You should stop using such social media", but I don't get wha…

> It rightfully explains how X, meta and others have taken a turn for the worse to say the least, but it doesn't say why I should delete my Facebook or Twitter account.

Isn't it a tautology? If you continue using a product that sucks rather than abandon it, you're using a bad product and it also has license to keep getting worse. Deleting an account is the strongest signal of rejection.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#122

Post by hypeatei »

standardUser wrote: post #94
hypeatei wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Turns out that a lot of people I knew posted huge life updates that I completely missed out on This doesn't really seem that important if your only method of knowing this was a post blasted to hundreds (or thousands) of people. Or, to put it another way: if you mattered, you would've gotten a direct message or call from them. I'd argue that social media has normalized keeping up with people who aren't supposed to b…

> This doesn't really seem that important if your only method of knowing this was a post The landscape of human relationships is deep and broad an varied, and if making bold assumptions about what other people should value is your starting point, you're liable to miss a lot of potential connections.

Maybe I could've worded that better, but I was just providing perspective on the obsessive nature that we have on social media now. IMO, it's not "normal" to keep up with acquaintances and people from past times. They're no longer part of your life and you need to let go. If others find the life updates useful and beneficial to them, then so be it. I don't care either way.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#123

Post by xyzzy4747 »

walrus01 wrote: post #30
wordofx wrote: post #17

Facebook removing 'fact' checkers is good, they weren't fact checkers, they were bias enforcers. Community notes is far superior to the bias enforcers.

That's not all FB is doing. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/meta-new-hate-spee... "Meta will allow its billions of social media users to accuse people of being mentally ill based on their sexuality or gender identity, among broader changes it made to its moderation policies and practices Tuesday. ... The long list of changes to the new hate speech guidelines include removing rules that forbid insults about…

>accuse people of being mentally ill based on their sexuality or gender identity

But the question is, are trans people actually mentally ill objectively? It certainly doesn't help them reproduce (a form of survival) from a biological perspective, for example.

This Johns Hopkins professor thinks it's mental illness:

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/scpsva/Board.nsf/files/B8UR4X...

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#124

Post by angoragoats »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #96
angoragoats wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does keeping the account actually do to prevent scamming? They’re going to scam regardless.

That's pretty much the only upside to that blue checkmark these days. Making anyone able to buy one was a huge mistake, but they will at least do the minium check to see if someone else with that name already has a checkmark.

Will they? I'd actually be surprised if there are many people that, upon receiving a suspicious message from someone who claims to be Joe Schmoe, will actually go and check to see if a different account from Joe Schmoe with a blue check. I think it's much more likely that they're either going to recognize it as a scam right away, or they won't and they'll fall for it. In either of those cases, it doesn't help for the blue-checkmark-holder to keep their account.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#125

Post by noman-land »

nindalf wrote: post #38

This advice to quit social media is always a hit on HN. When I was 10 years younger I read the same thing on HN, was thoroughly convinced and quit social media. I even followed the advice of trying to stay in touch by email. Sure. Turns out that a lot of people I knew posted huge life updates that I completely missed out on. I asked them why they didn’t tell me and they were confused. They said the posted it on socia…

If neither you nor they bothered reaching out, did either of you actually care? It might be a good time to reevaluate the nature of your relationships and start maintaining the ones you actively (instead of passively) care about outside of corporate shopping mall websites.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#126

Post by bluGill »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #93
nindalf wrote: post #38

This advice to quit social media is always a hit on HN. When I was 10 years younger I read the same thing on HN, was thoroughly convinced and quit social media. I even followed the advice of trying to stay in touch by email. Sure. Turns out that a lot of people I knew posted huge life updates that I completely missed out on. I asked them why they didn’t tell me and they were confused. They said the posted it on socia…

>Turns out that a lot of people I knew posted huge life updates that I completely missed out on. TBH I have no idea where or if my friend post stuff on social media anymore. I know maybe 1 person that posted updates often on Facebook, and that was pre-pandemic. Some post more business stuff on twitter. But overall I just kind of accept that sometimes I'll meet up with someone after a few years and realize "oh yeah, t…

Problem is facebook decides what you want to see unless you go to the feed which they make hard. Even then the vast majoritiy of what you see is garbage they share instead of life updates that you want.

I wish there was a better way but life updates still a posted there only. Facebook is the only one that has a concept of this is a for my friends only.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#127

Post by aaarrm »

nindalf wrote: post #38

This advice to quit social media is always a hit on HN. When I was 10 years younger I read the same thing on HN, was thoroughly convinced and quit social media. I even followed the advice of trying to stay in touch by email. Sure. Turns out that a lot of people I knew posted huge life updates that I completely missed out on. I asked them why they didn’t tell me and they were confused. They said the posted it on socia…

I think it's perfectly fine to learn about huge life updates from people the next time you actually speak with them. That seems normal.

Seeing people's updates on a wall isn't truly keeping up with friends. Keeping up and staying in touch requires consistent deliberate effort from both parties, via phone calls, messaging, and seeing each other in person. If you're not doing that with someone, then yeah, learning about life updates when you actually chat and catch up just makes sense to me.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#128

Post by motohagiography »

nindalf wrote: post #38

This advice to quit social media is always a hit on HN. When I was 10 years younger I read the same thing on HN, was thoroughly convinced and quit social media. I even followed the advice of trying to stay in touch by email. Sure. Turns out that a lot of people I knew posted huge life updates that I completely missed out on. I asked them why they didn’t tell me and they were confused. They said the posted it on socia…

also eschewed social media. it's a different way of relating. normal people now react the way minor celebrities used to react when I'd meet them and not know anything about them, either insulted or very relieved.

I think it has made me a better friend in some ways, as I'm a respite from the narratives they sustain, but to others, also a kind of legacy friend who may be an attachment to an old life, and who isn't part of their present.

there's an aspect where watching their social media would be to participate in the change in their lives, and separating from it (perhaps selfishly) preserves things that might be left behind. but on the other hand, I'm interested in relating in one way too. social media profiles are strange because they say, "see, I am all these things now!" and in not seeing them, it declines to recognize those, like an old uncle you're always going to be a kid to because that's how you always were.

I have more old friends than most, and I often think about whether there is an essential self we see in each other, like a character that all these stories happen around where we can peer across them to one another, protagonist to protagonist, as companions in the real. or are the relationships artifacts of the stories, and when they change, we do? it's prob a mix, but I don't think those essential(ist) aspects of friendship survive being mediated by the churn of updates and the curation of a public persona.

anyway, being outside social media is a very different way to relate and not everything survives.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#129

Post by angoragoats »

esskay wrote: post #102
angoragoats wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does keeping the account actually do to prevent scamming? They’re going to scam regardless.

Counter point - why is it an issue to wipe the account of its content and update the bio to simply say the owner is no longer on social media and any other accounts you come across are not them. Removing your account completely from Twitter makes it immediately available for anyone else to take, and for larger accounts you can bet theres a whole host of automated monitoring going on, ready to nab it and use it for ea…

> Removing your account completely from Twitter makes it immediately available for anyone else to take,

Do you have a source for this? The only thing i can find is a random tweet from Elmo in 2023. I deleted my twitter account in the 2022-ish timeframe, and the handle I had (created in 2007) was my first initial + last name, which I would think would be claimed by now. It's not, so I'm thinking that deleted account handles can't be reused.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#130

Post by psyklic »

lazyeye wrote: post #114
psyklic wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another major issue is that if enough people believe/support a lie, it doesn't get noted. So in practice, you end up having "official" lies that go un-noted, making them appear true.

I dont think this is remotely true. On any given subject there is an overwhelming horde of people desperate to disagree. And anyway, even if true, how would this be different from the previous arrangement where "official" lies were rigidly enforced by biased fact-checkers?

No? Simply look at Elon's X account. And that's the point - if there's "controversy" then it doesn't get noted, falsely implying it's true.
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