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I deleted my social media accounts

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Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#151

Post by bee_rider »

kristianc wrote: post #87
bee_rider wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People drift apart over time sometimes. I’m on Facebook still (TBH it is hard to see much by my friends, between all the algorithmic stuff). Despite being on there, there are some folks I’ve just kind of… lost contact with. Maybe have a text chain for your friends or something? The folks I really expect to know things about… they’d tell me while we were interacting.

> People drift apart over time sometimes. It's admittedly a little easier to drift apart though when you deliberately delete your access to the place where they post all the shit that's happening in their lives...

That seems intuitive, but most of the people who I’ve stayed in touch with aren’t really active on Facebook anymore or don’t even have accounts. I wouldn’t be surprised if social media following people provided something like disincentive to actually stay in touch for real. No need to perform the checks that maintain the relationship if the info is all posted right there.

But that’s also a guess. I suspect neither of us have any data to back up our guesses.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#152

Post by mch82 »

qwertytyyuu wrote: post #32

Does hacker news count as social media?

By the dictionary definition, yes. However, there are three key differences. (1) People rank the HN feed instead of an algorithm; (2) the incentives of YC, companies, and the HN community seem better aligned; (3) the user experience degrades significantly when posts get too many comments.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#154

Post by Over2Chars »

2024user wrote: post #66
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…

Losing touch with old acquaintances is just part of getting older. fwiw, my experience is that I stayed on social media (although I don't post anything, I just keep the account) and still missed huge life updates. I reckon about 80-90% of my FB friends don't post to FB or Insta anymore. They just don't post anywhere.

I'm sure the new FB AI will generate synthetic life updates that will seem just as convincing.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#155

Post by Over2Chars »

How about a simple rule of thumb: you have to actually meet or talk with a "facebook friend" (every month or more) or else delete/unfriend them.

If after a few months you have zero "facebook friends" nuke the account.

Internet updates are no substitute for good old meat space.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#156

Post by incoming1211 »

angoragoats wrote: post #83
xyzzy4747 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea it’s odd how so many people have become pro-censorship.

It’s odd how so many people have developed the attitude of “censorship bad” without thinking about the consequences of removing it or whether “censorship” on private, profit-driven, opaque-algorithm-powered social media should even be considered bad.

Because censorship isn't about censoring false information, its about silencing voices you disagree with. It's exactly why Trump got into power, because people feel like they are not being heard and the left is trampling all over them, despite the fact the left is the one spreading misinformation far more than the right.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#157

Post by paularmstrong »

angoragoats wrote: post #129
esskay wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 h…

They can be taken immediately. Source me, former Twitter employee pre 2021

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#159

Post by jjulius »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #143
dehrmann wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if I told you Hacker News is social media?

there are a several key aspects of HN that are very different than social media networks, and that's why it's in a different category

One of my biggest gripes with the social media you and I have quit is that it has strongly encouraged flippant, black-and-white responses like the one you're responding to. Nuance, by and large, has been removed from public discourse.

Edit: Just speaking for me, HN is next. Doubt I'll stick 'round much longer.

Re: I deleted my social media accounts

#160

Post by pmarreck »

hypeatei wrote: post #88
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 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…

> a call from them

um... will someone else tell him/her, or should I?

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