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Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

nytimes.com

161–170 of 228 posts

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#161
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is a severely flawed product, as flawed as windows 2000, with a similar level of popularity with the unwashed masses. I wonder what its inevitable replacements form will take shape as.

I thought Windows 2000 was the peak of windows (anyways, it was my favorite version).

No, NT 3.51 was the pinnacle of Windows. After that they decided to move the graphics drivers into kernel space and it was all downhill from there.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#162
post #32

Perhaps we should take NYTimes advice a step further and stop letting them make us miserable either. There is nothing actionable in the news; next to no utility. News is simply a time sink that depress your spirit. Whenever I think of reading "legitimate" news like the NYTimes, I am reminded of this quote from a Soviet novel by Bulgakov. In it a doctor gives advice: If you care about your digestion, my advice is [sic…

I've sometimes suggested to people that if they want to stay informed, just read the news from 6 months ago. It's easier to see what's important and what's just noise when you have a bit of breathing room.

Practically, how do you go about that? Dig up old newspapers? Wayback machine?

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#163
Back in 2013, after a complicated break up, I decided that seeing photos of my ex randomly appearing with her new SO in our common friends posts was not helping me at all, and so, I left Facebook. After all these years I've not missed it one bit. You end up knowing who truly cares about you, as they will always reach you whether you are on Facebook or not.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#164

It's interesting how the vast majority of responses to this post are from people who have either left facebook entirely, or severely crippled it. Are the majority of HN folks off facebook, or is it just the vocal ones?

I've only ever used Facebook on one occasions: For a brief time after they opened it up for non edu accounts, at that point it was more or less identical to a German alternative, so there was no good reason to use it because none of my friends were there. I think that account might still be around but is tied to an email address I stopped using soon after. I kind of expected it to remain something used only by college kids and Highschool students, because it facilitates the kind of superficial, gossipy interactions that immature people tend to like.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#165
post #5

Facebook doesn't make me miserable because I feel like I'm having less fun and being less glamorous than the friends on my news feed—it makes me miserable because it's an addicting timewaster with minimal utility and I'd much rather be [reading a book, playing music, writing software, hanging out with friends IRL, working on a project, sleeping, watching TV…]

I've noticed Facebook seems to be really good at spamming me with useless notifications, it even somehow manages to do it after I've unfriended 90% of the people that I am not close friends with and blocked most notification types. Yeah I could prune my friends list even further and only check it passively, but then all I'm stuck with is basically an incredibly bloated email/chat service that is loaded with ads. Then…

This might be something to do with effect of not winning every time: it's studied method to get and keep us addicted. You will get a bigger dopamine hit when only some of notifications are "wins" like tagged photo etc. Slot machines are a great example of this along with other gambling.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#166
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've sometimes suggested to people that if they want to stay informed, just read the news from 6 months ago. It's easier to see what's important and what's just noise when you have a bit of breathing room.

Practically, how do you go about that? Dig up old newspapers? Wayback machine?

Yeah, you could use the Wayback Machine to check headlines from the past. Though it's not really a practical way to go about things. One thing you could try is to ask yourself if you would be reading an article like this from 6-12 months ago if you came across it today.

For example, would you want to sit down now and read an analysis from September 2016 about who is most likely going to win the U.S. presidential election? No? Then similar pieces (trying to predict elections in 2018, 2020, etc.) are probably not terribly important to you. Would you read a piece from September 2016 about infrastructure issues in the U.S.? Yes? Then that's probably the type of article with more value.

Another would be to wait a few weeks before reading much about breaking news. Some years ago I read the paper daily, and it's interesting how many articles about the major stories are 80-90% the same from day to day with slight updates with the latest information. Better to wait and get the whole story than to get a slow trickle of news with endless rehashes of what you've already been told.

Periodicals that are less interested in breaking news and more interested in long-term stories are good in this regard.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#167
Just a simple question: If Facebook is harmful why not cut it out of life and cancel the account? Done this some years ago being a lot more happier as a result...

No need to read untrue postings from people claiming that they are the "winners of life" while everybody knows that they did not achieve anything for real...

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#168

I cut facebook out of my life three momths ago when I realized a pattern of my activities. Something hapened and I ranted there about my thoughts, others were offended ao they commented & we would fight not understanding each other. Then I used to ignore them and continue. Then one fine day, I sat on a bus, there was something going on about Kashmir and Indian military and I found that the guy next to me was also pos…

Been free of Facebook for more than 3 years. There's never been a single moment where I felt I was missing out. Even the staying in touch - for those that matter we found other ways to stay connected.

The final straw for me was actually a girl from my elementary school who wanted to friend me. The chat went like this...

Me: I have to ask you something. So we haven't seen each other for decades, the last time being when we were 7 year olds. Back then we probably exchanged less than 100 words. I don't mean to be rude but I'm genuinely curious to know why you want to connect with me?

Her: Oh I'm sorry. Didn't mean to offend

And that was it. She didn't have a reason other than "just because". That was when it really clicked for me what an utter waste of time Facebook actually is.

Never looked back

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#169

Just a simple question: If Facebook is harmful why not cut it out of life and cancel the account? Done this some years ago being a lot more happier as a result... No need to read untrue postings from people claiming that they are the "winners of life" while everybody knows that they did not achieve anything for real...

Addiction.

Re: Don’t Let Facebook Make You Miserable

#170

Just a simple question: If Facebook is harmful why not cut it out of life and cancel the account? Done this some years ago being a lot more happier as a result... No need to read untrue postings from people claiming that they are the "winners of life" while everybody knows that they did not achieve anything for real...

Addiction.

Seems like I'm just to old for that kind of addiction. Thanks for insight :)
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