People are realizing (again) that their opinions are like some ... body parts
The point being, everyone has one.
People aren't posting on social media as much
21–30 of 52 posts
Re: People aren't posting on social media as much
#22Even disregarding privacy concerns (which you shouldn't!), I stopped posting on social media largely because I'm too argumentative of a person for it. When arguing is limited to people I see in person, it's a somewhat time-boxed and constrained operation. I typically can only argue with one person for N minutes, and eventually both of us get tired of it and we move on with our lives, but there's always someone wrong…
I don't think I'm quite as argumentative as you've described yourself, but I've fallen into some of the same traps in the past.
I stopped using Facebook 5 or so years ago, and almost instantly felt better day-to-day. I hadn't realized how upset Facebook was making me. Sometimes it would just make me sad (as in, "it's so disappointing that people believe garbage like XYZ") and other times actively angry. Sure, I did occasionally change people's minds by arguing with them in Facebook comments, but that was pretty rare; usually people would just dig in and everyone involved in the argument would end up angry and frustrated.
And it wasn't just that: even when I felt no desire to wade into some sort of contentious conversation, just seeing those sorts of arguments stressed me out and made me upset. Even as I started pulling away from participating in discussions and arguments on Facebook, I realized the root of the problem was still there: divisive crap promoted by algorithmic engagement metrics. Even dialing back my participation wasn't really helping.
So I just stopped, and I feel so much better for it. On occasion (maybe once every 4-6 months) I'll sign into my Facebook account for some specific purpose (to find someone's birthday or email address or something like that), and I'll (as detached as possible) scroll down the news feed a bit for a minute or two. It's so liberating: I realize that I actually don't care about 95% of what my friends and acquaintances are posting. For the most part, I learn about my friends' lives by actually interacting with them (either in real life, or 1-on-1 or small-group chats). There are some friends who I have lost touch with, and that does make me a little sad, but the negatives of using Facebook again just aren't worth it for me.
I pretty much limit my arguing with people on the internet to HN, and while I probably do spend more time doing that than is healthy, I think I'm doing a lot better than when I was actively on Facebook.
Re: People aren't posting on social media as much
#23good, hopefully they'll shut down and we'll get back to having communities
Hmm, sounds like you want to destroy my nice-happy-niche social media communities there - Please don't throw my baby out with the bathwater when you do :)
(This was intentionally flippant , to point out the lack of nuance in parent)
Re: People aren't posting on social media as much
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny. I was actually able to control myself in Facebook/Twitter (I had veeeery few discussions there, even peaceful ones were rare), but the problem was the increasing amount of arguing I was seeing , especially thanks to the algorithmic timeline. It was making me feel like shit even when I wasn't participating. Even when I stopped liking stuff it was visible that it was fucking with my mental health. Walking away f…
>increasing amount of arguing I was seeing* [on twitter] I recently created a new account, adding only programming and professional connections, and it's actually quite good! If you don't click on any of the "trending" stuff, it functions like a microblog should: it's a way for me to keep up with the projects and OSS personalities I want to, without the fuss. I did something similar with YouTube: I simply turned off…
Thank you! I didn’t know that feature of YouTube. I love YouTube and you made it a better place.
Because now I block the front page but then I miss the posts of channels I subscribed.
Re: People aren't posting on social media as much
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny. I was actually able to control myself in Facebook/Twitter (I had veeeery few discussions there, even peaceful ones were rare), but the problem was the increasing amount of arguing I was seeing , especially thanks to the algorithmic timeline. It was making me feel like shit even when I wasn't participating. Even when I stopped liking stuff it was visible that it was fucking with my mental health. Walking away f…
>increasing amount of arguing I was seeing* [on twitter] I recently created a new account, adding only programming and professional connections, and it's actually quite good! If you don't click on any of the "trending" stuff, it functions like a microblog should: it's a way for me to keep up with the projects and OSS personalities I want to, without the fuss. I did something similar with YouTube: I simply turned off…
That new feature of Youtube is indeed fantastic.
Re: People aren't posting on social media as much
#26I often remark to family and friends that the human race wasn't ready for the capacity for instant communication with 'everyone everywhere all at once' but perhaps that was overly pessimistic and we are developing that muscle. Or is the novelty just wearing off and there are movements to other platforms that aren't represented in the article?
we still are exceptionally bad at managing large in-groups (or ostensible in-groups). discord is a perfect example, you can fairly easily maintain relationships with 10 groups of 50 people, but 500 people is a chore
Yep. This is why I think super large Reddit communities, and also the federation part of Mastodon, are all a mistake that failed IMO. Sure, those tools need those things to grow, but the end result is as bad as social networking.
"Less is more" has never been apt. I don't want to be able to connect to a billion people :/
Re: People aren't posting on social media as much
#27Even disregarding privacy concerns (which you shouldn't!), I stopped posting on social media largely because I'm too argumentative of a person for it. When arguing is limited to people I see in person, it's a somewhat time-boxed and constrained operation. I typically can only argue with one person for N minutes, and eventually both of us get tired of it and we move on with our lives, but there's always someone wrong…
I don't think I'm quite as argumentative as you've described yourself, but I've fallen into some of the same traps in the past. I stopped using Facebook 5 or so years ago, and almost instantly felt better day-to-day. I hadn't realized how upset Facebook was making me. Sometimes it would just make me sad (as in, "it's so disappointing that people believe garbage like XYZ") and other times actively angry. Sure, I did o…
I agree with pretty much everything you said; I don't argue too much on HN but I do occasionally.
My life improved substantially after I dropped Facebook, but the frustrating part now is that LinkedIn (more or less a necessity to find a job in 2023) has started to attract the same morons posting their conspiracy theories, and now I feel like somewhat of a hostage audience. At that point I'm in this kind of uncomfortable position of "do I let these potentially harmful posts go completely unchecked, or do I risk future employers knowing my political beliefs?"
Mostly I've opted for the former, but as you said, the issue is that I am still exposed to these arguments. The second that I find a job that I am confident I won't be laid off from, I'm never logging into LinkedIn again.
Re: People aren't posting on social media as much
#28Re: People aren't posting on social media as much
#29I often remark to family and friends that the human race wasn't ready for the capacity for instant communication with 'everyone everywhere all at once' but perhaps that was overly pessimistic and we are developing that muscle. Or is the novelty just wearing off and there are movements to other platforms that aren't represented in the article?
Re: People aren't posting on social media as much
#30Doing away with chronological, non-curated feeds (by default) has disincentivised posting. Social interaction is no longer a concern for the few big social media companies. To a large extent, it has been optimised out.