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Social Media Is the New Smoking

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Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#201

Post by ciaranm »

hycaria wrote: post #172
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't do a lot of social media as such, but I waste endless hours reading and commenting on Reddit, HN, Rock Paper Shotgun, and so forth. I feel like it actively makes my life worse, but I can't stop. I can never tell if these articles are talking about me or not.

Delete your accounts ? I feel like commenting is a waste of time. I often type stuff I end up not posting / deleting 2 minutes later. I never engage in exchanges more than 2 posts long (esp. if its discussing ideas, by then your point should be clearly made and it's worthless). I read a lot of comments though, mostly at work. I like new ideas or insight in peoples lives and struggles.

I'm exactly the same. I often type out replies to people, then just go 'nah not worth it' and close the tab.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#202

Post by thinkfurther »

baby wrote: post #92
irrational wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get so many invitations to join Linkedin as well as questions about why I'm not on Facebook or other social media platforms that it drives me nuts. Why am I considered strange for not participating? It's like tattoos. Everyone where I live has multiple tattoos and I'm considered a freak because I don't have any. Maybe I just want to be a special butterfly.

> It's like tattoos Come on! It takes literally nothing to create a Facebook account. You can even use a fake mail and name (it might be against the ToS but you still can). The only thing it will take from you is time. (No it won't make your life worst, just use messenger.com and not the main API with the newsfeed so that people can contact you.) I would compare that to having a phone back then, when it was kind of t…

Anything but the actual point of comparison between two compared things is usually very different.

It seems you pretend to not understand how a comparison works until you make one yourself, let me demonstrate:

> I would compare that to having a phone back then, when it was kind of the only way to contact you.

Come on! It's just a set of credentials and bytes in databases, not a bunch of plastic and metal. And don't you know that packet switching and circuit switching have like nothing in common? Also, since when were all phones the same shade of uninspired blue, is there any part of this you're not straight making up?

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#203

Post by snarfy »

I enjoy my solitude. Maybe it's a slight bit of mental illness, but I cannot stand notifications. I'll use my phone when I want to, not when it wants me to. When I'm in a waiting room, it's amusing to watch everybody else on their phones, except maybe an old guy in the corner.

Then I realize I'm the old guy in the corner.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#204

Post by posterboy »

noiv wrote: post #27
oliv__ wrote: post #10

> "That the dude off in the corner consuming his Instagram feed will be looked at the same as the guy standing at the street corner sucking on a Marlboro." I don't think that's ever going to happen. Social networks, contrary to smoking, are built on the very nature of human beings: being social animals. And that's certainly not going away. It would be like wishing that the buddies socializing on the corner would be l…

I'd argue 'social' in media and in beings are different things. And regarding the very nature, we're all dopamine junkies. That little kick after a cigarette and a fresh like on FB do the same thing to your brains, google 'social media addicts' - you'll get the picture. Facebook and social is just like Marlboro and independence.

Maybe they don't do the same thing, because the pathway is different, so the feedback is directed differently, as you say, different things. Maybe they are not all that different because both work, in part, by association with a perceived in-group. Then again, social networking, ie. facebook in it inception, has a focus on sexual instincts, whereas smoking, by my estimate, mostly uses hunger (and other pain) related pathways.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#205

Post by ChrisLTD »

drdeadringer wrote: post #117
mrisoli wrote: post #39

> Will browsing your phone anticipating the next notification become a dirty habit that others will shun you for? It is already frowned upon in some social circles, occasional browsing is okay but some people can go completely off reality when going through their Facebook feed, I have some friends like this(very introverted), when we met at a bar or restaurant we would make a "phones on the table" rule, first to reac…

I'm finding recently that whenever I am taking a picture or video at a live event I think to myself "I am experiencing this awesome thing through a small screen, what am I doing?". If it's a video I alleviate myself by darting my eyes off and on the screen to make sure the framing is still good until I'm done. I don't regret the photos or videos afterwards, and I do aim for a healthy balance. The reminder is still th…

I allow myself one photo, good or bad, and then I let myself experience the event unmediated. I usually go to live events to escape staring at a screen, so taking pictures or videos the entire time defeats the purpose.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#206

Post by ChrisLTD »

snarfy wrote: post #203

I enjoy my solitude. Maybe it's a slight bit of mental illness, but I cannot stand notifications. I'll use my phone when I want to, not when it wants me to. When I'm in a waiting room, it's amusing to watch everybody else on their phones, except maybe an old guy in the corner. Then I realize I'm the old guy in the corner.

I'm with you 100%. I only want notifications of work critical information or direct messages from friends and family. Everything else is usually just a hook to get you to "engage" with more advertising.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#207

Post by blubb-fish »

mrisoli wrote: post #181
blubb-fish wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made the same observation. If I want to take a pic of a building or a monument, I try to get my girlfriend somewhere on the photo. It does make a difference.

I have the same feeling, I consider I don't usually need a picture(or a bunch) of a place by itself, these days you can Google better pictures of anything TBH, but pictures of you and the people you're with are unique.

It's really weird that people take pictures of something that they just have to google and they'll find hundreds.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#208

Post by marchenko »

goalieca wrote: post #8

Smoking causes self-harm through use. But do cigarette companies build a giant FBI file on you in order to sell it for profit to others? others who believe Information is power and want to manipulate you for political and economic success? As you can tell, I'm on the cynical side of things. It hurts my social life no doubt. Perhaps this is similar to being a non-smoker in the 40s. Hell, I bet that I'm a victim of sec…

"second-hand social media" is a brilliant coinage. it's perfect to describe non-users who are still affected by shadow profiles, ubiquitous logins and trackers, the walling-off of some discourse, and facial recognition capture.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#209

Post by ido »

posterboy wrote: post #198
ido wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smoking regularly is also terrible for your health, which i think is the main reason it's become so maligned. Despite all the supposed harm social media is not nearly as damaging.

That's a red herring, but I'll bite. It can lead to smoking, i guess. So it's potentially at least as dangerous. And the other way around, too, so smoking is comparitively potentially just as dangerous.

Not sure what you mean.

Social media can lead to smoking? In what way? I mean beyond the trivial "anything can lead to anything" way.

Re: Social Media Is the New Smoking

#210

Post by FeloniousHam »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #173
mrisoli wrote: post #39

> Will browsing your phone anticipating the next notification become a dirty habit that others will shun you for? It is already frowned upon in some social circles, occasional browsing is okay but some people can go completely off reality when going through their Facebook feed, I have some friends like this(very introverted), when we met at a bar or restaurant we would make a "phones on the table" rule, first to reac…

"...It is bizarre watching other tourists around, how they navigate from spot to spot to get a picture in some of the most famous places on earth without ever stopping to absorb where they were..." I took a class in photography once, taught by a famous photographer. About half-way through the course he did a dead stop, turned to the class and said something like "The most important part of photography is learning whe…

The craziest are pictures that don't contain any personal context, just snaps of architecture or scenery. The same photo has been taken a million times, a personal snap is indistinguishable from thousands available from a Google image search (a probably of lower quality).
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