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The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

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Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#211

Post by delusional »

milesrout wrote: post #103
xyzal wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the EU should flex their regulatory muscle and forbid algorithmic feeds on by default unless the networks break european society as the US is broken.

The result of a purely chronological feed is that you have to scroll through 10 posts from the same person and never see anything from people that post good content rarely. Plenty of people like and enjoy "algorithmic feeds". I can enjoy occasionally scrolling through a feed. Banning it is like banning alcohol because there are alcoholics in society. If you can't handle it, switch it off.

Plenty of people like and enjoy "algorithmic feeds".

Plenty of people like heroin too. Liking something doesn't make it good.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#212

Post by xobs »

designerarvid wrote: post #79
8s2ngy wrote: post #41

I believe many of the problems in our current social media landscape could be solved by eliminating the "feed" and instead displaying posts, updates, and pictures from friends, family, and those we know in real life. This approach might conflict with the profit models of big tech social media and could go against what most people have become accustomed to. Personally, I would love a smaller social network where I can…

Intellectually many want this. But the feed shortcuts our reptile brain and gains more engagement minutes / day. As you say, the algorithmic feed is superior for creators wanting reach, and more importantly, advertisers who want eyeballs on their ads. Due to network effects, it is likely impossible to get friends and family to join a boring and non-profit alternative. Instead of pausing social media altogether, I rec…

> endless scrolling feeds only

I've got a personal policy: No websites that have an infinite scroll. That means no new Reddit, mobile Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, or similar. This also means I can't use food delivery services, since those tend to be infinite as well.

If they're paginated that's fine, even if they're infinitely so. Infinite scrolling is just a very good touchstone as to the quality and addictiveness of a site, and I'll avoid anything that has it.

For this reason I get my news through RSS and like using Discord -- both have finite ends (even if there may be a lot of content in bursts.)

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#213

Post by pjc50 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #199
RadiozRadioz wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Crazy political people are crazy political people and think the issue they care about is the most important thing ever.

The issue they've been told is important, right? For example it was vital in the minds of some in USA to put import taxes (tariffs) >100% on all Chinese goods. They would have seemed to care about that, until Trump got told that wasn't working (or, as likely, the market had been swung far enough) and did a 180 removing tariffs on what the public were told were the most vital things to tariff... All those people didn'…

But remember that this is supported by traditional media (Fox news). It's not just social media.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#214

Post by The-loan-wolf »

perching_aix wrote: post #9

> People who deactivated Facebook for the six weeks before the election reported a 0.060 standard deviation improvement in an index of happiness, depression, and anxiety, relative to controls who deactivated for just the first of those six weeks. People who deactivated Instagram for those six weeks reported a 0.041 standard deviation improvement relative to controls. Can anyone translate? Random web search find sugge…

>Getting myself out of shitty platforms and community spaces improved my mental state significantly

True. I've experienced it too

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#215

Post by nottorp »

codetrotter wrote: post #208
nottorp wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OP doesn't seem to make a difference between social media for consuming content that the "algorithm" crams down your throat and simple group chats that are usually closed and invite only. Tbh I have a feeling it's the kids' fault. They call everything social media now. No separate names for FB and WhatsApp even though they do totally different things.

> I have a feeling it’s the kids’ fault. Look at how broad the definition on Wikipedia is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media I don’t think that’s the kids fault. Also, from that Wikipedia article: > Depending on interpretation, other popular platforms that are sometimes referred to as social media services include YouTube, Letterboxd, QQ, Quora, Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal, LINE, Snapchat, Viber, Reddit, Disc…

> Look at how broad the definition on Wikipedia is.

But wikipedia doesn't make up definitions, just lists the commonly used meaning.

> I think the problem actually is the adults that are not being specific about which problems they want to stop when they broadly say that social media is bad.

Adults are also talking about cell phone addiction, like browsing FB/Instagram on your laptop is any better.

> HN although different is also run on an algorithm that is meant to surface the most interesting things.

Is it? I thought it was human upvotes and maybe a few human mods...

It would be interesting to determine why HN still works btw. It's a pretty unified community that is fairly large.

Is the main reason that it's basically a non profit?

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#216

Post by pjc50 »

AStonesThrow wrote: post #127
countWSS wrote: post #13

Anecdotal: Stopping commenting on reddit reduced emotional stress significantly. Reddit is one of those "social" anti-social circles where you can't afford to be on the "wrong side of argument" and every discussion can quickly spiral out.

I used to edit Wikipedia and I was heavily involved in many, many disputes. And in fact, I would seek out disputes, even ones outside my topic area; it's not difficult to do on Wikipedia because there are entire notice boards where people go to have public disputes. We called them "dramaboards", especially the admins' disciplinary ones. And I would have these disputes, of course, over utterly trivial things, like how…

Re: "brinkers", this is where it's very useful to have a certain amount of mod discretion so that people who probe the fences like velociraptors in Jurassic Park eventually get banned for that. The downside is that it looks even more cliquey than it is.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#217

Post by intended »

milesrout wrote: post #103
xyzal wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the EU should flex their regulatory muscle and forbid algorithmic feeds on by default unless the networks break european society as the US is broken.

The result of a purely chronological feed is that you have to scroll through 10 posts from the same person and never see anything from people that post good content rarely. Plenty of people like and enjoy "algorithmic feeds". I can enjoy occasionally scrolling through a feed. Banning it is like banning alcohol because there are alcoholics in society. If you can't handle it, switch it off.

Alcohol consumption is gated behind age laws.

There are society level effects based on the consumption of several goods and services.

Gambling, alcohol, drugs, for example.

The individuals story, in aggregate, mm impacts, over and over, has effects that we must address when arguing for the optimal friction for that good.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#218

Post by systemz »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #179
young_unixer wrote: post #130

Recently, I've been thinking about creating an Instagram account. I've never used it before, and I dislike it in general, but because of recent circumstances in my life (a breakup that almost gave me depression, and some other things), I need to go out more and meet new people IRL, and Instagram is the de facto way to meet people in my country, at least for those of us under 30, to the point that you're seen as weird…

There are people out there - probably many people - in your country under the age of 30 who feels the same way about Instagram as you do. These are the people you want to meet, not the people on Instagram. If you hate Instagram and the anxiety it gives you, the people you meet on there will never be really on your level, or you on theirs. You will waste your time and effort on shallower relationships that can't get d…

Those are good tips but what to do when you are new in location and your family/friends doesn't have contacts with people that like your hobby? Joining new social circles isn't that easy for less social ones.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#219

Post by veunes »

8s2ngy wrote: post #41

I believe many of the problems in our current social media landscape could be solved by eliminating the "feed" and instead displaying posts, updates, and pictures from friends, family, and those we know in real life. This approach might conflict with the profit models of big tech social media and could go against what most people have become accustomed to. Personally, I would love a smaller social network where I can…

Social media started as a way to stay connected with people you actually know, but it's morphed into this performative attention economy where the loudest, most extreme content wins.

Re: The effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram on users' emotional state

#220

Post by intended »

vekker wrote: post #158
xyzal wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the EU should flex their regulatory muscle and forbid algorithmic feeds on by default unless the networks break european society as the US is broken.

I'm sure that would work out fine. Just like the GDPR regulation made the web so much better & more private, and the promise of the AI act is boosting innovation in Europe...

Yes, the Americas are a hot bed for innovation. Enshittification is also an innovation.
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