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

nber.org

311–320 of 527 posts

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

#311
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>now everyone else is going ‘how could you be so dumb to believe it’ and/or ‘you sure fucked up by admitting it was fake’ all at the same time. Not necessarily mutually exclusive. It's like professional wrestling, stage magic, or politics. Some lies people really love.

I do judge people who post thought leadership on LinkedIn about the same as people who are really into pro wrestling.

I mean.. if you go into with the right frame of mind, it is harmless. It is starts being an issue when you take it seriously and someone ends up with back broken in someone's backyard.

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

#312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has moved heavily into group chats and I’m not sure it’s coming back. Group chats are basically the Circles that Google+ saw the need for but could never get fully set up. A lot of people don’t want to share personal updates and photos to a broad swath of friends and acquaintances. Meanwhile Instagram and Facebook keep evolving. Facebook is turning into a weird Reddit for older people. Instagram is turning into…

> Facebook is turning into a weird Reddit for older people. Don't forget FB marketplace. I know a few younger coworkers who have FB just for market place.

I'm Old, but this is me. Marketplace is big improvement over Craigslist, it's the only reason I have a FB account.

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

#313
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is nonsense. Drinking in moderation is beneficial or at worst harmless. Every two years the "science" changes. Anyone that pays too much attention to what it says is a fool.

Can you provide more details on the health benefits of ethanol?

It does an okay job as a hand sanitizer.

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

#314
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…

> ..and could go against what most people have become accustomed to.

I think that’s the tough reality—over time, people gradually become accustomed to consuming random content from random accounts or pages, to the point where the original idea of interacting with friends and family on social media starts to fade away. That said, messaging apps might still bridge that gap through groups.

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

#315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Group chats existed before any of this social media did. Pretty funny that we’ve come full circle on that.

iOS added more social network-like functionality to the group chats—like being able to name them, set a photo, etc. To me, this helped cement their popularity since you can create a bespoke “named thing” that makes it easier to return to. You don’t accidentally leave someone off when returning to the convo.

I have never used any of these features, I just see the names on the group chat - same as groups texts 15 years ago. I don’t want to hide that with a group name that might make me forget who I’m messaging.

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

#316
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…

Whatsapp group chats.

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

#317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The politicians in my state do a fairly good job, so that is easy to believe.

I assume you mean they do a good job of not acting in their own interests...? Let me know what state I should move to.

> I assume you mean they do a good job of not acting in their own interests...?

They do a good jobs of working in the interest of their constituents. Whether that also includes self interest, I don’t know. They are politicians, their job is to work for their constituents, if we’ve managed to align their self interest with doing their jobs well, that seems fine.

> Let me know what state I should move to.

State and local governments seem to be rated fairly well, just go to one that matches your ideology.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/11/americans...

Pew reports on a negative trend, but states have a huge head start on the federal government.

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

#318
post #56

The surprise here is how little of an effect it has. Deactivating facebook makes you only 1/16th of one standard deviation happier. And instagram even less. And this was measured during elections, when the effect is likely to be greatest. Kinda crazy that the magnitude is so small! (my next [admittedly rather cynical] thought is "who funded this?")

It’s marginal but the study addresses this, it says essentially it’s impossible to tell if the participants are telling the truth about deactivation, as well as if they are supplementing their Facebook time with other platforms.

For example, if you deactivate Facebook but still doom scroll the NY Times et al homepages. Your happiness wouldn’t necessarily change because almost ALL media has adopted the addictive techniques of social media.

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

#319
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…

This is basically how I use WhatsApp.

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

#320

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.

Leaving Reddit has significantly improved my quality of life. Would recommend it to anyone.
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