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Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

theglobeandmail.com

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Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#41

Post by ferdowsi »

legitster wrote: post #30

I know Facebook is the great evil, but we really need to start looking at the mental health impacts of all social media. The unhappiest people I know are not on Facebook - they are religiously devoted to Twitter and Reddit. Heck, I'd like to know what sort of damage this post right here is doing to me. This is our generation's smoking but everyone only wants to know how harmful Marlboros are. Edit: Please upvote this…

Reddit is an interesting one. Since it's an anonymous experience, I guess it'd be the same issues with any internet community. It can be stressful to see seemingly abhorrent viewpoints in such concentrated numbers. And it can be stressful when you feel a community is turning against you, even if your connections to that community are extremely tendentious.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#42

Post by tmp_anon_22 »

macksd wrote: post #7

As a side note, I'm a little saddened when I see friends apologize for their posts. There's such a reaction to "influencer culture" that people feel like foodgrams and humblebrags are a terrible thing, and in excess they certainly can be, but I think from most people it's a billion times better than strawman political arguments and manipulative media that is far worse for our mental health than just comparing ourselv…

A lot of social media posts come down to bragging under the guise of "celebrating life". People will go on a vacation and then meter out the pictures from it over months to appear like they're on perpetual vacations. I don't mind people apologizing for those.

To say nothing of edited photos.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#43

Post by na85 »

keewee7 wrote: post #38
flycaliguy wrote: post #19

Yeah, I mean, this is among Canadians willing to fill out a survey online. Frankly it feels like another push in the media world to shift blame to FB. As far as specifically Canadian factors, maybe don’t survey us in October when the days are getting noticeably shorter? I feel like we are all a little melancholy right now preparing for our lightless morning commutes.

What I don't understand is the selective outrage against Facebook/Instagram. Why not Twitter, YouTube, reddit and TikTok?

Twitter, Youtube, Reddit, and TikTok don't have megalomaniac CEOs who got rich selling out their users to advertisers while spending that money on PR messages like "privacy is dead" and then turning around to buy all the mansions around theirs so that they can protect their privacy.

Also there's that little itty bitty issue where Facebook was purposely manipulating people's timeline feeds to see if they could produce depression-like symptoms, without informed consent.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#44

Post by rightbyte »

zepto wrote: post #3
vadfa wrote: post #2

If it's over 50% then it's no problem, they can just quit it without fearing network effects. There will be enough users in the new platform.

What new platform? Why won’t the new platform be just as bad? Switching brand of cigarettes doesn’t protect your lungs.

> Switching brand of cigarettes doesn’t protect your lungs.

Atleast get one with filters?

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#45

Post by macksd »

tmp_anon_22 wrote: post #42
macksd wrote: post #7

As a side note, I'm a little saddened when I see friends apologize for their posts. There's such a reaction to "influencer culture" that people feel like foodgrams and humblebrags are a terrible thing, and in excess they certainly can be, but I think from most people it's a billion times better than strawman political arguments and manipulative media that is far worse for our mental health than just comparing ourselv…

A lot of social media posts come down to bragging under the guise of "celebrating life". People will go on a vacation and then meter out the pictures from it over months to appear like they're on perpetual vacations. I don't mind people apologizing for those. To say nothing of edited photos.

Yeah that's fair, and I've seen that. I think the key is authenticity. As others have mentioned sometimes it's just a firehose of good things happening to other people. I've also seen a friend speak candidly about their struggle with mental health and suicide - again great to see everyone rally around them, and be aware of it. Probably a good way for them to get more support, and make other people aware that (a) current mental health resources kinda suck, (b) other people might be struggling just like you, and (c) everyone realize that their friend needs help.

But yeah - being vulnerable and open like that is hard and not for everyone. And it can also be faked for attention. Ultimately I don't know what a platform is supposed to do if everyone starts optimizing for the algorithm or is constantly consuming the very content that is bad for them but doesn't want censorship. There's no win - social media would be amazing if everyone was kind, honest and authentic. But I realize that's asking the impossible on a global scale.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#46

Post by Minor49er »

SavantIdiot wrote: post #40
greenail wrote: post #37

The knee jerk reaction to this is likely one to push for regulation but I don't think that is the solution. We should keep in mind that we still have choice, we can choose not to use Facebook. That choice is likely to have a powerful effect on the direction Facebook (or any other platform) takes. My fear is that government control of social media is such a tempting power it would be hard for politicians not abuse it.…

> we can choose not to use Facebook You're looking at this from a western perspective. Some non-western countries are entirely linked by Facebook products. When Facebook went down last week, some people couldn't access their BANKS . You OK with that? That's what Facebook wants: to become something you simply MUST use to survive. It goes deeper in the US as well but not as deep: some restaurants and small shops don't…

> You're looking at this from a western perspective. Some non-western countries are entirely linked by Facebook products. When Facebook went down last week, some people couldn't access their BANKS. You OK with that?

Wasn't this because DNS servers were effectively DDoS'd when applications overwhelmed them with requests looking for Facebook without caching the response? Or are there actually banks out there that require Facebook to log in?

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#47

Post by pzo »

jszymborski wrote: post #18
zepto wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What new platform? Why won’t the new platform be just as bad? Switching brand of cigarettes doesn’t protect your lungs.

I think that's a fair point, but I wonder if I can probe HNs brain on what a "healthy" online social network would look like. Here are some thoughts I have: 1) The platform does not have a user-engagement incentive. 2) Personal network sizes are restricted. You can't be "friends" with everyone. Adding friends perhaps comes at some cost or is just strictly capped. 3) Sharing outside your friends network from the platf…

some good points. I would add also:

5) limit how many posts / pictures / content you can share per day to avoid information overload. This should make people double thing what they are writing and hopefully more higher quality content.

6) automatically limit time spend for everyone on social media for e.g. 30-60 min per person per day.

7) Different business model than ads.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#48

Post by bjornlouser »

chickenfries wrote: post #31
darkerside wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's strange... I thought we were wired as a species to live vicariously, to feel joy when others are blessed, and feel pain when they suffer. You're not the only one that doesn't get that out of Facebook... Why? Is it the quantity? The format? What turns it into a place of covetousness and bitterness?

It's definitely the format and the quantity for me. Seeing an old friend in person and having them tell me about their life and accomplishments, even showing me pictures, does not make me feel the same way. I think it's also the fact that I turn to social media when I'm feeling lonely, so seeing a feed of people at their best moments, on vacation with friends, getting married, having children, etc... makes me feel ev…

"having them tell me ... does not make me feel the same way... "

You don't get the warm fuzzies when someone tries to harvest intimacy across hundreds of their relationships simultaneously with a post? Weird.

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#49

Post by wellthisishn »

legitster wrote: post #30

I know Facebook is the great evil, but we really need to start looking at the mental health impacts of all social media. The unhappiest people I know are not on Facebook - they are religiously devoted to Twitter and Reddit. Heck, I'd like to know what sort of damage this post right here is doing to me. This is our generation's smoking but everyone only wants to know how harmful Marlboros are. Edit: Please upvote this…

We could start by calling it what it is -- antisocial. Spending time on media content aggregators is an antisocial activity. Not that spending some time on an antisocial activity is inherently bad... studying and research are also antisocial activities. But let's not call something "social" when it is the antithesis of anything that could be considered as such. I think this could be a decent start!

Re: Most Canadians believe Facebook harms their mental health

#50

Post by RealityVoid »

I used to think, untill recently, that Facebook was just a tool and all this hatred was overblown. After all, I modulated my use of it just fine. My usage is sparse, and I use messenger to talk with people I know, it kept us together. I can see how community and bringing old friends together is precious.

But, recently, I realized someone I used to be very close has mental problems. Undiagnosed, but there is no other way I can explain his behaviour to myself. Obsessive behaviour, can only talk about his conspiratorial obsession, erratic, spends most of his time "learning" about a specific conspiracy. And I see how Facebook is exacerbating this. I see how these things are poisoning his mind, fantasies weaved by other mentally ill people. It's just sad, when I thought about it and dawned on me most of those _wild_ conspiracy theories are people that need help feeding each other's sickness.

And then I look on my dad's wall, and saw the same hatred and resentment growing, and it scared me, the possibility he might drift even more this way.

Now I changed my mind. I think it is harmful and it does induce bad states in people that would otherwise be better, or at least... Surrounded by better support systems. But I still think it's not _just_ Facebook. It's a confluence of factors.

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