51–60 of 147 posts
Why not just use the various social media outlets less? Is this an addiction? Because people talk about it like it is.
Amazing how as soon as Elon buys Twitter and bluechecks loose their privilege, there is one Mastodon endorsement [0] and one "quit social media" article on BCC in short succession trending on HN. Probably nothing. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33495817
I effectively shut down my Twitter account a while ago, best thing I did for my mental health in the past year. There are interesting people on Twitter but the algorithm just works like a slot machine that tries to keep you on the site no matter the cost, it's not optimized to serve you but to make you view more ads. In addition it's almost impossible to have a civilized discussion, it often feels more like two peopl…
I'm always surprised that people, especially on HN, complain so much about twitter's algorithms that are so easy to bypass. I use Twidere as a client, and my feed doesn't have any of twitter's algorithms - it's simply a reverse chronological feed. Even the website and twitter's official app have a button right on the feed page that allows you to switch to a reverse chronological feed
> In addition it's almost impossible to have a civilized discussion
Just don't use it for discussion then. I use it to read opinions of people all across the ideological spectrum and form my own. You don't need to engage if you don't want to! Also, it's very easy to mute/block accounts that you find are being abusive or uncivilized
It's an invaluable tool to gather peoples' opinions and what they really think.
Social media is one great big psy-op. Best to not be a part of it at all.
Uncomfortable take, maybe its a necessary PsyOp. In ancient times, when you screwed up the village would shun you and that status as a shunned, would act as a reminder for others to not engage in unacceptable behaviour. This is what social media is now. If you engage in warcrimes, your face and name will be known to the world for all times.
Sadly, I think many of us are still carrying a working model of social media as a "peoples' tool" from the Arab Spring. There are plenty of places in the world today where you can see that's been suppressed, recruited and inverted by those in power.
If we want technology to reduce evil in the world then we need to redouble our efforts.
I effectively shut down my Twitter account a while ago, best thing I did for my mental health in the past year. There are interesting people on Twitter but the algorithm just works like a slot machine that tries to keep you on the site no matter the cost, it's not optimized to serve you but to make you view more ads. In addition it's almost impossible to have a civilized discussion, it often feels more like two peopl…
I wish there was a way i could ban my IP or something else more permanent to really remove me from most social media platforms. As it is now, its too easy to create a new account or reactivate your old one.
I effectively shut down my Twitter account a while ago, best thing I did for my mental health in the past year. There are interesting people on Twitter but the algorithm just works like a slot machine that tries to keep you on the site no matter the cost, it's not optimized to serve you but to make you view more ads. In addition it's almost impossible to have a civilized discussion, it often feels more like two peopl…
I effectively shut down my Twitter account a while ago, best thing I did for my mental health in the past year. There are interesting people on Twitter but the algorithm just works like a slot machine that tries to keep you on the site no matter the cost, it's not optimized to serve you but to make you view more ads. In addition it's almost impossible to have a civilized discussion, it often feels more like two peopl…
It’s the “x who you followed liked this” that did me in. Turns out a lot of the smart people I followed followed complete tools. Twitter gave me no options to ignore, so I just deleted instead.
I felt even better when I quit news media as well. Now I read the print newspapers, just to see whether there is any change in legislation that I need to know about. My blood does boil even there, with the subtle editorializing tell us what to feel about what is essentially a neutral news item, but it's much easier to control than the online media.
My life was filled with unnecessary external inputs / noise (such as news) that often dictated the mood and output of my day. Example, waking, unconsciously unlocking my phone and scrolling news or socials. It was like gambling my day away but with no upside. These days I start with things I can control (make bed, tidy up) to build positive momentum to plow through the inevitable challenges of the day.
News was one of my worst... along with sugar :) Now I beat both (kinda).
I disagree with this general sentiment. I don't think absolutely 0 social media is feasible or even wise this day in age. How are you going to keep up with family, friends, and so on? (In my case, family and friends span multiple states, countries, and continents!) You would at the very least need a phone - ok, that's maybe not "social media" in the sense this article talks about, but it's still tech at the end of th…
Yeah, god forbid you actually visit them, invite them over, and talk to them on the phone, or, text them...
>you'd anyway likely need an app like WhatsApp or Telegram to keep track of everybody and everything - and those technically ARE considered social media right?
No, technically they are considered chat apps...
And you wont need those either...