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The benefits of staying off social media

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Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#61

Post by Isthatablackgsd »

systemvoltage wrote: post #36
ehnto wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once asked here about how you would start an online business without interacting with Google, and I think that somewhat echoes the problem you've mentioned. While totally possible to do these things without social media, there is a challenge posed by the fact that the big platforms have captured the audiences you might have engaged with if they weren't already occupied. If it weren't for those big platforms, many p…

We desperately need new companies emerging and taking over FAANGs. It’s been too long. I think about big tech same as what we thought of HP, Oracle and IBM 20 years ago. Time to conquer them and make them obsolete. If we don't, we're guaranteeing absolute stagnation of the society in many insiduous ways. Always watching, always controlling Big Tech dystopia.

Unfortunately this won't happen unless something or someone takes actions. If governments is not going to bother to do the enforcement of the laws, then nothing changed until they do it.

If there is a new player in the field, what or who is going to stop FAANGs from buying the competitors (even it violated the antitrust law)? Sure we do have Sherman Antitrust Act for this... but no one bothering to do the enforcement and the companies are not going to stop for the goodness of their hearts.

We cannot expect the small/newcomer companies to try to compete against FAANGs and hoping thing changes. The only way we can get the enforcement seriously is the Congress itself. Frankly, the Congress prefers to listen to their corporate masters over their constituents.

Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#62

Post by ehnto »

civilized wrote: post #21
pkdpic wrote: post #12

> A futuristic dystopia. A place where the real world sucks. Where people consider talking to someone a chore. Connection, closeness, ambition are replaced by detachment and dogmatic slumber. Society is satisfied with shallow thoughts and the pursuit of artificially created stimuli in an imaginary world. Beautifully written top-notch orwellian poetry. Seriously inspiring. Also as someone who has only ever used social…

I feel like the challenge for creators is less the "social media Orwellian dystopian hellscape etc" and more that virtually everything you can contribute has been done better by someone else before you.

Which is an example of the "best or why bother" attitude of exceptionalism the internet can breed, which can affect people in some surprising areas. Even something like grass roots motorsport. Everyone's too busy in their garages trying to build the absolute peak performance car, before even doing a single lap, because they think they can't have fun until their car is as good as all the others on Instagram.

There is so much fun to be had in the space between 0% and 100%, and some don't even get started until they're confident they're already at 95% in the comfort of their own home.

Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#63

Post by freebuju »

shtopointo wrote: post #34

Another day, another person telling you how to live your life... Sorry, but even though we know social media has its downsides, it also has advantages: keeping in touch with friends, socializing, a way to stay up to date with your community, new recipe ideas, exercise ideas, time management ideas, maybe even the occasional envy that someone's success triggers more ambition in you to succeed etc. It's a tool, like any…

Are you using social media, correctly, as you put it.. Or. is social media using you?

I find that even if you go out of your way to sanitize and make SM useful to your needs. You can't do away with the unhealthy incentives around it and possible potential dopamine addiction.

Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#64

Post by civilized »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #56
civilized wrote: post #5

I have no idea how HN does it (I hear this "dang" guy plays a big role) but HN shows the possibility of a largely positive and edifying social media IMO. I have maybe needed a break from time to time though. I generally don't take that break but maybe I should... EDIT: I know we're not supposed to comment on downvotes but it was very funny to me that the first vote I got on this comment was a down. Like, "HN sucks! H…

HN does it with heavy moderation. For one, the scope of what's allowed to be posted is small. You're never going to see a post about Kylie Jenner's latest trip here. Second, low-quality comments are universally downvoted. Jokes and fun are allowed, but we don't tend to beat dead horses into a bloody pulp like reddit does. You will never see "Username checks out" as a comment here. Lastly, HN is mostly populated by te…

Yep. Every time I shitpost I get downvoted. I know the bar I'm expected to clear here!

Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#65

Post by jh0486 »

Social media consumption really falls into the same category as addiction. Some people can manage doing addictive things better than others. If social media is having a negative impact on your life, stop using it. If you can moderate it and it has a positive impact on your life, use it.

As a side note, we have to stop blaming platforms for human problems. What social media has done to the world isn't new, it simply used to be contained.

Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#66

Post by xrd »

In this thread, there are a lot of people saying Reddit and HN are their social media, and it is not the same as FB or Instagram.

I think we should distinguish between social media that uses algorithms to promote content and serve ads from those sites that don't. HN is definitely promoting something (they advertise one product: getting the best startups to do YC). But, AFAIK, HN does not algorithmically push content to me based on what I have indicated I care about.

That's the dangerous precedent FB set. They are crafting a world for you, and you are unaware of it. And, even FB employees probably don't know, they just know that they get their bonuses so they can finally buy a house in the bay area when they tweak that algorithm and the advertiser success rates hit the metric for the quarter.

Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#67

Post by BenJong-Il »

afavour wrote: post #43

Not to dispute anything the article says, but a reminder: Hacker News is social media too. Which is fine! But I often see comments on here (typically under any article about Facebook) where the poster says they’ve deleted all social media and their life is much better for it, etc etc. No you haven’t because you’re still on here. No problem with that as long as you’re getting value from the time you spend here, but it…

Thank you for mentioning that. I was just about to say that I quit all social media EXCEPT for HN.

And sometimes I am faced with the same negative effects as I was on larger platforms. For example posts or comments about salary or revenue will make me worry about my own financial future. Or technical posts will scratch on my self esteem when a lot of expertise is involved.

I think what makes HN feel different to its community is the fact that it is well moderated niche community that can look like heaven at first.

Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#68

Post by civilized »

ehnto wrote: post #62
civilized wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like the challenge for creators is less the "social media Orwellian dystopian hellscape etc" and more that virtually everything you can contribute has been done better by someone else before you.

Which is an example of the "best or why bother" attitude of exceptionalism the internet can breed, which can affect people in some surprising areas. Even something like grass roots motorsport. Everyone's too busy in their garages trying to build the absolute peak performance car, before even doing a single lap, because they think they can't have fun until their car is as good as all the others on Instagram. There is…

Yes. We're going to have to figure out how to manage this side-effect, because the delight of having the best always at our fingertips isn't going to go away.

Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#69

Post by civilized »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #59
civilized wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you get what you put in. I've had plenty of interesting, challenging conversations here. On Twitter too, although it's more work and ultimately I decided it wasn't worth it. I agree that HN would not survive an incursion by the general public. Fortunately we're protected by being a bunch of boring nerds. Who would bother? The boring, minimalist UI is probably our strongest moat.

Twitter's tiny character limit makes any sort of real discussion impossible. There's no room for nuance or detailed explanations of a position when you can only fit two or three sentences.

I found it's actually pretty possible with a willing partner. You dice up an argument into bite-sized chunks, and if the other person cooperates, they read the whole thing and reply with their own thread.

The character limit actually has a neat side effect: you can reply at the precise point of the argument you want to, and start a thread from there.

The main problem on Twitter is finding the right people to talk to, and the lack of moderation. Things get heated easily and there's no way to turn it back down. You end up in a small posse of people who share your views and values enough not to treat you like shit when you express yourself.

Re: The benefits of staying off social media

#70

Post by nomdep »

zzbzq wrote: post #16
aluminussoma wrote: post #4

I am now off popular social media (Facebook, Instagram). The void is now replaced with other forms of social media (Reddit, Hacker News). Reddit, arguably, is more toxic than my version of Facebook - but it is strangers being toxic, and zero FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) which is prevalent on Facebook and Instagram.

If you use Facebook the old fashioned way (an actual network of friends) it's probably very pleasant. If you start joining "Groups" which are similar to subreddits, it's the most toxic thing I've seen. I never really was a real Facebook user with a network in the first place, but one day on a whim I went to the FB site where I still had my account and decided to join some random suggested groups. That's where it beco…

You are clearly have not accepted invitations from high school ex classmates… and you shouldn’t. At least in my case, some of them are the worst kind of strangers: people you would think would grew to be smart, reasonable and/or well intentioned… but they became just the opposite
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