Are we meant to be happy through ignorance? I'd rather be anxious and motivated to improve my life by fixing the issues that upset me, even in a "hyper-competitive" environment like social media... There's nothing wrong with trying to get a Lamborghini because some celebrity is showing off his.
Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
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Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends on the news source. There is a noticeable difference between Tweets and unverified Facebook posts, news media from Buzzfeed or Salon, articles from a local newspaper, articles from The New York Times/Washington Post, and articles from the Financial Times or The Wall Street Journal. Not all news is designed for outrage. Several publications publish in-depth articles in a neutral way, where you can actually lea…
And you could say the same about social media. I'm on facebook. I get no outrage. I unfollowed anyone who posts it and FB doesn't insert any. As an example right now my FB feed is: > Picture of a the blood moon eclipse a friend took > A Picture of a CD cover of a song a friend is listing too > Pictures from my sister visiting her best friend in another state. > A funny gif from a friend making fun of crypto crashing…
Correct. I believe you.
But somehow that’s not what happening to the population as a whole.
My guess, is the mere fact you’re on HN means you’re separate from the population writ large
Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends on the news source. There is a noticeable difference between Tweets and unverified Facebook posts, news media from Buzzfeed or Salon, articles from a local newspaper, articles from The New York Times/Washington Post, and articles from the Financial Times or The Wall Street Journal. Not all news is designed for outrage. Several publications publish in-depth articles in a neutral way, where you can actually lea…
And you could say the same about social media. I'm on facebook. I get no outrage. I unfollowed anyone who posts it and FB doesn't insert any. As an example right now my FB feed is: > Picture of a the blood moon eclipse a friend took > A Picture of a CD cover of a song a friend is listing too > Pictures from my sister visiting her best friend in another state. > A funny gif from a friend making fun of crypto crashing…
That does not seem controversial. However Facebook/Instagram does not allow you to only see results for friends you follow. Explore page, ads, recommended posts, shorts, reels pepper your news feed. And your friends posts are also sorted with the intention of maximum engagement, not relevance.
Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
#74At Facebook / Meta, employees often questioned Mark Zuckerberg whenever a study like this came out. Zuckerberg noted that the same held true for news media. Reporters do not like to mention this.
The natural extension then seems to abstain from both. not encourage one as the employees are pushed to understand.
Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
#75I quit social media entirely many years ago: it felt like quitting smoking, just less difficult but the same level of benefits. I also shifted how I get news: I don't read or watch "event-oriented" journalism (aka, reporting) and shifted entirely to analysis (through radio and press). The biggest win is that the timeframe is different, as analysis requires perspective, opposite to reporting which only focuses on the…
This is social media. (Not to detract entirely from your statement with my pendantics.)
I was expecting this comment, tbh :)
This is true to some extent.
Yet the scale and mechanics of HN are (vastly?) different from your typical social media.
Also, brands are mostly absent, except for the YC specific posts.
In my opinion, HN relates more to a good ol' forum rather than typical social media, as defined nowadays.
Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
#76I run a local resolver on my home network and I block most social media for 23~ hours of the day. Definitely also helps with productivity. See yourself abusing time on a site? blackhole it via dns.
Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
#77For me, I've found that social media doesn't affect my level of happiness and/or anxiety directly. What it does do, is take up a lot of my time almost imperceptibly - leaving less time for other, more meaningful activities. It makes me feel like I'm running out of time every day, which in turn causes a feeling of anxiety.
100%
Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
#78Does this include HN? Asking for a friend. Snark aside, why is this a recurring obsession of HN posters?
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Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
For me it’s not the fake people showing off, it’s all the news, drama and doom. And arguably it’s all irrelevant anyway. As an Australian, if I had known nothing about Ukraine, BLM protests, Trump, Kyle Rittenhouse, etc, my life would be no bit worse or less informed. It would probably be a bit better. But if I check social media it’s just a non stop stream of crap.
That's a weird mix of contemporary events to mention together.
This is the kind of stuff that ends up filling my news feed. None of it has ever had any real effect on my life but it all seems to get equal feed real estate on reddit/twitter
Re: Taking a break from social media makes you happier and less anxious
#80You don’t say.