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I wonder how close we are to diagnosing social media addiction as a legitimate illness. When I hear stories about people like "Mr Instagram" in this blog post,

I wonder how close we are to diagnosing social media addiction as a legitimate illness. When I hear stories about people like "Mr Instagram" in this blog post, I really, really wonder... Mobile devices are turning some of us into zombies. It's like hypnosis. I've been slowly purging my website accounts for a couple of years, and not just social media accounts. Early on, I was inclined to sign up and try out every new service that came along, but more recently I decided that if it's not a site I'm going to use frequently, I don't really need an account for it. A beneficial side effect: far fewer logins and passwords to maintain. As for social media proper, I just don't feel any particular urge to keep up with the often-trivial details of everyone's life. As an aside, I find it kind of irritating when a website refuses to allow one to close/deactivate/delete/whatever your account.

itchynosedev 10y ago
Sometimes people coerce me into using services, eg development team found a cool service to manage the project issues or designers want to check out the tool to manage the assets. There's no way around it. I found password manager tools to be invaluable in maintaining the accounts, "fire and forget". They usually opt you in for the marketing emails, but unsubscribing is just one click away in 99% of the cases. You are spot on about the mobile devices enabling addictive behavior. I used to have an old Nokia phone, with physical buttons during the smartphones craze and wasn't able to consume entertainment media while away from my computer. I though I'd upgrade to be able to interact better with friends through WhatsApp and whatnot and realized how much more time I fill my brain with junk media, because the phone is always there hence everything is at the tip of the finger. Although, I found playing chess on my phone to be very convenient, it's been ages since I wanted to try to learn playing chess. Technology is a double-edged sword and it definitely requires to exert more self control. It's easy not to be bored, to be somewhere in between of being satisfied and not achieving or progressing much. I love this bit Louis CK did about smartphones, even though a bit jokish but rings true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c
- ChrisGranger 10y ago
  That Louis CK bit was great. (I may be the only person in the western hemisphere who loves computers but doesn't own a smartphone.)
basch 10y ago
It is the same as drugs and over eating. Stimulus creates dopamine and serotonin. The difference is on my phone I can be stimulated by sounds, lights, and emotions. Drugs may modify emotions, but they dont plant them like media does. Like TV I can VERY RAPIDLY switch topics or inputs, like video games it is always interactive and responding to my command, and like human conversation it can be social and participatory. It is a trifecta of control, conversation, and variety, that I can't get elsewhere. Bored? Instead of resorting to antidepressents to make boredom copable, I can stimulate myself out of the drudgery of modern life. Is this a new form of the same unhealthy behaviors I mentioned at the beginning? I dont think social media should be singled out, unless we agree it is a bunk term. Flipping through imgur mindlessly is the same as flipping through instagram. Facebook isnt all that different than google news/feedly. You say you are purging your social media accounts, but you here on hacker news, indulging in social conversation. Potato tomato. Gotta get your fix somewhere.
- ChrisGranger 10y ago
  > You say you are purging your social media accounts, but you here on hacker news, indulging in social conversation. Potato tomato. Gotta get your fix somewhere. I did say "slowly"... ;) I also don't consider HN to be in the same class of social media as Facebook or Twitter and so on because of its focus typically being a lot narrower. It's a technology news aggregator with comments. Nobody comes here looking for posts by friends and family talking about their day-to-day trivialities. Those would be quickly removed by moderators, whereas on Facebook and Twitter they're expected...

itchynosedev 10y ago

Sometimes people coerce me into using services, eg development team found a cool service to manage the project issues or designers want to check out the tool to manage the assets. There's no way around it. I found password manager tools to be invaluable in maintaining the accounts, "fire and forget". They usually opt you in for the marketing emails, but unsubscribing is just one click away in 99% of the cases. You are spot on about the mobile devices enabling addictive behavior. I used to have an old Nokia phone, with physical buttons during the smartphones craze and wasn't able to consume entertainment media while away from my computer. I though I'd upgrade to be able to interact better with friends through WhatsApp and whatnot and realized how much more time I fill my brain with junk media, because the phone is always there hence everything is at the tip of the finger. Although, I found playing chess on my phone to be very convenient, it's been ages since I wanted to try to learn playing chess. Technology is a double-edged sword and it definitely requires to exert more self control. It's easy not to be bored, to be somewhere in between of being satisfied and not achieving or progressing much. I love this bit Louis CK did about smartphones, even though a bit jokish but rings true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c

ChrisGranger 10y ago
That Louis CK bit was great. (I may be the only person in the western hemisphere who loves computers but doesn't own a smartphone.)

basch 10y ago

It is the same as drugs and over eating. Stimulus creates dopamine and serotonin. The difference is on my phone I can be stimulated by sounds, lights, and emotions. Drugs may modify emotions, but they dont plant them like media does. Like TV I can VERY RAPIDLY switch topics or inputs, like video games it is always interactive and responding to my command, and like human conversation it can be social and participatory. It is a trifecta of control, conversation, and variety, that I can't get elsewhere. Bored? Instead of resorting to antidepressents to make boredom copable, I can stimulate myself out of the drudgery of modern life. Is this a new form of the same unhealthy behaviors I mentioned at the beginning? I dont think social media should be singled out, unless we agree it is a bunk term. Flipping through imgur mindlessly is the same as flipping through instagram. Facebook isnt all that different than google news/feedly. You say you are purging your social media accounts, but you here on hacker news, indulging in social conversation. Potato tomato. Gotta get your fix somewhere.

ChrisGranger 10y ago
> You say you are purging your social media accounts, but you here on hacker news, indulging in social conversation. Potato tomato. Gotta get your fix somewhere. I did say "slowly"... ;) I also don't consider HN to be in the same class of social media as Facebook or Twitter and so on because of its focus typically being a lot narrower. It's a technology news aggregator with comments. Nobody comes here looking for posts by friends and family talking about their day-to-day trivialities. Those would be quickly removed by moderators, whereas on Facebook and Twitter they're expected...