15 ms·

Social Media Is the New Smoking

435 points by nether 9y ago

watertorock 9y ago
Toxic and popular with no benefit?
- grenoire 9y ago
  No benefit and no net benefit are two different things. Even still, it's relative.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
chayesfss 9y ago
sitting is the new smoking, social media is the new smoking, sugar is the new smoking...
- Stanleyc23 9y ago
  ...vaping is the new smoking?
- Spivak 9y ago
  Are you surprised that there are more things we do that are both bad for our health and difficult to give up?
- izzydata 9y ago
  I feel like we should get rid of smoking before making a new one.
thinbeige 9y ago
I remember one vacation which was the first after many years: I was lying at the beach enjoying the view. I was so happy that I could afford some vacation after years of suffering and watching millions of vaction pictures from my friends on Facebook. Avid for revenge, I took a picture of the stunning beach view and wrote in big letters 'MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS'. At that moment I realized what Facebook is about (without posting anything).
- Kenji 9y ago
  Did you know? Facebook stores what you write into the text box even if you don't send it.
  - hammock 9y ago
    He's getting downvoted but this is (was?) actually true, there was a study about it. Link: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/12/facebook_self_censorship_what_happens_to_the_posts_you_don_t_publish.html http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/1...
    - betenoire 9y ago
      S/He's getting down voted because (I assume, it wasn't me) he changed the topic/point of the conversation, not because what he wrote wasn't true. Often a comment on something social/subjective/squishy devolves into a objective discussion about the irrelevant details..... like this comment does.
      - sumedh 9y ago
        His/her comment is totally relevant, I didnt know facebook was that sneaky to actually save that.
        imron 9y ago
        That probably doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the sneakiness that goes on.
      - Kenji 9y ago
        It's highly relevant. Facebook now knows he wrote "MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS" and deleted it. Tells a lot about a person, doesn't it? What if someone wrote something else and then deleted it and somehow that caused trouble because facebook saved it? Just food for thought.
    - deleted 9y ago
goalieca 9y ago
Smoking causes self-harm through use. But do cigarette companies build a giant FBI file on you in order to sell it for profit to others? others who believe Information is power and want to manipulate you for political and economic success? As you can tell, I'm on the cynical side of things. It hurts my social life no doubt. Perhaps this is similar to being a non-smoker in the 40s. Hell, I bet that I'm a victim of second hand social media.
- kaybe 9y ago
  I added 'second hand social media' to my collection of interesting concepts, thanks.
- majewsky 9y ago
  > second-hand social media Thanks for this term.
- Bakary 9y ago
  Interestingly my social life suffered both from a lack of social media and a lack of smoking, since smoking breaks were an ubiquitous form of bonding at my high school.
- marchenko 9y ago
  "second-hand social media" is a brilliant coinage. it's perfect to describe non-users who are still affected by shadow profiles, ubiquitous logins and trackers, the walling-off of some discourse, and facial recognition capture.
dawhizkid 9y ago
I'm so, so glad I grew up in a world without social media (with the exception of maybe Myspace blowing up when I was in HS). I can't imagine that growing up with an iPhone and access to FB/IG/Snap from elementary school onward is a healthy experience for kids from a mental health/social anxiety POV. I guess only time will tell. I'd also imagine being a teacher these days would suck because of phones. I don't know how schools manage that these days.
- brandon272 9y ago
  I'm probably around your age but I remember being a kid and always fantasizing about having some kind of "personal technology" like a phone or device you could take anywhere with you. For the longest time the computer I used was owned by my entire family and was in a common room in our house. I didn't buy my own computer, a laptop, until I was an adult. I didn't have any cell phone until I bought my own as an adult. But now every 10 year old has their own smartphone, and they are dialed into Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and the internet-at-large 24 hours a day, and while there are obvious benefits in terms of convenience, there is also an "ick" factor to it for me.
oliv__ 9y ago
> "That the dude off in the corner consuming his Instagram feed will be looked at the same as the guy standing at the street corner sucking on a Marlboro." I don't think that's ever going to happen. Social networks, contrary to smoking, are built on the very nature of human beings: being social animals. And that's certainly not going away. It would be like wishing that the buddies socializing on the corner would be looked at the same as the guy smoking next to them. There's no doubt that our natural inclination to socialize is being used and twisted through these slot-machine social networks, but if you're going to wish for something, wish for better social networks, or better education to help people control themselves, just not for humans to stop being social.
- booleandilemma 9y ago
  The other day I saw a woman on the subway spending almost 5 minutes trying to take a flattering selfie. It was pretty sad.
  - duderific 9y ago
    Ha. I have a Facebook friend (actually the wife of a friend) who clearly spends hours dolling herself up for her Facebook profile photo, which she updates every few weeks. Full makeup, hair mussed just so, just the right angle and smile. Instead of thinking, "man, Candy's looking great!", I'm thinking, "it's kind of pathetic that she thinks anyone cares enough about her profile photo that she would spend that much time on it."
  - hycaria 9y ago
    There was someone in mobile repair who said the other day that some customers insist on retrieving dozens of selfies.
- dep_b 9y ago
  > Social networks, contrary to smoking, are built on the very nature of human beings: being social animals. Bullshit. After quitting I still went to the smoking area at work just to hang out with the people that were taking a break there. Especially when it was completely accepted smoking was considered very social, like grabbing a beer together still is. The "hey let's grab a smoke" is what I miss about smoking.
calebgilbert 9y ago
I've been developing since 2000 in some form or other and have gone from a true believer who thought the internet would save the world, to someone who thinks it's had an immeasurably negative impact on any number of levels. That said, comparing it to smoking is not broad enough. It's more like social media (and by extension the internet) is more like the 'new water' - a fundamental aspect of living whether we like it or not at this point. For instance, even if you don't partake in social media, the top political figures of the day are, and thus your life is being directly affected one way or the other.
- treve 9y ago
  Sounds like every opinion you held both before and after 2000 are extremes. Some nuance might be healthy!
  - calebgilbert 9y ago
    Well, I've reached 'resignation' if not nuance in any case. Or maybe that is a nuance.
WheelsAtLarge 9y ago
If Social Media Is the New Smoking then I'm smoking 12 packs a day. HELP! Seriously,there is truth in this statement. People are sinking into their phones and computers and we all think it's amusing. Living peacefully in a society is hard enough when we have to learn to deal with one another. What will happen when we lack those abilities because all we need to do is interact with our technology? Red lights need to be popping up all over the place.
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago
  "Living peacefully in a society is hard enough when we have to learn to deal with one another. What will happen when we lack those abilities because all we need to do is interact with our technology." Being wrapped up in social media might serve as a way of pacifying society. When unemployment is rising due to automation and policy, give the masses shiny websites they can spend all day on and lots of computer games, and then they won't get together in real life much and riot. William Gibson envisioned such a future in his recent novel "The Peripheral".
  - rfrank 9y ago
    Man, this sentiment is so disturbing. Is this something people find desirable? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3lXEH80Nw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3lXEH80Nw
  - WheelsAtLarge 9y ago
    True there is more than one possibility but extremes in anything always bother me. I can't think of a time where it's good. To your point Social Media reminds me of Soma in Brave New World. In the book it was a drug, now it's new technology. By the way, I highly recommend the book. It's a bit boring now but it's worth reading. It's not too long. It gives lots of good food for thought.
  - blahblahxyz 9y ago
    You do realize that Facebook and Google already do this with the intention of squeezing every last advertising dollar possible out of you, right? There doesn't need to be a conspiracy to pacify the masses (assuming this crap even does that because I think there's a very good argument that it doesn't); distracting people is just a side effect of exploiting your data.
Mz 9y ago
Social Media: Promotes cancerous growth. And it smells bad to boot.
martinald 9y ago
I often wonder if social media is the reason behind the dismal productivity gains we've seen in the last decade. I think this is a really well thought article. I can sort of see the equivalent of The Insider in 20 years time, with Zuck at a congress hearing saying that 'social media' is not addictive.
- sjg007 9y ago
  Facebook, Reddit, hacker news.. all are addictive. I started with slashdot in 96/97? then Reddit, now hacker news. Twitter might be the same but I don't partake. The fundamental problem is you read yesterday's news instead of inventing the future.
  - ccozan 9y ago
    > fundamental problem is you read yesterday's news instead of inventing the future. ..and this my friend, is such an understatement. I wish everyone hooked on social media to read this phrase every hour. I do, indeed, read HN, because it does offer some insights in the future. I had lots of ideas from the shared articles and associated comments.
  - amelius 9y ago
    > The fundamental problem is you read yesterday's news instead of inventing the future. Well at least you're prevented from reinventing the wheel ;)
kartan 9y ago
Today I'm going to answer cynism with cynism: > will social media become the new smoking? No. Smoking produces cancer, that makes some people really worried. It is even worst if you are pregnant. > Will browsing your phone anticipating the next notification become a dirty habit that others will shun you for? No. Unless there are other more cool ways of social media. If you are still using My Space, maybe you already feel like this. > There are a few instances where it works well but for every 1 nugget of goodness that there is, there are 4 nuggets of bad. Supported by which data? > I know I am sounding negative here, but it is the truth. Ooooh, it's the true. Duh. > I always feel better after interacting with someone face-to-face. Me too. Social media doesn't exclude the possibility to have human interaction unless you are in a 90s movie connected to a VR headset. If that happens, you are trapped in "the computer world" and lost for ever. > social media will never feel like a true genuine connection. Because it is not. Reading a newspaper doesn't feel either as a "genuine connection", but keeps me up to date with the news. Sending a mail doesn't feel either as a "genuine connection", but I get my job done. > While naive to believe so, I have to hope that when my son becomes ready to consume the social media lifestyle, by then it will have been a passing fad and ostracized like the cigarette packages of today. Or he can be educated to understand for what is useful, and for what not, and what are the risks. Abstinence education doesn't work.
- Bakary 9y ago
  If social media produces widespread depression (based on the studies posted by other commenters) it can well become a health hazard, albeit not as damaging as smokes. >Or he can be educated to understand for what is useful, and for what not, and what are the risks. Abstinence education doesn't work. I don't disagree outright but unfortunately all the education in the world still makes a person vulnerable against societal pressure. If you are a non-smoker in the 1940s, you still have to breathe smoke wherever you are. If you are a non-user in the 2010s, your social life (especially if you are young) is highly likely to be negatively impacted.
rubicon33 9y ago
I removed social media from my life years ago because I found that it wasn't helping me in any way whatsoever. I'm not sure I would go as far as to declare it a social epidemic on the level of smoking, yet it's hard not to worry about (what seems to be) the growing fixation young people have on their social media lives [1] over their real life. I genuinely wonder what it's like to grow up as a teenager in the social media world we live in today. [1] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/teenage-driver-livestreams-crash-killed-sister-48829211 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/teenage-driver-li...
voidifremoved 9y ago
I broke my phone about a year ago, and it took a few days to sort out a replacement. In that time I went through exactly the same process I did when I quit smoking. I became aware suddenly of all the time, all the gaps, all the moments that I had filled with a quick look at my phone. And once it passed - elation, freedom, seeing the world with open eyes and a clear head. I was sad when my new phone arrived, and looking back I wish I had found a way to stay clean.
- Jonnax 9y ago
  About 7 years ago, I spent about 20 days abroad. Didn't have a data plan so my phone stayed in my suitcase the entire trip and didn't have a computer. By the end I felt that I engaged with the world a lot more with a feeling that my perception was sharpened. It felt great but didn't last long on my return. Because my life involves computers. Today the idea of spending almost a month away from a PC would mean I'd have to quit my job. But if I had the opportunity again, I would love to unplug myself. Not sure if I'd have the willpower though.
- nether 9y ago
  I've done this in a few ways. I go backpacking in the wilderness where there's no reception, and there's this Buddhist monastery I visit in San Diego where they ask you leave your phones in your car (it's a LOT better that way). I'd like to do a no-screens day once a week, unfortunately working in tech right now makes that difficult.
- Nition 9y ago
  If I didn't appreciate the GPS in my smartphone so much I'd totally just use a Nokia 105.
- mrleinad 9y ago
  Block the app in the phone. I did just that, and don't want to look back ever again. I didn't close the account because it's actually useful for some situations (found a lost dog last week and need to post about it so I can find the owner). But other than that, it feels awful to log back into Facebook. I left messenger installed because of the same reason I have whatsapp. It's actual chat, not posting pics or whatever (and I don't care about the "status" that some contacts share).
colept 9y ago
In college social media consumed me. Instead of going out and having fun I was watching my friends go out and have fun. It got to such a bad point that I was lurking enviously across random profiles. In 2013 I gave up Facebook and it felt like a deadweight lifted. I stopped worrying about what acquaintances were up to. Friends and I kept in touch through conventional conversation. I endured the same awful feeling with Instagram when I moved 3000 miles away from my friends and family. Everyone is crafting an online identity of how they want to appear and we all know we're doing it. There's little room for raw, unedited perception. Every moment has to be post card or else you don't measure up. Networks like Facebook and Instagram are a self-fulfilling prophecies of low self esteem.
- ruc0la 9y ago
  Literally my thoughts on this topic. Albeit, I have not got rid of my account yet due to university. However, I disabled notifications and mainly use messenger. I wiped my pictures, never check in places and occasionally like posts.
mrisoli 9y ago
> Will browsing your phone anticipating the next notification become a dirty habit that others will shun you for? It is already frowned upon in some social circles, occasional browsing is okay but some people can go completely off reality when going through their Facebook feed, I have some friends like this(very introverted), when we met at a bar or restaurant we would make a "phones on the table" rule, first to reach for the phone pays the bill. For me, the hyperbole of social media dependency is how it changed travel experiences. People always took photos of travels, but social media put that into comical territory. It is bizarre watching other tourists around, how they navigate from spot to spot to get a picture in some of the most famous places on earth without ever stopping to absorb where they were, they never bothered to understand the history or the architecture behind some place, they have 75 pictures of the same place but probably couldn't tell you the color on the walls five minutes after the picture was taken. I like to stay at hostels and meet other people(especially when traveling alone), there have always been people in their own bubble, but it is crazy how it changed in the last 3-4 years, everyone is so self-envolved on their phones that they are not even aware of their surroundings, you can come in and out of a room without being noticed, I've seen people spend their entire time locked in a room glued to their phones, sometimes even missing meals.
- toomanybeersies 9y ago
  I'm always having to tell people to put their phones away. I purposely have a really cheap phone, because I don't want to sit on my phone and use social media all day. Sometimes I'll be sitting in a group with a few friends, and I'll be the only one not looking at my phone. I have to tell them to stop trying to socialise with people hundreds of miles away, when there's people right here. As for travel, I've never bothered taking photos of landmarks, everyone has seen pictures of them before, probably better pictures than I can take.
  - dbshshbdbd 9y ago
    In many situations I am on my phone so that I don't need to talk to anyone. I'm in the social circumstance for some other reason beyond my control.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
pan69 9y ago
Early January I removed the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter apps from my phone (don't really use any other social media). Since that time I think have have logged into Facebook twice (desktop browser) only to be presented with a barrage of gunk on which I closed the browser tab. See yasss... Every once in a while I will scroll through my Twitter feed (desktop browser). I follow a lot of pixel art artists so I get to see some interesting things. However, I don't want this on my phone anymore. My phone will only have the actually utilities I need. Phone, SMS, maps, email and a decent battery life. Also, I turned off all notifications on my phone as well. I.e, don't interrupt me. I'll get to it when I get to it.
- ryandrake 9y ago
  I’ve been off Facebook for at least 5 years, and the quality of life improvement was greater than anything I’ve done since quitting TV (about 12 or so years ago). I now have time for two fairly time consuming (physical world) hobbies, whereas before it was endless vacuous screen-time, devoid of purpose. Highly recommended—you won’t miss it!
- fokinsean 9y ago
  I have been off Facebook for about 5 years and recently just got off Instagram about 2 months ago. I can't believe how much longer my battery is lasting lol. The big kicker for me quitting was that if I became the slightest bit stuck on a task at work, I would reach for my phone and get lost in the instavoid. Since I quit I have been much more productive and also noticed I don't habitually dive into social media when I become bored.
  - eldavido 9y ago
    Also off facebook for about five years. I've said it many times, it's surprising how little I miss it. Sort of like junk food, it tastes great but surprising how little you miss eating it when it's gone.
- rybosome 9y ago
  The negativity around the US election was the catalyst for me to stop browsing Facebook. I'd wake up in the morning, scroll through my feed and my stress would hit the ceiling. It was a shitty way to start each day. When I sat back and thought about it critically, I also realized how much I enjoyed getting likes on things I posted, and I felt uncomfortable with that. It's one thing to enjoy it a bit, but I was spending large amounts of time thinking about a witty message or a perfect photo just for the sake of getting lots of likes. That was enough to prompt me to remove the app from my phone, and I haven't missed it at all. Now being "off the drug", I am more aware of others' usage and feel uneasy about it. Watching my wife mindlessly pop open the app and scroll through her feed, sometimes exiting conversations midway through makes me realize that I had been doing the same things for years. I've also noticed that I have less desire to take pictures, and I'm not concerned with them being perfect - I only want enough to document my life for my own memories, not to garner likes or to craft my public image. Having to go on Facebook occasionally (like responding to an event invite), I still feel the siren's call to just scroll through the feed a little. But I know that reading one post won't be enough, so I'll keep scrolling and scrolling...so I try to avoid even letting my gaze fall on it.
syphilis2 9y ago
I feel it's clear the fad is waning, but that's my experience among my crowd. For young children, for grandparents, maybe for other countries it's not the same. For example Facebook's trendiness is in that familiar slow motion fall. The same one blogs experienced, or Instant Messenger. But "social media"? No, contrary to my experience, social media is still trending up. It should be interesting to see the backlash grow, the holdouts dig in, and the slow fade to irrelevance and memory. In ten years you might ironically send a foodie to your friends alongside a status update about how cute your cat is. Or a hamburger themed math problem presented by a Minion. Or maybe social media is the new jeans (long term) or the new beer (very long term).
dsjoerg 9y ago
I had exactly the idea of OP's title but never bothered to write an article around it. 100% agree.
mahyarm 9y ago
I would say the international increase in obesity and all of the health problems it creates is the new smoking TBH.
thesuitonym 9y ago
I don't know about you, but I don't find that I'm missing out on anything by pulling my phone out when I'm waiting for my car to warm up. I don't think I'm wasting time because when I start getting bored with a movie that I'm watching, I pull out my phone and check my messages. I don't miss the ten minutes of watching the news before leaving for work that has been replaced with ten minutes of Facebook. Maybe reading a novel for an hour after work is a better use of my time than reading Reddit for an hour, but maybe it's not? I'm probably not super typical with my social media consumption, but I only use social media to fill the time when my kids are doing their own thing, my wife is on something, and I don't really have time to engage in some activity. I get that social media is new and alarming that it's such an integral part of our lives, but maybe we need to step away from these hype grabbing headlines. What's the difference if a 10 year old is posting on Instagram, to a 10 year old in the 80s with a Polaroid? If kids talk on snapchat instead of over the fence in the backyard? Again, I want to stress that I'm not saying we shouldn't look into the negative effects of social media. We certainly should. But we also shouldn't assume these things are bad because people with poor impulse control are ruining their lives.
- ask_hn_er 9y ago
  then don't engage in anything, just be still for a couple minutes
- toomanybeersies 9y ago
  You're missing having mental quiet time by always being attached to your phone. Take a minute or two to contemplate what's around you while you wait for your car to warm up.
  - hanoz 9y ago
    Ironically smoking used to be quite the conduit for such quiet contemplative moments. All the more so in its social pariah death throes, with smokers forced out of the office or home, conjuring five minutes quiet from the chaos, in contrast with social media's soaking up of every moment of quiet opportunity with its endless distraction.
- 9y ago
mjn 9y ago
Reminds me of an article from 5 years ago, "The Cigarette of This Century", comparing cigarettes and smartphones. Although that one is looking more at their social roles than their health effects. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/the-cigarette-of-this-century/258092/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/the-c...
bogomipz 9y ago
>"After watching a man almost wander into the street while browsing his phone, my wandered a bit; will social media become the new smoking?" The opening sentence is about not paying attention and yet it contains two glaring errors, spelling and grammatical. Did this individual really not even bother to proof read their opening sentence? Maybe the author might be better asking "is blogging the new fast food?"
seizethecheese 9y ago
Oh, the irony. After all, this platform is a form of social media. And before you say "it's different", HN is just a different flavor of clickbait from FB, more in tune with what happens tickles your feels.
djyaz1200 9y ago
"It's the new smoking, an expensive/unhealthy pacifier for poor people." by djyaz1200 62 days ago on: Facebook – cancer of our generation"
Aron 9y ago
No. It's not the new smoking. There's an uncomfortable process involved with acculturating to social media and it will continue to evolve, but there is far more upside when used well which is hard to say with smoking.
spraak 9y ago
I'm sitting here watching my child at the park and reading Hacker News. I don't use social media but definitely am addicted to being distracted.
Aron 9y ago
I'll tell you what the new smoking is. Driving around in a gas car. Hey Ford, cough cough, I'm trying to breathe here.
empressplay 9y ago
I quit smoking over a decade ago, but only because I had a S60 phone with an IRC client lol
m3kw9 9y ago
Your attention is now helping how the corporation want you to use your time to help them make money. It all seem like a win win but your share of win is much lower. You miss out on introspection of yourself or other matters, that's just the tip or the iceberg
Nightshaxx 9y ago
I think that the basic idea of the article is frighteningly true; social media is becoming that thing I use when I feel sick, bored, or just want to escape reality. The problem is smoking feels the same wiether 1 person is doing it or 1 million people do it; social media only really works when everyone you know does it. This makes it even scarier when you realize this will make it exponentially harder for we as a society to make a decent dent in social media: if your high depends on others, you might pressure others into sustaining your high.
- irrational 9y ago
  I get so many invitations to join Linkedin as well as questions about why I'm not on Facebook or other social media platforms that it drives me nuts. Why am I considered strange for not participating? It's like tattoos. Everyone where I live has multiple tattoos and I'm considered a freak because I don't have any. Maybe I just want to be a special butterfly.
  - franciscop 9y ago
    It has been demonstrated that social media REDUCES overall happiness. Just say that. At least that works for me.
  - Declanomous 9y ago
    I used to be way too involved in Facebook. One day I realized that I was spending way too much time seeking validation there rather than actually taking steps to better myself. I defriended literally everyone that I wasn't invested in, which was about 800 people. The amount of time I freed up was incredible. It didn't hurt my social life at all, since I still keep in contact with everyone I want to keep in contact with. Social media is largely a narcissistic pursuit, and studies have repeatedly found that higher social media use is correlated positively with narcissistic personality traits. I wouldn't be surprised to learn the same thing about people with tattoos as well. The number of agonizingly boring people I know who are constantly getting tattoos is absurdly high. That being said, I know a lot of people who have plenty of tattoos and are not narcissistic at all. But it seems like the recent trendiness of tattoos is somewhat correlated with the everyone is special movement.
losteverything 9y ago
There is no possible way to reverse the damage to the lungs caused by active or passive smoke(ing) The comparison is not a strong one
draw_down 9y ago
The stigma against smoking has a considerable class element to it nowadays. If a technology comes along that allows more affluent people to avoid looking at the phone then this could happen. On the other hand, smart watches offered that functionality among other things and don't seem to have changed much of anything, socially speaking.
donatj 9y ago
This is an incredibly interesting and apt comparison. My mother who's trying albeit mostly failing to wean herself from smoking has become addicted to social media to the point where she becomes actively hostile when her internet is out. She is literally addicted to Facebook in the exact same way as cigarettes. She needs her fix. I think for people who become easily addicted to things, it's a very easy thing to become addicted to.
habosa 9y ago
I think the analogy is true, but in a much more serious way. Smoking is the defining health issue of the previous generation. Everyone did it, and nobody knew (or wanted to admit) that it was slowly killing them. The companies knew, but there was too much money at stake. I think social media addiction and general internet addiction is destroying the mental health of millions of people around the developed world and nobody is doing much about it. Just as we look back now and go "oh my god they used to smoke in restaurants!" our children may say "holy crap look at this picture of my parents on the phone while they walk!". It's all-consuming.
joh-nan-drew 9y ago
Addictions aren't necessarily bad. Some need drugs to help get by. Others junk food. TV shows. Validation. I indulge in a number of things when I just want my brain to turn off. I let my desires run on autopilot and give myself what I need. Sometimes, these can reveal important things about our personalities. One of my addictions is particular kinds of information. Complex and novel ideas, long-form essays, "insight porn." The type of things I gravitate towards reading tells a lot about me and what I find interesting in this world. I'd like to make some kind of dent in the universe in these spaces I find interesting before I die. Sure it might suck when I end up reading too much at the expense of something else, but what can I say, that's what I enjoy. For those whose lives revolve around social media like Facebook or Instagram, their attention might be largely allocated towards validation, a sense of belonging, identity. Things that are not necessarily new to a post-Facebook world. In an alternative universe, maybe they're doing some other kind of social climbing or image-crafting. I'd never hold that against somebody if that's what they're wired towards. I say, own it and use it as an asset in your life. An addiction is a habit, and a habit is merely a stable pattern of human behavior. All of our non-novel behaviors are habits. The things our mind gravitates towards are habits. I think it crosses into a "negative addiction" once a habit starts to become detrimental to something we want out of our lives. That's when we should be concerned. We are flawed, suboptimal creatures. It's ok to give into our addictions, good and bad. We should incorporate addictions as constraints in our models of living, working, interacting. We'll always have them. In my experience, trying to get rid of certain habits hurt me because they served a function to my well-being or personality. You need to understand your own addictions. If a sense of belonging is important to your personality, you will feel a void in your life without it. There's a reason why poor men in third world countries might partake in cockfighting culture with other men rather than spend it on food. That being said, I don't think the negatives of social media are all that bad. I would argue that grade school is way more toxic than social media. Social media usually makes a convenient target for those in the "good old days before technology," "humans need authentic human connection" camp. I am willing to extend a platform+API metaphor and grant that social media (the platform) allows us to build an external layer of ourselves (the API) that becomes the means with which others interact with us while while we hide our internals, but you'll have to convince me that that's mostly a bad thing. I don't think appealing to an "authentic human connection" value works. Sounds like a win for technology if you ask me! Here's the thing. Social media is still a choice. Contrast this to the toxic and unnatural environment that is high school, which is forced upon us. Social media feeds our insecurities? Well, high school created them in the first place. Technology almost always affords you the freedom to engage or disengage. Take online dating for example. In the "good old days," men would have to impress and court a whole family just to date one person -- you're essentially dating a whole family. Now you can just find someone online within minutes, and start connecting with the one person you actually want to. Is some dude harassing you online? You're free to block him with the click of a button or just turn off the app. Sure there are tradeoffs, but the key here is choice. Think freedom to respond to a text whenever you want vs being "on-call" all the time. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you are hanging out with people who are constantly on their phones, then the truth is, they are making a personal choice to disengage from that situation, and they value more whatever's going on in the "real internet world" rather than the "tiny bubble" that is the room you guys are sitting in. Maybe the latest meme or what's happening in North Korea is more interesting. The actual problem is a mismatch between you and your company. Technology simply affords them choices in dealing with social expectations they might not actually want. Facebook is not the end game, and technology can do better. But I think pointing fingers at social media for ruining us all is a bit silly.
kermire 9y ago
Though I do like the culture of taking photos instead of experiencing the moment, I do not think social media is the new smoking. People like to be distracted and absorbed. Social media is just an option. There are a dozen other alternatives. It has a different effect on different people. Some get really into it but there are others who just don't care. Fear mongering is easy when it sounds believable. I refuse to accept the equivalence until there's some unbiased research backing these claims.
tudorw 9y ago
Yes, if you follow the lifecycle from exclusive expensive gadget only the rich can afford down to ubiquitous device which affords no status it would seem likely that conspicuously demonstrating you are beholden to the little box will be avoided by the upper strata, not being busy and not needing a phone because you have 'people' for that will be the new norm. The truly wealthy will be carrying a book.
dennykane 9y ago
I just don't have a phone. I talk to people's faces all the time. (Especially really hot girls.) Weird, I know!
snarfy 9y ago
I enjoy my solitude. Maybe it's a slight bit of mental illness, but I cannot stand notifications. I'll use my phone when I want to, not when it wants me to. When I'm in a waiting room, it's amusing to watch everybody else on their phones, except maybe an old guy in the corner. Then I realize I'm the old guy in the corner.
- ChrisLTD 9y ago
  I'm with you 100%. I only want notifications of work critical information or direct messages from friends and family. Everything else is usually just a hook to get you to "engage" with more advertising.

435 points by nether 9y ago

watertorock 9y ago

Toxic and popular with no benefit?

grenoire 9y ago
No benefit and no net benefit are two different things. Even still, it's relative.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

chayesfss 9y ago

sitting is the new smoking, social media is the new smoking, sugar is the new smoking...

Stanleyc23 9y ago
...vaping is the new smoking?
Spivak 9y ago
Are you surprised that there are more things we do that are both bad for our health and difficult to give up?
izzydata 9y ago
I feel like we should get rid of smoking before making a new one.

thinbeige 9y ago

I remember one vacation which was the first after many years: I was lying at the beach enjoying the view. I was so happy that I could afford some vacation after years of suffering and watching millions of vaction pictures from my friends on Facebook. Avid for revenge, I took a picture of the stunning beach view and wrote in big letters 'MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS'. At that moment I realized what Facebook is about (without posting anything).

Kenji 9y ago
Did you know? Facebook stores what you write into the text box even if you don't send it.
- hammock 9y ago
  He's getting downvoted but this is (was?) actually true, there was a study about it. Link: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/12/facebook_self_censorship_what_happens_to_the_posts_you_don_t_publish.html http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/1...
  - betenoire 9y ago
    S/He's getting down voted because (I assume, it wasn't me) he changed the topic/point of the conversation, not because what he wrote wasn't true. Often a comment on something social/subjective/squishy devolves into a objective discussion about the irrelevant details..... like this comment does.
    - sumedh 9y ago
      His/her comment is totally relevant, I didnt know facebook was that sneaky to actually save that.
      - imron 9y ago
        That probably doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the sneakiness that goes on.
    - Kenji 9y ago
      It's highly relevant. Facebook now knows he wrote "MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS" and deleted it. Tells a lot about a person, doesn't it? What if someone wrote something else and then deleted it and somehow that caused trouble because facebook saved it? Just food for thought.
  - deleted 9y ago

goalieca 9y ago

Smoking causes self-harm through use. But do cigarette companies build a giant FBI file on you in order to sell it for profit to others? others who believe Information is power and want to manipulate you for political and economic success? As you can tell, I'm on the cynical side of things. It hurts my social life no doubt. Perhaps this is similar to being a non-smoker in the 40s. Hell, I bet that I'm a victim of second hand social media.

kaybe 9y ago
I added 'second hand social media' to my collection of interesting concepts, thanks.
majewsky 9y ago
> second-hand social media Thanks for this term.
Bakary 9y ago
Interestingly my social life suffered both from a lack of social media and a lack of smoking, since smoking breaks were an ubiquitous form of bonding at my high school.
marchenko 9y ago
"second-hand social media" is a brilliant coinage. it's perfect to describe non-users who are still affected by shadow profiles, ubiquitous logins and trackers, the walling-off of some discourse, and facial recognition capture.

dawhizkid 9y ago

I'm so, so glad I grew up in a world without social media (with the exception of maybe Myspace blowing up when I was in HS). I can't imagine that growing up with an iPhone and access to FB/IG/Snap from elementary school onward is a healthy experience for kids from a mental health/social anxiety POV. I guess only time will tell. I'd also imagine being a teacher these days would suck because of phones. I don't know how schools manage that these days.

brandon272 9y ago
I'm probably around your age but I remember being a kid and always fantasizing about having some kind of "personal technology" like a phone or device you could take anywhere with you. For the longest time the computer I used was owned by my entire family and was in a common room in our house. I didn't buy my own computer, a laptop, until I was an adult. I didn't have any cell phone until I bought my own as an adult. But now every 10 year old has their own smartphone, and they are dialed into Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and the internet-at-large 24 hours a day, and while there are obvious benefits in terms of convenience, there is also an "ick" factor to it for me.

oliv__ 9y ago

> "That the dude off in the corner consuming his Instagram feed will be looked at the same as the guy standing at the street corner sucking on a Marlboro." I don't think that's ever going to happen. Social networks, contrary to smoking, are built on the very nature of human beings: being social animals. And that's certainly not going away. It would be like wishing that the buddies socializing on the corner would be looked at the same as the guy smoking next to them. There's no doubt that our natural inclination to socialize is being used and twisted through these slot-machine social networks, but if you're going to wish for something, wish for better social networks, or better education to help people control themselves, just not for humans to stop being social.

booleandilemma 9y ago
The other day I saw a woman on the subway spending almost 5 minutes trying to take a flattering selfie. It was pretty sad.
- duderific 9y ago
  Ha. I have a Facebook friend (actually the wife of a friend) who clearly spends hours dolling herself up for her Facebook profile photo, which she updates every few weeks. Full makeup, hair mussed just so, just the right angle and smile. Instead of thinking, "man, Candy's looking great!", I'm thinking, "it's kind of pathetic that she thinks anyone cares enough about her profile photo that she would spend that much time on it."
- hycaria 9y ago
  There was someone in mobile repair who said the other day that some customers insist on retrieving dozens of selfies.
dep_b 9y ago
> Social networks, contrary to smoking, are built on the very nature of human beings: being social animals. Bullshit. After quitting I still went to the smoking area at work just to hang out with the people that were taking a break there. Especially when it was completely accepted smoking was considered very social, like grabbing a beer together still is. The "hey let's grab a smoke" is what I miss about smoking.

calebgilbert 9y ago

I've been developing since 2000 in some form or other and have gone from a true believer who thought the internet would save the world, to someone who thinks it's had an immeasurably negative impact on any number of levels. That said, comparing it to smoking is not broad enough. It's more like social media (and by extension the internet) is more like the 'new water' - a fundamental aspect of living whether we like it or not at this point. For instance, even if you don't partake in social media, the top political figures of the day are, and thus your life is being directly affected one way or the other.

treve 9y ago
Sounds like every opinion you held both before and after 2000 are extremes. Some nuance might be healthy!
- calebgilbert 9y ago
  Well, I've reached 'resignation' if not nuance in any case. Or maybe that is a nuance.

WheelsAtLarge 9y ago

If Social Media Is the New Smoking then I'm smoking 12 packs a day. HELP! Seriously,there is truth in this statement. People are sinking into their phones and computers and we all think it's amusing. Living peacefully in a society is hard enough when we have to learn to deal with one another. What will happen when we lack those abilities because all we need to do is interact with our technology? Red lights need to be popping up all over the place.

Mediterraneo10 9y ago
"Living peacefully in a society is hard enough when we have to learn to deal with one another. What will happen when we lack those abilities because all we need to do is interact with our technology." Being wrapped up in social media might serve as a way of pacifying society. When unemployment is rising due to automation and policy, give the masses shiny websites they can spend all day on and lots of computer games, and then they won't get together in real life much and riot. William Gibson envisioned such a future in his recent novel "The Peripheral".
- rfrank 9y ago
  Man, this sentiment is so disturbing. Is this something people find desirable? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3lXEH80Nw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3lXEH80Nw
- WheelsAtLarge 9y ago
  True there is more than one possibility but extremes in anything always bother me. I can't think of a time where it's good. To your point Social Media reminds me of Soma in Brave New World. In the book it was a drug, now it's new technology. By the way, I highly recommend the book. It's a bit boring now but it's worth reading. It's not too long. It gives lots of good food for thought.
- blahblahxyz 9y ago
  You do realize that Facebook and Google already do this with the intention of squeezing every last advertising dollar possible out of you, right? There doesn't need to be a conspiracy to pacify the masses (assuming this crap even does that because I think there's a very good argument that it doesn't); distracting people is just a side effect of exploiting your data.

Mz 9y ago

Social Media: Promotes cancerous growth. And it smells bad to boot.

martinald 9y ago

I often wonder if social media is the reason behind the dismal productivity gains we've seen in the last decade. I think this is a really well thought article. I can sort of see the equivalent of The Insider in 20 years time, with Zuck at a congress hearing saying that 'social media' is not addictive.

sjg007 9y ago
Facebook, Reddit, hacker news.. all are addictive. I started with slashdot in 96/97? then Reddit, now hacker news. Twitter might be the same but I don't partake. The fundamental problem is you read yesterday's news instead of inventing the future.
- ccozan 9y ago
  > fundamental problem is you read yesterday's news instead of inventing the future. ..and this my friend, is such an understatement. I wish everyone hooked on social media to read this phrase every hour. I do, indeed, read HN, because it does offer some insights in the future. I had lots of ideas from the shared articles and associated comments.
- amelius 9y ago
  > The fundamental problem is you read yesterday's news instead of inventing the future. Well at least you're prevented from reinventing the wheel ;)

kartan 9y ago

Today I'm going to answer cynism with cynism: > will social media become the new smoking? No. Smoking produces cancer, that makes some people really worried. It is even worst if you are pregnant. > Will browsing your phone anticipating the next notification become a dirty habit that others will shun you for? No. Unless there are other more cool ways of social media. If you are still using My Space, maybe you already feel like this. > There are a few instances where it works well but for every 1 nugget of goodness that there is, there are 4 nuggets of bad. Supported by which data? > I know I am sounding negative here, but it is the truth. Ooooh, it's the true. Duh. > I always feel better after interacting with someone face-to-face. Me too. Social media doesn't exclude the possibility to have human interaction unless you are in a 90s movie connected to a VR headset. If that happens, you are trapped in "the computer world" and lost for ever. > social media will never feel like a true genuine connection. Because it is not. Reading a newspaper doesn't feel either as a "genuine connection", but keeps me up to date with the news. Sending a mail doesn't feel either as a "genuine connection", but I get my job done. > While naive to believe so, I have to hope that when my son becomes ready to consume the social media lifestyle, by then it will have been a passing fad and ostracized like the cigarette packages of today. Or he can be educated to understand for what is useful, and for what not, and what are the risks. Abstinence education doesn't work.

Bakary 9y ago
If social media produces widespread depression (based on the studies posted by other commenters) it can well become a health hazard, albeit not as damaging as smokes. >Or he can be educated to understand for what is useful, and for what not, and what are the risks. Abstinence education doesn't work. I don't disagree outright but unfortunately all the education in the world still makes a person vulnerable against societal pressure. If you are a non-smoker in the 1940s, you still have to breathe smoke wherever you are. If you are a non-user in the 2010s, your social life (especially if you are young) is highly likely to be negatively impacted.

rubicon33 9y ago

I removed social media from my life years ago because I found that it wasn't helping me in any way whatsoever. I'm not sure I would go as far as to declare it a social epidemic on the level of smoking, yet it's hard not to worry about (what seems to be) the growing fixation young people have on their social media lives [1] over their real life. I genuinely wonder what it's like to grow up as a teenager in the social media world we live in today. [1] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/teenage-driver-livestreams-crash-killed-sister-48829211 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/teenage-driver-li...

voidifremoved 9y ago

I broke my phone about a year ago, and it took a few days to sort out a replacement. In that time I went through exactly the same process I did when I quit smoking. I became aware suddenly of all the time, all the gaps, all the moments that I had filled with a quick look at my phone. And once it passed - elation, freedom, seeing the world with open eyes and a clear head. I was sad when my new phone arrived, and looking back I wish I had found a way to stay clean.

Jonnax 9y ago
About 7 years ago, I spent about 20 days abroad. Didn't have a data plan so my phone stayed in my suitcase the entire trip and didn't have a computer. By the end I felt that I engaged with the world a lot more with a feeling that my perception was sharpened. It felt great but didn't last long on my return. Because my life involves computers. Today the idea of spending almost a month away from a PC would mean I'd have to quit my job. But if I had the opportunity again, I would love to unplug myself. Not sure if I'd have the willpower though.
nether 9y ago
I've done this in a few ways. I go backpacking in the wilderness where there's no reception, and there's this Buddhist monastery I visit in San Diego where they ask you leave your phones in your car (it's a LOT better that way). I'd like to do a no-screens day once a week, unfortunately working in tech right now makes that difficult.
Nition 9y ago
If I didn't appreciate the GPS in my smartphone so much I'd totally just use a Nokia 105.
mrleinad 9y ago
Block the app in the phone. I did just that, and don't want to look back ever again. I didn't close the account because it's actually useful for some situations (found a lost dog last week and need to post about it so I can find the owner). But other than that, it feels awful to log back into Facebook. I left messenger installed because of the same reason I have whatsapp. It's actual chat, not posting pics or whatever (and I don't care about the "status" that some contacts share).

colept 9y ago

In college social media consumed me. Instead of going out and having fun I was watching my friends go out and have fun. It got to such a bad point that I was lurking enviously across random profiles. In 2013 I gave up Facebook and it felt like a deadweight lifted. I stopped worrying about what acquaintances were up to. Friends and I kept in touch through conventional conversation. I endured the same awful feeling with Instagram when I moved 3000 miles away from my friends and family. Everyone is crafting an online identity of how they want to appear and we all know we're doing it. There's little room for raw, unedited perception. Every moment has to be post card or else you don't measure up. Networks like Facebook and Instagram are a self-fulfilling prophecies of low self esteem.

ruc0la 9y ago
Literally my thoughts on this topic. Albeit, I have not got rid of my account yet due to university. However, I disabled notifications and mainly use messenger. I wiped my pictures, never check in places and occasionally like posts.

mrisoli 9y ago

> Will browsing your phone anticipating the next notification become a dirty habit that others will shun you for? It is already frowned upon in some social circles, occasional browsing is okay but some people can go completely off reality when going through their Facebook feed, I have some friends like this(very introverted), when we met at a bar or restaurant we would make a "phones on the table" rule, first to reach for the phone pays the bill. For me, the hyperbole of social media dependency is how it changed travel experiences. People always took photos of travels, but social media put that into comical territory. It is bizarre watching other tourists around, how they navigate from spot to spot to get a picture in some of the most famous places on earth without ever stopping to absorb where they were, they never bothered to understand the history or the architecture behind some place, they have 75 pictures of the same place but probably couldn't tell you the color on the walls five minutes after the picture was taken. I like to stay at hostels and meet other people(especially when traveling alone), there have always been people in their own bubble, but it is crazy how it changed in the last 3-4 years, everyone is so self-envolved on their phones that they are not even aware of their surroundings, you can come in and out of a room without being noticed, I've seen people spend their entire time locked in a room glued to their phones, sometimes even missing meals.

toomanybeersies 9y ago
I'm always having to tell people to put their phones away. I purposely have a really cheap phone, because I don't want to sit on my phone and use social media all day. Sometimes I'll be sitting in a group with a few friends, and I'll be the only one not looking at my phone. I have to tell them to stop trying to socialise with people hundreds of miles away, when there's people right here. As for travel, I've never bothered taking photos of landmarks, everyone has seen pictures of them before, probably better pictures than I can take.
- dbshshbdbd 9y ago
  In many situations I am on my phone so that I don't need to talk to anyone. I'm in the social circumstance for some other reason beyond my control.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

pan69 9y ago

Early January I removed the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter apps from my phone (don't really use any other social media). Since that time I think have have logged into Facebook twice (desktop browser) only to be presented with a barrage of gunk on which I closed the browser tab. See yasss... Every once in a while I will scroll through my Twitter feed (desktop browser). I follow a lot of pixel art artists so I get to see some interesting things. However, I don't want this on my phone anymore. My phone will only have the actually utilities I need. Phone, SMS, maps, email and a decent battery life. Also, I turned off all notifications on my phone as well. I.e, don't interrupt me. I'll get to it when I get to it.

ryandrake 9y ago
I’ve been off Facebook for at least 5 years, and the quality of life improvement was greater than anything I’ve done since quitting TV (about 12 or so years ago). I now have time for two fairly time consuming (physical world) hobbies, whereas before it was endless vacuous screen-time, devoid of purpose. Highly recommended—you won’t miss it!
fokinsean 9y ago
I have been off Facebook for about 5 years and recently just got off Instagram about 2 months ago. I can't believe how much longer my battery is lasting lol. The big kicker for me quitting was that if I became the slightest bit stuck on a task at work, I would reach for my phone and get lost in the instavoid. Since I quit I have been much more productive and also noticed I don't habitually dive into social media when I become bored.
- eldavido 9y ago
  Also off facebook for about five years. I've said it many times, it's surprising how little I miss it. Sort of like junk food, it tastes great but surprising how little you miss eating it when it's gone.
rybosome 9y ago
The negativity around the US election was the catalyst for me to stop browsing Facebook. I'd wake up in the morning, scroll through my feed and my stress would hit the ceiling. It was a shitty way to start each day. When I sat back and thought about it critically, I also realized how much I enjoyed getting likes on things I posted, and I felt uncomfortable with that. It's one thing to enjoy it a bit, but I was spending large amounts of time thinking about a witty message or a perfect photo just for the sake of getting lots of likes. That was enough to prompt me to remove the app from my phone, and I haven't missed it at all. Now being "off the drug", I am more aware of others' usage and feel uneasy about it. Watching my wife mindlessly pop open the app and scroll through her feed, sometimes exiting conversations midway through makes me realize that I had been doing the same things for years. I've also noticed that I have less desire to take pictures, and I'm not concerned with them being perfect - I only want enough to document my life for my own memories, not to garner likes or to craft my public image. Having to go on Facebook occasionally (like responding to an event invite), I still feel the siren's call to just scroll through the feed a little. But I know that reading one post won't be enough, so I'll keep scrolling and scrolling...so I try to avoid even letting my gaze fall on it.

syphilis2 9y ago

I feel it's clear the fad is waning, but that's my experience among my crowd. For young children, for grandparents, maybe for other countries it's not the same. For example Facebook's trendiness is in that familiar slow motion fall. The same one blogs experienced, or Instant Messenger. But "social media"? No, contrary to my experience, social media is still trending up. It should be interesting to see the backlash grow, the holdouts dig in, and the slow fade to irrelevance and memory. In ten years you might ironically send a foodie to your friends alongside a status update about how cute your cat is. Or a hamburger themed math problem presented by a Minion. Or maybe social media is the new jeans (long term) or the new beer (very long term).

dsjoerg 9y ago

I had exactly the idea of OP's title but never bothered to write an article around it. 100% agree.

mahyarm 9y ago

I would say the international increase in obesity and all of the health problems it creates is the new smoking TBH.

thesuitonym 9y ago

I don't know about you, but I don't find that I'm missing out on anything by pulling my phone out when I'm waiting for my car to warm up. I don't think I'm wasting time because when I start getting bored with a movie that I'm watching, I pull out my phone and check my messages. I don't miss the ten minutes of watching the news before leaving for work that has been replaced with ten minutes of Facebook. Maybe reading a novel for an hour after work is a better use of my time than reading Reddit for an hour, but maybe it's not? I'm probably not super typical with my social media consumption, but I only use social media to fill the time when my kids are doing their own thing, my wife is on something, and I don't really have time to engage in some activity. I get that social media is new and alarming that it's such an integral part of our lives, but maybe we need to step away from these hype grabbing headlines. What's the difference if a 10 year old is posting on Instagram, to a 10 year old in the 80s with a Polaroid? If kids talk on snapchat instead of over the fence in the backyard? Again, I want to stress that I'm not saying we shouldn't look into the negative effects of social media. We certainly should. But we also shouldn't assume these things are bad because people with poor impulse control are ruining their lives.

ask_hn_er 9y ago
then don't engage in anything, just be still for a couple minutes
toomanybeersies 9y ago
You're missing having mental quiet time by always being attached to your phone. Take a minute or two to contemplate what's around you while you wait for your car to warm up.
- hanoz 9y ago
  Ironically smoking used to be quite the conduit for such quiet contemplative moments. All the more so in its social pariah death throes, with smokers forced out of the office or home, conjuring five minutes quiet from the chaos, in contrast with social media's soaking up of every moment of quiet opportunity with its endless distraction.
9y ago

mjn 9y ago

Reminds me of an article from 5 years ago, "The Cigarette of This Century", comparing cigarettes and smartphones. Although that one is looking more at their social roles than their health effects. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/the-cigarette-of-this-century/258092/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/the-c...

bogomipz 9y ago

>"After watching a man almost wander into the street while browsing his phone, my wandered a bit; will social media become the new smoking?" The opening sentence is about not paying attention and yet it contains two glaring errors, spelling and grammatical. Did this individual really not even bother to proof read their opening sentence? Maybe the author might be better asking "is blogging the new fast food?"

seizethecheese 9y ago

Oh, the irony. After all, this platform is a form of social media. And before you say "it's different", HN is just a different flavor of clickbait from FB, more in tune with what happens tickles your feels.

djyaz1200 9y ago

"It's the new smoking, an expensive/unhealthy pacifier for poor people." by djyaz1200 62 days ago on: Facebook – cancer of our generation"

Aron 9y ago

No. It's not the new smoking. There's an uncomfortable process involved with acculturating to social media and it will continue to evolve, but there is far more upside when used well which is hard to say with smoking.

spraak 9y ago

I'm sitting here watching my child at the park and reading Hacker News. I don't use social media but definitely am addicted to being distracted.

Aron 9y ago

I'll tell you what the new smoking is. Driving around in a gas car. Hey Ford, cough cough, I'm trying to breathe here.

empressplay 9y ago

I quit smoking over a decade ago, but only because I had a S60 phone with an IRC client lol

m3kw9 9y ago

Your attention is now helping how the corporation want you to use your time to help them make money. It all seem like a win win but your share of win is much lower. You miss out on introspection of yourself or other matters, that's just the tip or the iceberg

Nightshaxx 9y ago

I think that the basic idea of the article is frighteningly true; social media is becoming that thing I use when I feel sick, bored, or just want to escape reality. The problem is smoking feels the same wiether 1 person is doing it or 1 million people do it; social media only really works when everyone you know does it. This makes it even scarier when you realize this will make it exponentially harder for we as a society to make a decent dent in social media: if your high depends on others, you might pressure others into sustaining your high.

irrational 9y ago
I get so many invitations to join Linkedin as well as questions about why I'm not on Facebook or other social media platforms that it drives me nuts. Why am I considered strange for not participating? It's like tattoos. Everyone where I live has multiple tattoos and I'm considered a freak because I don't have any. Maybe I just want to be a special butterfly.
- franciscop 9y ago
  It has been demonstrated that social media REDUCES overall happiness. Just say that. At least that works for me.
- Declanomous 9y ago
  I used to be way too involved in Facebook. One day I realized that I was spending way too much time seeking validation there rather than actually taking steps to better myself. I defriended literally everyone that I wasn't invested in, which was about 800 people. The amount of time I freed up was incredible. It didn't hurt my social life at all, since I still keep in contact with everyone I want to keep in contact with. Social media is largely a narcissistic pursuit, and studies have repeatedly found that higher social media use is correlated positively with narcissistic personality traits. I wouldn't be surprised to learn the same thing about people with tattoos as well. The number of agonizingly boring people I know who are constantly getting tattoos is absurdly high. That being said, I know a lot of people who have plenty of tattoos and are not narcissistic at all. But it seems like the recent trendiness of tattoos is somewhat correlated with the everyone is special movement.

losteverything 9y ago

There is no possible way to reverse the damage to the lungs caused by active or passive smoke(ing) The comparison is not a strong one

draw_down 9y ago

The stigma against smoking has a considerable class element to it nowadays. If a technology comes along that allows more affluent people to avoid looking at the phone then this could happen. On the other hand, smart watches offered that functionality among other things and don't seem to have changed much of anything, socially speaking.

donatj 9y ago

This is an incredibly interesting and apt comparison. My mother who's trying albeit mostly failing to wean herself from smoking has become addicted to social media to the point where she becomes actively hostile when her internet is out. She is literally addicted to Facebook in the exact same way as cigarettes. She needs her fix. I think for people who become easily addicted to things, it's a very easy thing to become addicted to.

habosa 9y ago

I think the analogy is true, but in a much more serious way. Smoking is the defining health issue of the previous generation. Everyone did it, and nobody knew (or wanted to admit) that it was slowly killing them. The companies knew, but there was too much money at stake. I think social media addiction and general internet addiction is destroying the mental health of millions of people around the developed world and nobody is doing much about it. Just as we look back now and go "oh my god they used to smoke in restaurants!" our children may say "holy crap look at this picture of my parents on the phone while they walk!". It's all-consuming.

joh-nan-drew 9y ago

Addictions aren't necessarily bad. Some need drugs to help get by. Others junk food. TV shows. Validation. I indulge in a number of things when I just want my brain to turn off. I let my desires run on autopilot and give myself what I need. Sometimes, these can reveal important things about our personalities. One of my addictions is particular kinds of information. Complex and novel ideas, long-form essays, "insight porn." The type of things I gravitate towards reading tells a lot about me and what I find interesting in this world. I'd like to make some kind of dent in the universe in these spaces I find interesting before I die. Sure it might suck when I end up reading too much at the expense of something else, but what can I say, that's what I enjoy. For those whose lives revolve around social media like Facebook or Instagram, their attention might be largely allocated towards validation, a sense of belonging, identity. Things that are not necessarily new to a post-Facebook world. In an alternative universe, maybe they're doing some other kind of social climbing or image-crafting. I'd never hold that against somebody if that's what they're wired towards. I say, own it and use it as an asset in your life. An addiction is a habit, and a habit is merely a stable pattern of human behavior. All of our non-novel behaviors are habits. The things our mind gravitates towards are habits. I think it crosses into a "negative addiction" once a habit starts to become detrimental to something we want out of our lives. That's when we should be concerned. We are flawed, suboptimal creatures. It's ok to give into our addictions, good and bad. We should incorporate addictions as constraints in our models of living, working, interacting. We'll always have them. In my experience, trying to get rid of certain habits hurt me because they served a function to my well-being or personality. You need to understand your own addictions. If a sense of belonging is important to your personality, you will feel a void in your life without it. There's a reason why poor men in third world countries might partake in cockfighting culture with other men rather than spend it on food. That being said, I don't think the negatives of social media are all that bad. I would argue that grade school is way more toxic than social media. Social media usually makes a convenient target for those in the "good old days before technology," "humans need authentic human connection" camp. I am willing to extend a platform+API metaphor and grant that social media (the platform) allows us to build an external layer of ourselves (the API) that becomes the means with which others interact with us while while we hide our internals, but you'll have to convince me that that's mostly a bad thing. I don't think appealing to an "authentic human connection" value works. Sounds like a win for technology if you ask me! Here's the thing. Social media is still a choice. Contrast this to the toxic and unnatural environment that is high school, which is forced upon us. Social media feeds our insecurities? Well, high school created them in the first place. Technology almost always affords you the freedom to engage or disengage. Take online dating for example. In the "good old days," men would have to impress and court a whole family just to date one person -- you're essentially dating a whole family. Now you can just find someone online within minutes, and start connecting with the one person you actually want to. Is some dude harassing you online? You're free to block him with the click of a button or just turn off the app. Sure there are tradeoffs, but the key here is choice. Think freedom to respond to a text whenever you want vs being "on-call" all the time. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you are hanging out with people who are constantly on their phones, then the truth is, they are making a personal choice to disengage from that situation, and they value more whatever's going on in the "real internet world" rather than the "tiny bubble" that is the room you guys are sitting in. Maybe the latest meme or what's happening in North Korea is more interesting. The actual problem is a mismatch between you and your company. Technology simply affords them choices in dealing with social expectations they might not actually want. Facebook is not the end game, and technology can do better. But I think pointing fingers at social media for ruining us all is a bit silly.

kermire 9y ago

Though I do like the culture of taking photos instead of experiencing the moment, I do not think social media is the new smoking. People like to be distracted and absorbed. Social media is just an option. There are a dozen other alternatives. It has a different effect on different people. Some get really into it but there are others who just don't care. Fear mongering is easy when it sounds believable. I refuse to accept the equivalence until there's some unbiased research backing these claims.

tudorw 9y ago

Yes, if you follow the lifecycle from exclusive expensive gadget only the rich can afford down to ubiquitous device which affords no status it would seem likely that conspicuously demonstrating you are beholden to the little box will be avoided by the upper strata, not being busy and not needing a phone because you have 'people' for that will be the new norm. The truly wealthy will be carrying a book.

dennykane 9y ago

I just don't have a phone. I talk to people's faces all the time. (Especially really hot girls.) Weird, I know!

snarfy 9y ago

I enjoy my solitude. Maybe it's a slight bit of mental illness, but I cannot stand notifications. I'll use my phone when I want to, not when it wants me to. When I'm in a waiting room, it's amusing to watch everybody else on their phones, except maybe an old guy in the corner. Then I realize I'm the old guy in the corner.

ChrisLTD 9y ago
I'm with you 100%. I only want notifications of work critical information or direct messages from friends and family. Everything else is usually just a hook to get you to "engage" with more advertising.