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I've read an article like this so many times... They called it "internet addiction" before, and accused people of persistent need to check their email. What al
by rn3aoh 9y ago
I've read an article like this so many times... They called it "internet addiction" before, and accused people of persistent need to check their email.
What all of these authors seem to conveniently ignore is that "social media" is not television, not a single source broadcast, even though social media companies would really want it to be. Just a single chokepoint. Social media has real people on the other end. Mediated by social media companies, sure, but perfectly real otherwise.
Saying that people are addicted to it is largely equivalent to saying that people are addicted to other people.
- ohtwenty 9y agoI mean I get what you're saying but sex addiction is also a thing with real people on the other side. It's not as straightforward as the article implies, you're right, but that doesn't mean there isn't a middle ground
- 0xJRS 9y agoI have the opposite, I never want to check my email.
- gaius 9y agoSaying that people are addicted to it is largely equivalent to saying that people are addicted to other people Think about it this way: a little sugar, salt and fat isn't harmful. In fact you need salt and fat as part of your diet to be healthy, and sugar was a rare treat - that's why they taste good. But if companies start adding more and more of these things to food, such that the consumers start to forget what real food tastes like, and then start making foods that are nearly all sugar and fat, well that is very bad for your health. That's what social media is. It's food without nutrients, and only the most shallow form of human contact.
- ForRealsies 9y agoI find the same in regards to Reddit. It is glorified trivia porn. Knowledge without nutrients, interesting but overall fleeting and forgotten in mere hours.