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Also sharing. Taking the time to save a link/picture, go to another site, and typing in a description and comments on material? Great. Seeing a cat picture and
by DanielBMarkham 8y ago
Also sharing.
Taking the time to save a link/picture, go to another site, and typing in a description and comments on material? Great. Seeing a cat picture and instantaneously clicking "share"?
Screw that. That kind of behavior is in the website's interest, not mine. It creates an endless stream of slightly-interesting material from people I know, just enough to keep me watching but not enough to feel like anything got done.
Spending time doing something compulsively that later you realize was a waste of time, then doing it again? That's addiction. I don't know what kind of addiction it is. It's certainly less addictive than opiods. But it's no doubt addictive -- and it is currently affecting billions of people worldwide.
It's an amazing amount of societal damage that nobody will ever be able to quantify. We'll never know the books that weren't read, the inventions that weren't made, or the people that weren't helped because somebody was watching social media.
(And before somebody talks about how great it is to have the planet connected, it is! Being able to communicate and research is nowhere near the same thing as having your head stuck in your phone eight hours a day)
- themagician 8y agoThe planet was just connected before Facebook with AIM or ICQ. Perhaps moreso, really, since you actually had to talk to people.
- njarboe 8y agoMost people in the US spend an amazing amount of time watching TV. The average for adults is about 5 hours a day[1]. Not sure if I really believe these numbers, as many people have the TV on when doing something else (I hope), but most people don't choose to do something "productive" with their free time. Is social media better that TV? I would say social media has more value and is more likely to cause damage, but avoiding both is probably a good idea. I try not to eat much ice cream either. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_consumption
- some_account 8y agoI think it's because work makes people tired so all they want to do is rest, and then tv comes on....
- jstarfish 8y agoI don't think it makes sense to draw a line. The same psychological manipulations we see going on with social media were tried and tested first with television decades ago. Every minor thing is "breaking news!" and needless drama stirred up to keep you watching, in between the half a dozen tickers and counters on the screen with pointless metrics to look important and soak up your attention.
- bdhess 8y ago> It's an amazing amount of societal damage that nobody will ever be able to quantify. We'll never know the books that weren't read, the inventions that weren't made, or the people that weren't helped because somebody was watching social media. Individuals have a right to recreation; they don't need to spend every waking moment being useful to society. The alternative is dystopian.
- adrianN 8y agoI don't like when "recreation" is something that is aggressively optimized to be addictive, err, I mean to "increase engagement". Billions are spend to keep people scrolling through their feeds as long as possible. That's different from taking a walk in the park or playing a game of cards with your friends.
- bdhess 8y agoThis isn’t a new phenomenon. All of the arguments you’re making were made in the twentieth century about gambling.
- adrianN 8y agoAre you arguing that we should forbid minors from using social networks and require them to tell users that what they're doing is addictive and to seek help when they notice signs of addiction? Maybe we should also strictly regulate using social networks over the Internet...