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I don't use Facebook or Instagram. But I use Twitter, YouTube, Reddit and Hacker News. I used to think that this is not that bad, after all, I'm consuming actu

I don't use Facebook or Instagram. But I use Twitter, YouTube, Reddit and Hacker News. I used to think that this is not that bad, after all, I'm consuming actually good content, not silly stuff like in those other networks. But then I was shocked to see how much time I'm actually spending on these networks. This is easy to see in the "Digital Wellbeing" section of modern phones. It was hours, several each day. I was having trouble keeping up with my chores or exercising. I blamed work. I work the whole week and then in the weekend I want to rest, not to do chores. So I was falling behind. It took me a while to realize that the actual problem is that I'm spending so much time on social media. It's consuming all my free time. I don't watch TV anymore, I rarely watch movies or read books. Most of my free time is being devoured by social media. The key word here is "addiction". It doesn't matter if you think that the content you consume is actually valuable. These are short doses of dopamine that make you feel good for a very short time and leave you wanting more. You start with a nice video of a guy building an 8 bit computer from scratch and you end up watching a girl watching dogs. And you keep scrolling because you want more dopamine. And if there is nothing more, you switch to Twitter or Reddit. And all these sites are being constantly optimized to keep you on the dopamine rush for as long as possible. I used to think that the content I was consuming was actually good and valuable. And some of it is, but it was much less that I thought. One day I realized that I can barely remember anything that I have consumed on social media a week ago. Forget about a month ago or a year ago. It's because most of this content is so unimportant that it doesn't stick in my brain. Other slower sources of dopamine aren't like this. A good movie or book leave you with something to remember. Social media rarely does. I now understood that I have an addiction to social media. I have yet to overcome it though (after all, I'm here on HN). But at least I know that I have a problem.

throwawawawy 5y ago
This resonates with me as I am consuming content on these four social media platforms as well with the same thinking. It's always interesting to get to know some ingenious engineering detail about constructing bridges from Youtube, or a first-hand opinion from some analyst on some niche on Twitter or like in this case a discussion about drawbacks of a certain digital lifestyle. However I also always wondered whether one of these is better than others, and how I would curate it in a better way. Is actively commenting on HN better than passively watching engineering videos? What about active engagement on YT, and passively reading on HN? Most stuff will be forgotten in a couple of days/weeks anyway as you said, but some will stick or add up to your overall knowledge/behaviour and similar to sifting mud for eventual nuggets of gold this is what keeps me doing it. I just recently read something about using your consumption time for productive work (not necessarily job-work, but hobby-work) and I'm thinking about more stuff I could create to overcome the consumption trap. Ironically however I probably read it on HN as well.
Karrot_Kream 5y ago
As someone susceptible to very similar social media addiction habits from the same media, I found that specifically circumscribing the content I consume from Youtube, HN, and Reddit helps a lot. I usually use RSS or build my own scrapers for sites and have them fetch new content every few minutes. That means I'm forced to consume content that I specifically opted-in for and I'm not in a constant consumption loop. For me that's enough distance that I can disengage easily, but enough connection that I feel social.

throwawawawy 5y ago

This resonates with me as I am consuming content on these four social media platforms as well with the same thinking. It's always interesting to get to know some ingenious engineering detail about constructing bridges from Youtube, or a first-hand opinion from some analyst on some niche on Twitter or like in this case a discussion about drawbacks of a certain digital lifestyle. However I also always wondered whether one of these is better than others, and how I would curate it in a better way. Is actively commenting on HN better than passively watching engineering videos? What about active engagement on YT, and passively reading on HN? Most stuff will be forgotten in a couple of days/weeks anyway as you said, but some will stick or add up to your overall knowledge/behaviour and similar to sifting mud for eventual nuggets of gold this is what keeps me doing it. I just recently read something about using your consumption time for productive work (not necessarily job-work, but hobby-work) and I'm thinking about more stuff I could create to overcome the consumption trap. Ironically however I probably read it on HN as well.

Karrot_Kream 5y ago

As someone susceptible to very similar social media addiction habits from the same media, I found that specifically circumscribing the content I consume from Youtube, HN, and Reddit helps a lot. I usually use RSS or build my own scrapers for sites and have them fetch new content every few minutes. That means I'm forced to consume content that I specifically opted-in for and I'm not in a constant consumption loop. For me that's enough distance that I can disengage easily, but enough connection that I feel social.