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I assure you life goes one whether you are on instagram or not. In fact, many report the quality of their life improved upon leaving (even in this very HN thre

by Radim 5y ago

I assure you life goes one whether you are on instagram or not. In fact, many report the quality of their life improved upon leaving (even in this very HN thread). Regarding top-down regulation: not nearly as effective as aligning incentives bottom-up. People waking up and taking care of themselves, both physically and mentally. Which is the part I found so fascinating in lelandfe's ordeal – I'd have flipped out after the first instance of such abuse. Never mind coming back for more, 8+5 times. The individual self seems dissolved, domesticated. "Why does the shepherd hate me?"

sincerely 5y ago
I mean, yeah, for some people Facebook is addicting, drives them to depression and compulsive scrolling, etc etc. These people quit facebook and go around telling everyone how much better their life is now but for a lot of people facebook is just a part of the computer where your friends are and it's where they talk and it sucks to not be able to use it
- Radim 5y ago
  Yes, that'd be me, too. But how I use Facebook doesn't change my fascination with how others handle (what I'd consider) outright abuse by Instagram. Your implied "sucks to not be able to use it" must be strong indeed for them – way past anything I'd describe as nonchalantly as you did.
smugglerFlynn 5y ago
I think at least two things are wrong with this kind of logic: 1. It’s never as simple as “if this then that”. Yes, there are studies that show short-term mood improvements in people upon leaving social networks. There are also studies on long-term health effects of reduced social connections which leads to depression and heap of other psychological problems. Guess how one connects with other people today? Through the social networks. Life may go on without online presence, but it’s a very different life from the one we were living 20 years ago, where only your weird cousin was frequenting MySpace and everyone else preferred to socialize in person. 2. These platforms consciously exploit biases and addictions in order to thrive. You may not see why people want to live through such ‘minor’ abuse as getting deleted from instagram, but it’s usually traumas that drive people to all kinds of abusive situations and self-medication, social networks being just a cherry on a cake. You cannot wake out of trauma, same way as you cannot simply walk away from smoking or alcohol abuse, and ignoring this seems very dangerous when our whole online presence becomes a “substance” for some people. Stopping abuse and healing in that case would also mean disconnecting from huge parts of social life and losing access to community. Social networks take existing complex unsolved problems in our society, and dial them up to 11, with zero intention to design around the problem or take responsibility. Aligning incentives bottom up just does not work for these kinds of situations.

by Radim 5y ago

sincerely 5y ago

I mean, yeah, for some people Facebook is addicting, drives them to depression and compulsive scrolling, etc etc. These people quit facebook and go around telling everyone how much better their life is now but for a lot of people facebook is just a part of the computer where your friends are and it's where they talk and it sucks to not be able to use it

Radim 5y ago
Yes, that'd be me, too. But how I use Facebook doesn't change my fascination with how others handle (what I'd consider) outright abuse by Instagram. Your implied "sucks to not be able to use it" must be strong indeed for them – way past anything I'd describe as nonchalantly as you did.

smugglerFlynn 5y ago

I think at least two things are wrong with this kind of logic: 1. It’s never as simple as “if this then that”. Yes, there are studies that show short-term mood improvements in people upon leaving social networks. There are also studies on long-term health effects of reduced social connections which leads to depression and heap of other psychological problems. Guess how one connects with other people today? Through the social networks. Life may go on without online presence, but it’s a very different life from the one we were living 20 years ago, where only your weird cousin was frequenting MySpace and everyone else preferred to socialize in person. 2. These platforms consciously exploit biases and addictions in order to thrive. You may not see why people want to live through such ‘minor’ abuse as getting deleted from instagram, but it’s usually traumas that drive people to all kinds of abusive situations and self-medication, social networks being just a cherry on a cake. You cannot wake out of trauma, same way as you cannot simply walk away from smoking or alcohol abuse, and ignoring this seems very dangerous when our whole online presence becomes a “substance” for some people. Stopping abuse and healing in that case would also mean disconnecting from huge parts of social life and losing access to community. Social networks take existing complex unsolved problems in our society, and dial them up to 11, with zero intention to design around the problem or take responsibility. Aligning incentives bottom up just does not work for these kinds of situations.