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For me, I've found that social media doesn't affect my level of happiness and/or anxiety directly. What it does do, is take up a lot of my time almost impercept

For me, I've found that social media doesn't affect my level of happiness and/or anxiety directly. What it does do, is take up a lot of my time almost imperceptibly - leaving less time for other, more meaningful activities. It makes me feel like I'm running out of time every day, which in turn causes a feeling of anxiety.

cute_boi 4y ago
Yes, few people probably aren't affected by social media just like smoking & drinking. But from my personal experience many people really feel jealous/unhappy/lonely when they look on false reality. And, those influencer really makes everything worst.
- Gigachad 4y ago
  For me it’s not the fake people showing off, it’s all the news, drama and doom. And arguably it’s all irrelevant anyway. As an Australian, if I had known nothing about Ukraine, BLM protests, Trump, Kyle Rittenhouse, etc, my life would be no bit worse or less informed. It would probably be a bit better. But if I check social media it’s just a non stop stream of crap.
  - mongol 4y ago
    That's a weird mix of contemporary events to mention together.
    - Gigachad 4y ago
      This is the kind of stuff that ends up filling my news feed. None of it has ever had any real effect on my life but it all seems to get equal feed real estate on reddit/twitter
      - mongol 4y ago
        Unsure about that.. I don't think Australia has been isolated from the rippling effects of price increases of grain and energy, that is one effect of the war in Ukraine. Probably not as much affected as many other countries, but I think you would still import products from countries where these effects are significant, and which have had to raise their prices due to it.
        idontpost 4y ago
        But none of that is likely to be actionable information for them. It's like hearing that meteor is going to kill us all tomorrow and there is nothing you can do. Sure, it's going to affect you, but your life isn't going to be any better if you know. It's just pointless anxiety.
        mongol 4y ago
        Certainly, if you only want to hear about actionable information, you can strike out most of news all together. You can pick up a history book in 30 years to read up on what was happening in the world. Perhaps you will be happier for it, I don't know.
        XorNot 4y ago
        If you only want actionable information, why bother reading a history book? Questioning "why know things" is a weird take on HN, which is itself a news aggregator.
        watwut 4y ago
        This is called uninformed voter - the one that votes on what went on 100 years ago, but ignores what contemporary parties and politicians actually do. For the record, I did skipped news entirely for few years. Yes, I did not knew about some things that may be stressful to know about. I was also dumb af when it came to voting or just generally having opinion on what is going on. This sort of person is super easy to manipulate, because missing context accumulates. So I do read them ever since, because I dont want to be that kind of voter.
        4y ago
      - vmception 4y ago
        Yeah you need to start over if you plan to continue using social media at all You’re stuck in a filter bubble thats irrelevant to you If you start over, dont follow the same people, dont import your contacts, dont give it the same phone number, even for one time passcodes, dont use the same email address
    - throwaway290 4y ago
      If you're in the US, you'd be highly attuned to these events and putting them together would be a striking dissonance. But really the common trait of these events is that they are widely reported by US media but aren't really consequential or actionable to an ordinary person anywhere else in the world (excluding the war in Ukraine, which is also consequential in parts of Europe).
  - dividuum 4y ago
    I switched my Twitter Trends location to Falkland Islands and my feed to "Latest Tweets". I guess this technically now is a filter bubble, but I don't feel like I have the obligation to expose myself to algorithmic content and its generated outrage.
  - coffeeblack 4y ago
    Simply mute people who post the crap. Or use more localized social media.
    - Gigachad 4y ago
      Part of the problem is I do get sucked in to the drama really. There is nothing really of value on twitter other than drama.
      - coffeeblack 4y ago
        Twitter is great if you are interested in breaking news on specific topics. Most people aren’t though. Twitter is terrible for discussions, so there I agree with Joe Rogan: “never look at the comments”.
        prashantsengar 4y ago
        When I was a kid and new to FB, someone told me to check the comments on the meme pages. They used to be funny and I thought that I had been missing out. So I made a habit of checking comments of all the posts. Now it is a cesspool of trolls everywhere. Now checking comments used to generate so many negative emotions in me that I have told myself the same - "never look at the comments". I feel happier now.
        mcphage 4y ago
        "Never read the comments" is much older than Joe Rogan.
        robswc 4y ago
        I used to think this was silly advice but every day I only agree with it more and more. Something about online comments (twitter in particular) gives off the vibe that they're more reactions than well thought out comments.
- thomashop 4y ago
  Tabloid magazines that only talk about the rich and celebrities have always been super popular which also makes people depressed. I think this is nothing new with social media.
  - 88913527 4y ago
    A printed magazine doesn't have the doomscrolling ability of social media apps. The same effect, but a magnitude smaller dosage.
ayngg 4y ago
I think social media is like our generations tobacco, everyone uses it and it is considered fashionable and cool but eventually it will start to come to light how unhealthy and insidious all the data harvesting, time sinks and gamifying social interactions at scale can be, especially with children who have much of the spare time to dedicate to it.
- cush 4y ago
  It's much worse than tobacco. At least tobacco only kills people when they're older, whereas social media robs young people of their mental health while simultaneously threatening truth and democracy
  - Clubber 4y ago
    >while simultaneously threatening ... democracy This seems to be the latest topic from the outrage machine. Can you explain how social media is an actual threat to the democracy or democratic process to a reasonable person?
    - system16 4y ago
      Roughly 50% of the population in the US have an absolute distrust of the media, election results, and science. But wrap something up in a meme and post in on Facebook and it's treated like Gospel.
      - Clubber 4y ago
        Here's something that's extremely disturbing to me. "Republicans have become the purveyors of misinformation, and when our two-party system is broken like that, democracy is seriously in trouble. The president acknowledged that it's time to actually start doing things and maybe taking some names and putting people in jail." https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/05/17/carl_cameron_maybe_its_time_to_start_taking_names_and_putting_people_in_jail_for_misinformation.html https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/05/17/carl_came... I would say jailing press for printing things the government doesn't like is way more obvious a threat to democracy than the information they publish. This is no longer a slippery slope if this guy would even consider uttering this on national TV. We would be going into pretty blatant authoritarianism.
blinded 4y ago
100%
spencerchubb 4y ago
Yes, I have seen the same pattern with myself. Tiktok makes me happy in moderation. But when it starts to displace too much of my life and I get less social interaction, exercise, etc, then I start to have some depressive symptoms. This would be more of an indirect cause. I think there are also a lot of people for whom social media is a direct cause of anxiety, especially young women.
Tade0 4y ago
I've discovered that internet arguments use up a decent chunk of my daily mental capacity, which would've been otherwise spent on work. I figured I would fight fire with fire and last week got into a few particularly ridiculous flamewars on different platforms and... it worked.
Cthulhu_ 4y ago
I mainly use it to fill the time to be honest, spare moments here and there in between work and video games lol. That and taking my mind off things at work, which probably says a lot about my job satisfaction. But I'm starting a new job in a few weeks so we'll see how it goes, if it fits my activity on HN and co will drop significantly.
nopinsight 4y ago
Do you/does anyone think this is something you would use? I'm working on My Productive Homepage, a custom dynamic homepage you can set and customize the exact topics and goals that you care about. It will recommend unseen info/updates on only those things and display info in summary form (with links to sources). No distracting or trending news unless they are highly relevant to the topics/goals you explicitly choose. We intend to maximize user productivity, rather than engagement. I believe it can help people stay focused on what really matters to them while getting updates and stimulated, and discover useful info for work or serious hobbies. (And in work mode, it'd be a homepage you can open without guilt while at work. ;)) What important features would you like to get on such a custom, dynamic homepage? Comments about the project in general would also be appreciated, eg on how helpful or unhelpful you think the project will be to you or people you know.
- MikePlacid 4y ago
  > No distracting or trending news unless they are highly relevant No “unless”, please. No news should be present. No events should be discussed until they are a week old, at least.
  - nopinsight 4y ago
    Sounds like a good option to add! We might allow the user to filter out recent news if they wish. Should discussions be optional (ie available but can be turned off) or simply not available on this site?
MikePlacid 4y ago
> I've found that social media doesn't affect my level of happiness and/or anxiety directly. American privilege? Each time a war flares up in my home country I am going into a pretty deep depression. And the only cure is to switch off the Telegram. Which is frankly rather hard to do, but possible. A third week going strong…
- parasti 4y ago
  Eastern Europe.
abdouls 4y ago
Once you get in, you cannot get out easily. The algorithm works, you keep getting "better" and "better" content that you just keep want to watch it.
leokennis 4y ago
Ugh. I’m not even on Facebook or active on Twitter and I have the same. I need to read the newspaper. Then I need to know the Economist’s and The Guardian’s and the NY Times’ view on the daily news as well. Plus I need to keep up to date on the COVID situation and the war in Ukraine. Oh and I’m also behind on Better Call Saul. And I need to watch 1917 and Dune. And I want to read at least 10 pages in a novel every day. And my RSS feeds. Oh, and I have a full time job and I need to exercise and I want to be in bed by 23:00. I’m always in a hurry…
- azemetre 4y ago
  As for your news issues, I'd honestly go with the approach of never reading information about breaking stories. Most often breaking stories aren't breaking and they rarely have the full picture. By delaying your news consumption a few days (or even a week) you'll have a much better picture of the news with the benefit of never needing to "keep up." Also my personal opinion, very often the news isn't relevant. The decade defining stories don't happen every day and there's very few stories that require your immediate attention, versus say your weekly attention. That's why I'm a big fan of Delayed Gratification (someone posted this on HN a few months back): https://www.slow-journalism.com/ https://www.slow-journalism.com/ Journalism that is deliberately slow and very informative (IMO).

cute_boi 4y ago

Yes, few people probably aren't affected by social media just like smoking & drinking. But from my personal experience many people really feel jealous/unhappy/lonely when they look on false reality. And, those influencer really makes everything worst.

Gigachad 4y ago
For me it’s not the fake people showing off, it’s all the news, drama and doom. And arguably it’s all irrelevant anyway. As an Australian, if I had known nothing about Ukraine, BLM protests, Trump, Kyle Rittenhouse, etc, my life would be no bit worse or less informed. It would probably be a bit better. But if I check social media it’s just a non stop stream of crap.
- mongol 4y ago
  That's a weird mix of contemporary events to mention together.
  - Gigachad 4y ago
    This is the kind of stuff that ends up filling my news feed. None of it has ever had any real effect on my life but it all seems to get equal feed real estate on reddit/twitter
    - mongol 4y ago
      Unsure about that.. I don't think Australia has been isolated from the rippling effects of price increases of grain and energy, that is one effect of the war in Ukraine. Probably not as much affected as many other countries, but I think you would still import products from countries where these effects are significant, and which have had to raise their prices due to it.
      - idontpost 4y ago
        But none of that is likely to be actionable information for them. It's like hearing that meteor is going to kill us all tomorrow and there is nothing you can do. Sure, it's going to affect you, but your life isn't going to be any better if you know. It's just pointless anxiety.
        mongol 4y ago
        Certainly, if you only want to hear about actionable information, you can strike out most of news all together. You can pick up a history book in 30 years to read up on what was happening in the world. Perhaps you will be happier for it, I don't know.
        XorNot 4y ago
        If you only want actionable information, why bother reading a history book? Questioning "why know things" is a weird take on HN, which is itself a news aggregator.
        watwut 4y ago
        This is called uninformed voter - the one that votes on what went on 100 years ago, but ignores what contemporary parties and politicians actually do. For the record, I did skipped news entirely for few years. Yes, I did not knew about some things that may be stressful to know about. I was also dumb af when it came to voting or just generally having opinion on what is going on. This sort of person is super easy to manipulate, because missing context accumulates. So I do read them ever since, because I dont want to be that kind of voter.
        4y ago
    - vmception 4y ago
      Yeah you need to start over if you plan to continue using social media at all You’re stuck in a filter bubble thats irrelevant to you If you start over, dont follow the same people, dont import your contacts, dont give it the same phone number, even for one time passcodes, dont use the same email address
  - throwaway290 4y ago
    If you're in the US, you'd be highly attuned to these events and putting them together would be a striking dissonance. But really the common trait of these events is that they are widely reported by US media but aren't really consequential or actionable to an ordinary person anywhere else in the world (excluding the war in Ukraine, which is also consequential in parts of Europe).
- dividuum 4y ago
  I switched my Twitter Trends location to Falkland Islands and my feed to "Latest Tweets". I guess this technically now is a filter bubble, but I don't feel like I have the obligation to expose myself to algorithmic content and its generated outrage.
- coffeeblack 4y ago
  Simply mute people who post the crap. Or use more localized social media.
  - Gigachad 4y ago
    Part of the problem is I do get sucked in to the drama really. There is nothing really of value on twitter other than drama.
    - coffeeblack 4y ago
      Twitter is great if you are interested in breaking news on specific topics. Most people aren’t though. Twitter is terrible for discussions, so there I agree with Joe Rogan: “never look at the comments”.
      - prashantsengar 4y ago
        When I was a kid and new to FB, someone told me to check the comments on the meme pages. They used to be funny and I thought that I had been missing out. So I made a habit of checking comments of all the posts. Now it is a cesspool of trolls everywhere. Now checking comments used to generate so many negative emotions in me that I have told myself the same - "never look at the comments". I feel happier now.
      - mcphage 4y ago
        "Never read the comments" is much older than Joe Rogan.
      - robswc 4y ago
        I used to think this was silly advice but every day I only agree with it more and more. Something about online comments (twitter in particular) gives off the vibe that they're more reactions than well thought out comments.
thomashop 4y ago
Tabloid magazines that only talk about the rich and celebrities have always been super popular which also makes people depressed. I think this is nothing new with social media.
- 88913527 4y ago
  A printed magazine doesn't have the doomscrolling ability of social media apps. The same effect, but a magnitude smaller dosage.

ayngg 4y ago

I think social media is like our generations tobacco, everyone uses it and it is considered fashionable and cool but eventually it will start to come to light how unhealthy and insidious all the data harvesting, time sinks and gamifying social interactions at scale can be, especially with children who have much of the spare time to dedicate to it.

cush 4y ago
It's much worse than tobacco. At least tobacco only kills people when they're older, whereas social media robs young people of their mental health while simultaneously threatening truth and democracy
- Clubber 4y ago
  >while simultaneously threatening ... democracy This seems to be the latest topic from the outrage machine. Can you explain how social media is an actual threat to the democracy or democratic process to a reasonable person?
  - system16 4y ago
    Roughly 50% of the population in the US have an absolute distrust of the media, election results, and science. But wrap something up in a meme and post in on Facebook and it's treated like Gospel.
    - Clubber 4y ago
      Here's something that's extremely disturbing to me. "Republicans have become the purveyors of misinformation, and when our two-party system is broken like that, democracy is seriously in trouble. The president acknowledged that it's time to actually start doing things and maybe taking some names and putting people in jail." https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/05/17/carl_cameron_maybe_its_time_to_start_taking_names_and_putting_people_in_jail_for_misinformation.html https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/05/17/carl_came... I would say jailing press for printing things the government doesn't like is way more obvious a threat to democracy than the information they publish. This is no longer a slippery slope if this guy would even consider uttering this on national TV. We would be going into pretty blatant authoritarianism.

blinded 4y ago

100%

spencerchubb 4y ago

Yes, I have seen the same pattern with myself. Tiktok makes me happy in moderation. But when it starts to displace too much of my life and I get less social interaction, exercise, etc, then I start to have some depressive symptoms. This would be more of an indirect cause. I think there are also a lot of people for whom social media is a direct cause of anxiety, especially young women.

Tade0 4y ago

I've discovered that internet arguments use up a decent chunk of my daily mental capacity, which would've been otherwise spent on work. I figured I would fight fire with fire and last week got into a few particularly ridiculous flamewars on different platforms and... it worked.

Cthulhu_ 4y ago

I mainly use it to fill the time to be honest, spare moments here and there in between work and video games lol. That and taking my mind off things at work, which probably says a lot about my job satisfaction. But I'm starting a new job in a few weeks so we'll see how it goes, if it fits my activity on HN and co will drop significantly.

nopinsight 4y ago

Do you/does anyone think this is something you would use? I'm working on My Productive Homepage, a custom dynamic homepage you can set and customize the exact topics and goals that you care about. It will recommend unseen info/updates on only those things and display info in summary form (with links to sources). No distracting or trending news unless they are highly relevant to the topics/goals you explicitly choose. We intend to maximize user productivity, rather than engagement. I believe it can help people stay focused on what really matters to them while getting updates and stimulated, and discover useful info for work or serious hobbies. (And in work mode, it'd be a homepage you can open without guilt while at work. ;)) What important features would you like to get on such a custom, dynamic homepage? Comments about the project in general would also be appreciated, eg on how helpful or unhelpful you think the project will be to you or people you know.

MikePlacid 4y ago
> No distracting or trending news unless they are highly relevant No “unless”, please. No news should be present. No events should be discussed until they are a week old, at least.
- nopinsight 4y ago
  Sounds like a good option to add! We might allow the user to filter out recent news if they wish. Should discussions be optional (ie available but can be turned off) or simply not available on this site?

MikePlacid 4y ago

> I've found that social media doesn't affect my level of happiness and/or anxiety directly. American privilege? Each time a war flares up in my home country I am going into a pretty deep depression. And the only cure is to switch off the Telegram. Which is frankly rather hard to do, but possible. A third week going strong…

parasti 4y ago
Eastern Europe.

abdouls 4y ago

Once you get in, you cannot get out easily. The algorithm works, you keep getting "better" and "better" content that you just keep want to watch it.

leokennis 4y ago

Ugh. I’m not even on Facebook or active on Twitter and I have the same. I need to read the newspaper. Then I need to know the Economist’s and The Guardian’s and the NY Times’ view on the daily news as well. Plus I need to keep up to date on the COVID situation and the war in Ukraine. Oh and I’m also behind on Better Call Saul. And I need to watch 1917 and Dune. And I want to read at least 10 pages in a novel every day. And my RSS feeds. Oh, and I have a full time job and I need to exercise and I want to be in bed by 23:00. I’m always in a hurry…

azemetre 4y ago
As for your news issues, I'd honestly go with the approach of never reading information about breaking stories. Most often breaking stories aren't breaking and they rarely have the full picture. By delaying your news consumption a few days (or even a week) you'll have a much better picture of the news with the benefit of never needing to "keep up." Also my personal opinion, very often the news isn't relevant. The decade defining stories don't happen every day and there's very few stories that require your immediate attention, versus say your weekly attention. That's why I'm a big fan of Delayed Gratification (someone posted this on HN a few months back): https://www.slow-journalism.com/ https://www.slow-journalism.com/ Journalism that is deliberately slow and very informative (IMO).