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> a quiet walk in a garden does more for me than an hour of social media. A quiet walk in a garden does something positive whereas an hour on social media woul

> a quiet walk in a garden does more for me than an hour of social media. A quiet walk in a garden does something positive whereas an hour on social media would leave me feeling very negative and depleted - there's an inverse relationship between time spent on social media and how one feels. The more time spent there, the worse one feels. You could say this is "by design" - outrage increases engagement.

bigyikes 4y ago
I hear this repeated a all the time. I can see how this might be the case, but I just don’t get it. My social media is overwhelmingly positive. I see celebrations, beauty, fun, and love. Social media makes me happy and more connected. Maybe it’s because I’ve deliberately curated my feeds and follow few people? If I see something I don’t like repeatedly, I unfollow.
- UncleOxidant 4y ago
  > Maybe it’s because I’ve deliberately curated my feeds and follow few people? Maybe. I guess I could say my Instagram feed is like what you're saying to some extent - mostly exercise tips, recipes, underwater photography, pics of friends having dinner, etc. But twitter on the other hand was terrible. I quit twitter in May as it was just becoming an outrage factory. Maybe I've been more careful with who I'm following on IG? Maybe IG isn't as amenable to political discussions and thus tends to stay saner? I'm not sure.
  - marginalia_nu 4y ago
    Twitter is fine if you very meticulously curate who you follow and list tweets by chronological order. But yeah, I sometimes accidentally click a trending topic. That makes me a bit sad, mostly because there clearly are a lot of people out there who aren't getting the help they need.
ngc248 4y ago
Do you think this maybe because of the positive connotations we ascribe to "contemplation in the garden" vs the negative connotation of "an hour of social media". I have also seen this before, where doing something with negative connotations makes me feel worse.
- id 4y ago
  Connotations usually have some truth to them.

bigyikes 4y ago

I hear this repeated a all the time. I can see how this might be the case, but I just don’t get it. My social media is overwhelmingly positive. I see celebrations, beauty, fun, and love. Social media makes me happy and more connected. Maybe it’s because I’ve deliberately curated my feeds and follow few people? If I see something I don’t like repeatedly, I unfollow.

UncleOxidant 4y ago
> Maybe it’s because I’ve deliberately curated my feeds and follow few people? Maybe. I guess I could say my Instagram feed is like what you're saying to some extent - mostly exercise tips, recipes, underwater photography, pics of friends having dinner, etc. But twitter on the other hand was terrible. I quit twitter in May as it was just becoming an outrage factory. Maybe I've been more careful with who I'm following on IG? Maybe IG isn't as amenable to political discussions and thus tends to stay saner? I'm not sure.
- marginalia_nu 4y ago
  Twitter is fine if you very meticulously curate who you follow and list tweets by chronological order. But yeah, I sometimes accidentally click a trending topic. That makes me a bit sad, mostly because there clearly are a lot of people out there who aren't getting the help they need.

ngc248 4y ago

Do you think this maybe because of the positive connotations we ascribe to "contemplation in the garden" vs the negative connotation of "an hour of social media". I have also seen this before, where doing something with negative connotations makes me feel worse.

id 4y ago
Connotations usually have some truth to them.