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Social media is unlike drugs in that if you abstain while your peers use you're in some ways worse off. I wonder if there's a narrower ban to be had, either on

Social media is unlike drugs in that if you abstain while your peers use you're in some ways worse off. I wonder if there's a narrower ban to be had, either on image usage or especially on filters

AbrahamParangi 4y ago
Drugs also have this property- although I think it’s probably more true in the case of drugs than it is for social media.
brigadier132 4y ago
How are you worse off? Also, do we count whatsapp as social media?
- hyperhopper 4y ago
  Missing invites to parties, social gatherings etc. Even for not having an iphone I suffer from this, and would miss out on tons more if not for Facebook for event invites, Snapchat/Instagram stories, etc.
  - baq 4y ago
    Green bubble/blue bubble issue?
    - hyperhopper 4y ago
      Yes. Apparently it downgrades the group chat experience if a non iOS user is added
- rysertio 4y ago
  > How are you worse off? Everyone in my middle school used social media to know when to submit assignments, class schedules etc. Without social media you're going to be left out.
  - master-lincoln 4y ago
    Sounds like the kind of info you would get from your teacher. I assume the teachers didn't publish it on social media. So why did you need that info from social media?
dragonwriter 4y ago
> Social media is unlike drugs in that if you abstain while your peers use you're in some ways worse off. I submit that this is not unlike drugs (incl. alcohol), or even golf.
9dev 4y ago
Not drinking in social settings will make you worse off by a lot. People feel uneasy and judged if someone refuses to drink alcohol with them, so unless you're very strong-willed, this coerces most people into drinking. This isn't as easy as it sounds at first.
- debugnik 4y ago
  > People feel uneasy and judged if someone refuses to drink alcohol with them I always read this on HN but I've never cared, or met any adult that seemed to care, when only a few of us drink beer in a group. Is this a US/Anglosphere thing maybe?
  - sw104 4y ago
    In the UK, it's definitely a thing. Being teetotal excludes you from a lot of social events, and even somewhat unrelated events. We have hiking/fitness groups that typically end the training session with a round at the pub. Many workplaces go to the pub together after work. Not engaging with this can set you back socially and professionally, because drinking is hugely ingrained in the British population. Most people drink multiple times per week. The people I work with genuinely struggle with "Dry January" and other such abstention events. Going along to these events and not drinking gets you interrogated, and it becomes a thing to try to get you to drink / get drunk. It's probably an inferiority complex thing on the side of the people drinking because seeing somebody not drinking makes them feel bad about it (even though they needn't feel that way). For every one person like you that doesn't care, there's many who really want to investigate it and get to the bottom of it. Telling these people you just don't like drinking isn't the solution they're looking for out of their investigation. My 2 pennies as a lifelong teetotal.
    - Mezzie 4y ago
      I was a teetotal until I was 25 and I still drink maybe 2x a year. You're right that some people don't really know what to do with that. I've taken to blaming my meds when really I'm just not a big drinker.
  - 4y ago
cykros 4y ago
That may be true of illegal drugs, but if you abstain from alcohol you may well be missing out on some social opportunities, and depending on your profession, that could extend to professional opportunities (though admittedly less now than in decades past). Cigarettes for a long time also had this quality, though that's mostly done.

Social media is unlike drugs in that if you abstain while your peers use you're in some ways worse off. I wonder if there's a narrower ban to be had, either on image usage or especially on filters

AbrahamParangi 4y ago

Drugs also have this property- although I think it’s probably more true in the case of drugs than it is for social media.

brigadier132 4y ago

How are you worse off? Also, do we count whatsapp as social media?

hyperhopper 4y ago
Missing invites to parties, social gatherings etc. Even for not having an iphone I suffer from this, and would miss out on tons more if not for Facebook for event invites, Snapchat/Instagram stories, etc.
- baq 4y ago
  Green bubble/blue bubble issue?
  - hyperhopper 4y ago
    Yes. Apparently it downgrades the group chat experience if a non iOS user is added
rysertio 4y ago
> How are you worse off? Everyone in my middle school used social media to know when to submit assignments, class schedules etc. Without social media you're going to be left out.
- master-lincoln 4y ago
  Sounds like the kind of info you would get from your teacher. I assume the teachers didn't publish it on social media. So why did you need that info from social media?

dragonwriter 4y ago

> Social media is unlike drugs in that if you abstain while your peers use you're in some ways worse off. I submit that this is not unlike drugs (incl. alcohol), or even golf.

9dev 4y ago

Not drinking in social settings will make you worse off by a lot. People feel uneasy and judged if someone refuses to drink alcohol with them, so unless you're very strong-willed, this coerces most people into drinking. This isn't as easy as it sounds at first.

debugnik 4y ago
> People feel uneasy and judged if someone refuses to drink alcohol with them I always read this on HN but I've never cared, or met any adult that seemed to care, when only a few of us drink beer in a group. Is this a US/Anglosphere thing maybe?
- sw104 4y ago
  In the UK, it's definitely a thing. Being teetotal excludes you from a lot of social events, and even somewhat unrelated events. We have hiking/fitness groups that typically end the training session with a round at the pub. Many workplaces go to the pub together after work. Not engaging with this can set you back socially and professionally, because drinking is hugely ingrained in the British population. Most people drink multiple times per week. The people I work with genuinely struggle with "Dry January" and other such abstention events. Going along to these events and not drinking gets you interrogated, and it becomes a thing to try to get you to drink / get drunk. It's probably an inferiority complex thing on the side of the people drinking because seeing somebody not drinking makes them feel bad about it (even though they needn't feel that way). For every one person like you that doesn't care, there's many who really want to investigate it and get to the bottom of it. Telling these people you just don't like drinking isn't the solution they're looking for out of their investigation. My 2 pennies as a lifelong teetotal.
  - Mezzie 4y ago
    I was a teetotal until I was 25 and I still drink maybe 2x a year. You're right that some people don't really know what to do with that. I've taken to blaming my meds when really I'm just not a big drinker.
- 4y ago

cykros 4y ago

That may be true of illegal drugs, but if you abstain from alcohol you may well be missing out on some social opportunities, and depending on your profession, that could extend to professional opportunities (though admittedly less now than in decades past). Cigarettes for a long time also had this quality, though that's mostly done.