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I agree with the sentiment, but there is a huge difference between anonymous forms for professional/hobbiest interests and platforms that breed comparisons of y

I agree with the sentiment, but there is a huge difference between anonymous forms for professional/hobbiest interests and platforms that breed comparisons of your real life to your peer's curated online life and have algorithms designed to keep you online at all costs.

haunter 3y ago
>comparisons of your real life to your peer's curated online life HN is like that a lot of times. Especially when it's considering salary, social welfare, health insurance etc. Just read any topic about open source funding.
- djskdhshdi 3y ago
  Even posts on technical topics can drive harmful comparisons. I went through a period of social isolation and HN was an escape. OPs and commenters became the closest thing to peers that I had. Those peers were consistently perceived as smarter and more motivated than me, and my already poor self esteem continued to decline. Now that I'm working full-time onsite again, the bar set by my physical peers is much more achievable than what folks on HN acheive. HN might be better than tiktok, but 5 hours a day of either is bad for your soul. Physically being around and working with others is vital to most people's mental health, even introverts like me that feel like avoidance is the most appealing path. Tangentially - if you struggle with feelings that point you in directions you know are bad, be very careful if you engage with the mental healthcare system.
helen___keller 3y ago
I’m not sure I agree. Depends more on your relationship with the platform. If you spend many hours browsing content, and particularly consuming and engaging with content that affects your mood, that’s a sign of a poor relationship with social media; not the specifically the topic of the content Some examples of possible offenders in HN favorite topics: discussions of inflation, discussions of housing shortage, discussions of government and their policy, discussions of big tech and the possibly harmful things big tech does, discussions of basically anything about crypto, web3, or metaverse, discussions about censorship, the list goes on If you look in the comment threads for these topics you see the signs of unhealthy relationship with social media. Highly emotional and inflammatory arguments with total internet strangers
muzani 3y ago
I can't tell if this is satire. It's certainly worded like it, but it's close enough to trigger Poe's Law.

haunter 3y ago

>comparisons of your real life to your peer's curated online life HN is like that a lot of times. Especially when it's considering salary, social welfare, health insurance etc. Just read any topic about open source funding.

djskdhshdi 3y ago
Even posts on technical topics can drive harmful comparisons. I went through a period of social isolation and HN was an escape. OPs and commenters became the closest thing to peers that I had. Those peers were consistently perceived as smarter and more motivated than me, and my already poor self esteem continued to decline. Now that I'm working full-time onsite again, the bar set by my physical peers is much more achievable than what folks on HN acheive. HN might be better than tiktok, but 5 hours a day of either is bad for your soul. Physically being around and working with others is vital to most people's mental health, even introverts like me that feel like avoidance is the most appealing path. Tangentially - if you struggle with feelings that point you in directions you know are bad, be very careful if you engage with the mental healthcare system.

helen___keller 3y ago

I’m not sure I agree. Depends more on your relationship with the platform. If you spend many hours browsing content, and particularly consuming and engaging with content that affects your mood, that’s a sign of a poor relationship with social media; not the specifically the topic of the content Some examples of possible offenders in HN favorite topics: discussions of inflation, discussions of housing shortage, discussions of government and their policy, discussions of big tech and the possibly harmful things big tech does, discussions of basically anything about crypto, web3, or metaverse, discussions about censorship, the list goes on If you look in the comment threads for these topics you see the signs of unhealthy relationship with social media. Highly emotional and inflammatory arguments with total internet strangers

muzani 3y ago

I can't tell if this is satire. It's certainly worded like it, but it's close enough to trigger Poe's Law.