3 ms·
Deaths of despair are at an all-time high while fertility hovers at an all-time low. Are these merely artifacts of social media or is it possible that there is
by silverquiet 3y ago
Deaths of despair are at an all-time high while fertility hovers at an all-time low. Are these merely artifacts of social media or is it possible that there is something going on beyond that?
And another question - if social media is so harmful, then what of all the people on this site who helped to build it? Are they villains of the modern era, magnifying unhappiness throughout the world?
- legitster 3y agoI think the deaths of despair trend is much less related to the economy than people have postulated. But yes, a doomful online community seems like it would absolutely make this trend worse. > And another question - if social media is so harmful, then what of all the people on this site who helped to build it? Are they villains of the modern era, magnifying unhappiness throughout the world? Does this not describe Zuckerberg? But yeah, I'm here. But I would argue HN in particular gives a much less strong "hit" of dopamine when doomscrolling.
- swed420 3y agoEach side (those using social media to highlight systemic failures / those too 'busy' contributing to said failures to use social media) thinks the other has their head buried in the sand. It reminds me of how, depending on the type of person you ask, you'll get conflicting answers on who the 'parasites' are in the movie Parasite. If you help enshitify the next Big Thing and get paid doing it, are you contributing to society? Or contributing to its growing problems?