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The problem for me with social media is that it triggers intense envy. People are constantly talking about their lives, and everyone's doing well but me. This

by creata 11mo ago

The problem for me with social media is that it triggers intense envy. People are constantly talking about their lives, and everyone's doing well but me. This website doesn't have as much of that. It has a much larger focus on content than on people, so I can just read in peace. It's not problematic in the same way.

dingnuts 11mo ago
If this horrible site with its intentionally addictive algorithm traps you here like it has me, you will eventually realize that's not true at all. This website has its uber successfully celebrities and hordes of glazers who appear in their wake: swillison, tptacek, Arathorn, gwern. You just have to pay attention to usernames. I for one feel intense jealousy about these grifters. Gwern especially -- the guy got lucky buying Bitcoin early and has spent enough of his early retirement writing that he has convinced a huge number of people (especially here) that he's some kind of expert, through sheer volume of writing! He's a nobody! fuck I hate this website and I'll leave the moment the algorithm is no longer designed to keep me trapped here. until then, you're stuck with me
- creata 11mo ago
  > its intentionally addictive algorithm It's a single list that everyone sees. No personalization, meaningful customization, recommendations, or notifications. I'm not sure how it can be considered "intentionally addictive." And yeah, every forum has its minor celebrities. People can be a bit silly like that. Doesn't really bother me.
  - CactusBlue 11mo ago
    > It's a single list that everyone sees. No personalization, meaningful customization, recommendations, or notifications. I'm not sure how it can be considered "intentionally addictive." It doesn't need to be personalized to be addictive, in the same way that tobacco is addictive without personalization.
    - creata 11mo ago
      I didn't say it was a necessary condition, I'm saying that those are the typical ways in which social media sites are designed to be addictive, and this site lacks all of them, so I'm wondering how it can be said to be intentionally designed to be addictive.
      - t-3 11mo ago
        "Internet points go up" is the most basic of basics when it comes to making an addictive website, and this site definitely has internet points.
- Sohcahtoa82 11mo ago
  > This website has its uber successfully celebrities and hordes of glazers who appear in their wake: swillison, tptacek, Arathorn, gwern. You just have to pay attention to usernames. I guess it's a good thing I don't pay much attention to usernames then? Other than dang, pg, and one guy who shares the same username as someone in a PC gaming community I'm in, I couldn't name any usernames I've seen frequently on HN.
Kiro 11mo ago
No website makes me feel worse than HN on that front so big disagree on that.
- creata 11mo ago
  Out of curiosity, why?
  - t-3 11mo ago
    This site is filled with highly successful people who make/have made fortunes (or at least extremely good salaries) by playing around with computers. My failures are my own fault, but that doesn't stop the irrational feeling of jealousy when I read about jobs doing interesting things that pay more than 2x minimum wage and don't involve standing for 10 hours a day.
    - ryandrake 11mo ago
      A lot of people wildly exaggerate on HN. It's become a trope whenever the discussions drift into salary: Everyone on HN works in FAANG, makes $400K, drives a Maserati, has a supermodel girlfriend, and has two vacation homes in Tahoe. I wouldn't work myself up over it if I were you.
      - t-3 11mo ago
        40k and works in an office is more than enough to make me jealous. FAANG numbers are so far from my frame of reference that they don't feel real enough to care about.
driverdan 11mo ago
If that's a problem you're experiencing consider speaking with a mental health professional. That is not normal.
- creata 11mo ago
  I considered it, but honestly, social media just tends to have that effect on many people. I don't think humans were built to have this much awareness of how everyone's life is going.
- HeinzStuckeIt 11mo ago
  This is totally normal, especially if one is following social-media content related to travel or consumption (e.g. hobbies requiring the purchase of gear). It’s so normal that it is often expressed by the widely understood acronym FOMO, and indeed, it’s commonly talked about as one of the drawbacks of social media today.
- gausswho 11mo ago
  Not only is it quite common, a large motivation of many social authors is to induce this feeling in others.
ryandrake 11mo ago
> People are constantly talking about their lives, and everyone's doing well but me. I wouldn't trust any of it. A huge amount of Social Media is phony "lifestyle porn." A lot of these things you think your "friends" are doing is totally fabricated, photoshopped, and/or exaggerated. Did you know it's fairly inexpensive to rent an hour with a private jet, parked on the ground, so you can take pictures in it and pretend to be rich for social media?
- creata 11mo ago
  I'm not talking about that stuff. I'm talking about simpler things like people earning enough money to live on their own.

by creata 11mo ago

dingnuts 11mo ago

If this horrible site with its intentionally addictive algorithm traps you here like it has me, you will eventually realize that's not true at all. This website has its uber successfully celebrities and hordes of glazers who appear in their wake: swillison, tptacek, Arathorn, gwern. You just have to pay attention to usernames. I for one feel intense jealousy about these grifters. Gwern especially -- the guy got lucky buying Bitcoin early and has spent enough of his early retirement writing that he has convinced a huge number of people (especially here) that he's some kind of expert, through sheer volume of writing! He's a nobody! fuck I hate this website and I'll leave the moment the algorithm is no longer designed to keep me trapped here. until then, you're stuck with me

creata 11mo ago
> its intentionally addictive algorithm It's a single list that everyone sees. No personalization, meaningful customization, recommendations, or notifications. I'm not sure how it can be considered "intentionally addictive." And yeah, every forum has its minor celebrities. People can be a bit silly like that. Doesn't really bother me.
- CactusBlue 11mo ago
  > It's a single list that everyone sees. No personalization, meaningful customization, recommendations, or notifications. I'm not sure how it can be considered "intentionally addictive." It doesn't need to be personalized to be addictive, in the same way that tobacco is addictive without personalization.
  - creata 11mo ago
    I didn't say it was a necessary condition, I'm saying that those are the typical ways in which social media sites are designed to be addictive, and this site lacks all of them, so I'm wondering how it can be said to be intentionally designed to be addictive.
    - t-3 11mo ago
      "Internet points go up" is the most basic of basics when it comes to making an addictive website, and this site definitely has internet points.
Sohcahtoa82 11mo ago
> This website has its uber successfully celebrities and hordes of glazers who appear in their wake: swillison, tptacek, Arathorn, gwern. You just have to pay attention to usernames. I guess it's a good thing I don't pay much attention to usernames then? Other than dang, pg, and one guy who shares the same username as someone in a PC gaming community I'm in, I couldn't name any usernames I've seen frequently on HN.

Kiro 11mo ago

No website makes me feel worse than HN on that front so big disagree on that.

creata 11mo ago
Out of curiosity, why?
- t-3 11mo ago
  This site is filled with highly successful people who make/have made fortunes (or at least extremely good salaries) by playing around with computers. My failures are my own fault, but that doesn't stop the irrational feeling of jealousy when I read about jobs doing interesting things that pay more than 2x minimum wage and don't involve standing for 10 hours a day.
  - ryandrake 11mo ago
    A lot of people wildly exaggerate on HN. It's become a trope whenever the discussions drift into salary: Everyone on HN works in FAANG, makes $400K, drives a Maserati, has a supermodel girlfriend, and has two vacation homes in Tahoe. I wouldn't work myself up over it if I were you.
    - t-3 11mo ago
      40k and works in an office is more than enough to make me jealous. FAANG numbers are so far from my frame of reference that they don't feel real enough to care about.

driverdan 11mo ago

If that's a problem you're experiencing consider speaking with a mental health professional. That is not normal.

creata 11mo ago
I considered it, but honestly, social media just tends to have that effect on many people. I don't think humans were built to have this much awareness of how everyone's life is going.
HeinzStuckeIt 11mo ago
This is totally normal, especially if one is following social-media content related to travel or consumption (e.g. hobbies requiring the purchase of gear). It’s so normal that it is often expressed by the widely understood acronym FOMO, and indeed, it’s commonly talked about as one of the drawbacks of social media today.
gausswho 11mo ago
Not only is it quite common, a large motivation of many social authors is to induce this feeling in others.

ryandrake 11mo ago

> People are constantly talking about their lives, and everyone's doing well but me. I wouldn't trust any of it. A huge amount of Social Media is phony "lifestyle porn." A lot of these things you think your "friends" are doing is totally fabricated, photoshopped, and/or exaggerated. Did you know it's fairly inexpensive to rent an hour with a private jet, parked on the ground, so you can take pictures in it and pretend to be rich for social media?

creata 11mo ago
I'm not talking about that stuff. I'm talking about simpler things like people earning enough money to live on their own.