3 ms·
the solution to this is very obvious, but I know some folks won't cease using the product. It's sort've cliche at this point but we got the worst of both Orwel
by b00ty4breakfast 9mo ago
the solution to this is very obvious, but I know some folks won't cease using the product.
It's sort've cliche at this point but we got the worst of both Orwell and Huxley in that our super-invasive surveillance apparatus is also a super-addictive apparatus designed to hit all our evolutionary buttons like a slot machine.
- Refreeze5224 9mo agoWhat is the solution? You imply that it is just to quit using it, but then you mention how super-addictive social media and especially TikTok is. Which it is, by design, by very smart people who very intentionally exploit every aspect of human psychology they can, for profit. I don't blame the victims of social media, I blame the architects of it. To me it's clear that social media does more harm than good, and is only useful to generate ad revenue, which to me is also clearly more harm than good, and should all be nuked from orbit.
- sejje 9mo agoJust use another platform if you can't quit cold-turkey. But yeah, the solution is to not let them collect data about you.
- direwolf20 9mo agoWhich one — YouTube shorts?
- krapp 9mo agoSocial media is addictive, but Hacker News overplays how addictive it is. Most of what keeps people on it isn't heroin-like dependence but convenience and habit.
- direwolf20 9mo agoConvenience of what? What goal is achieved most efficiently by using social media?
- krapp 9mo agoPeople use social media to consume news and entertainment and to curate and communicate with people and accounts using an interface that allows them to read and share multiple media types. My mother used it to communicate with her COPD support group and chat with in-laws in Australia. I use it to follow up on work groups and authors and developers I'm interested in. Most people's usage of social media is banal and mundane, little different than watching television in the 1990s. They use social media because it provides value for them, not because they're addicted to dopamine.
- ulbu 9mo agoi think you have a very idealised view of social media. have you been to a classroom recently? it’s also meaningfully different in structure from tv. tv was 7-10 min of content and a couple of ads in between. and you grew annoyed by the ads. only toddlers were captivated. now most content is designed like ads were. and now they grow annoyed when outside it. and toddlers and older people are captivated.
- krapp 9mo agoNo, but most people who use social media aren't schoolchildren. I have a niece and nephew who are school age and they seem to be doing fine. Certainly better than people here insist they must. And I don't think believing social media provides some practical value for people beyond addiction is "very idealized." edit: I remember a very different past than you do. People of all ages watched tv for hours at a time, everyone was captivated. Saturday morning cartoons (all of which were toy commercials) were a mandatory childhood ritual. And the ads when popular were often the memes of their time. Different in structure but not much different in influence.
- godelski 9mo agoWe call that mental addiction.
- shimman 9mo agoThe solution is simple, go interact with actual humans and make an actual bond. Hanging out with good friends feels way better than any social media I've ever used and I've been online shitposting since 1995.
- BLKNSLVR 9mo agoJust this morning I tagged along to an activity a friend of mine has been doing a few weeks, and had some nice conversations with people I've never met before. Humanity, in person, in the context of common interests, is fulfilling for the soul.
- direwolf20 9mo agoHow do you do that? You've stated a goal, but not a mechanism to get there.
- godelski 9mo agoAre you asking how you hang out with friends? I mean this in all seriousness... you talk to them. Don't wait for them to ask you, you ask them. Or are you asking how you make friends? That one's harder but I'll point out something important. You notice how you made friends in school? The reality of it is that you just spent time around the same people constantly. That's the biggest driver. Bigger than any shared belief, politics, or whatever. Join a club. Go to the gym. Spend time outside your home in public in the same location at approximately the same times. You'll meet people who also spend time outside their homes in the same locations at the same times. Repeat this until you gave gained friends.
- idle_zealot 9mo ago> the solution to this is very obvious, but I know some folks won't cease using the product "Everyone should simultaneously quit doing the harmful thing" is a "solution" to our present surveillance advertising problem in the way that advice to save money is a solution to poverty or "have you tried farming?" is a solution to world hunger. I.e. not a solution for humans, but a description of a beeline to the desired state as performed by a hive mind.
- fuzzer371 9mo agoReally? Telling people to quit using a stupid app isn't "A solution for humans"? Seems pretty straight forward to me.
- Forgeties79 9mo agoWe can’t say these apps are addicting/weaponized against us and also say “just stop using it” like it’s some easy choice one simply has to make.
- anigbrowl 9mo agoCould you be any more patronizing? Maybe there's a few people you haven't alienated yet. I don't like or use Tiktok, but clearly it provides some value to the people who do. Telling people to stop using it without even attempting to address what benefit (perceived or actual) it provides is self-defeating advice.
- b00ty4breakfast 9mo agoI didn't say it was easy, but also I don't think uninstalling tik-tok is as difficult as solving global poverty. It's obviously designed to be addictive but it's also not on the level of a chemical dependency for 90% of the population. Like, yeah, some folks probably need medical intervention but most social media users could give up on the dank maymays with only mild difficulty.
- pluralmonad 9mo agoIt is deeply sad to me that "stop doing the thing that's hurting you" is met with such animosity. It's like heroin addicts telling us with a straight face that they refuse to stop.
- BLKNSLVR 9mo agoI can quit whenever I want.
- IncreasePosts 9mo agoMaybe because it isn't particularly insightful or helpful. If you told a heroin addict this, would you expect them to be like "Oh MAN why didn't I think of that?"
- pluralmonad 9mo agoBut that has nothing to do with the reality that the best response is to stop doing heroin. Someone refusing to help themselves does not change that.
- direwolf20 9mo agoBlaming a heroin addict for not quitting heroin is not constructive. It's addictive. That's how it works. It induces chemical dependency. You wouldn't blame a gunshot victim for bleeding all over the table cloth due to the laws of fluid dynamics.
- pluralmonad 9mo agoBlame is not usually constructive. However, linking cause and effect can be. If a gunshot victim pointed the gun at themselves and pulled the trigger, I'm unsure how telling them they should not do that is blaming them.
- cindyllm 9mo ago[dead]