'It's so liberating': The people quitting social media

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63482162

by bishopsmother • 4 years ago

98 141 4 years ago

bbc.com

raydiatian2• 4 years ago

Social media is one great big psy-op. Best to not be a part of it at all.

foghawk• 4 years ago

True that. Forums like HN are just about tolerable but at least the underlying agenda is transparent.

raydiatian2• 4 years ago

Perhaps because forums convene to discuss and dissect ideas and things. I just realized I’m thankful for HN.

raxxorraxor3• 4 years ago

It is not a psy-op aside from people trying to get people addicted and exposed to advertising. Zuckerberg once said that people are stupid to share so much voluntarily. Everyone underestimated stupidity vastly. And for public personas there certainly are some advantages and some just use it to contact others. But the normal user perhaps doesn't reflect the costs.

jen20• 4 years ago

not a psy-op aside from people trying to get people addicted and exposed to advertising

So... it's a psy-op. As stated.

HeckFeck2• 4 years ago

If it isn't, it had certainly worked out like one.

Mounds upon mounds of personal data, recent photographs of the population, countless "private" conversations are all available easily and instantly if you just ask your mate up in SIGINT.

qikInNdOutReply• 4 years ago

Uncomfortable take, maybe its a necessary PsyOp. In ancient times, when you screwed up the village would shun you and that status as a shunned, would act as a reminder for others to not engage in unacceptable behaviour.

This is what social media is now. If you engage in warcrimes, your face and name will be known to the world for all times.

nonrandomstring2• 4 years ago

I'm suspect you're being a little optimistic. Although there is a small niche for socially positive influence campaigns the overwhelming function of "necessary psyops" has been for the powerful to make sure their "warcrimes" remain hidden from the world.

Sadly, I think many of us are still carrying a working model of social media as a "peoples' tool" from the Arab Spring. There are plenty of places in the world today where you can see that's been suppressed, recruited and inverted by those in power.

If we want technology to reduce evil in the world then we need to redouble our efforts.

kdhfkhhhhh• 4 years ago

Yes, and after societies grew larger than villages, many of them started coming up with things like "courts" and "due process".

Thankfully we're moving back to a more openly reputation-based system. I'm currently looking for a group of seven respected men that will swear oaths to my innocence if I'm accused of anything.

nonrandomstring2• 4 years ago

I wonder what a significant change in attitudes toward social-tech will mean for those of us, still in a minority, who have never been on it?

No doubt the irony will be I'll have to listen to endless "news" from friends who haven't spoken to me in real-life for 15 years, about how "Liberating it is". :)

blitzar3• 4 years ago

Nahh that is totally different. When you were not into social media - it was weird and creepy. Now not being into social media is liberating and responsible.

You wouldnt understand ...

einpoklum2• 4 years ago

A tech platform, or a social mechanism, can be multiple things at once. And doubly so when you're talking about multiple platforms. Social networks are...

* A commercial advertising delivery mechanism

* A US government mass-surveillance honeypot

* A way for Jane Smith to follow what her acquaintances or family members are doing elsewhere in the world

* An outlet for venting frustrations about politics

etc. etc. And all that dopes not really contradict "big psy-op".

groffee• 4 years ago

A week later she posted on Facebook and Instagram that she would be leaving the platforms.

And now we're reading about her on BBC News. These people need to stop talking and actually get offline.

snowram• 4 years ago

It would make a nice Onion article : "I freed myself from social networks" says man on Twitter.

maxbond• 4 years ago

College Humor beat them to it https://youtu.be/md4kM9AKjHs

recuter4• 4 years ago

But what would the BBC write about in that case?

kappuchino• 4 years ago

I disgree. In this particular case, isn't it wonderful that public broadcasting is reporting about it, so people can evaluate the idea/concept for themselves?

andirk• 4 years ago

Why not just use the various social media outlets less? Is this an addiction? Because people talk about it like it is.

Juliate• 4 years ago

At least this kind of social media is.

Their algorithms and UX are precisely designed to that purpose to favor ads placement.

raxxorraxor3• 4 years ago

If you are a modern journalist you probably are some kind of social media prisoner. Yes, you can argue that tweets aren't and shouldn't be news, but they have to appease their masters too. And those demand attention.

rpigab• 4 years ago

Yeah, no, it's like "Have you tried not being depressed", for some people, there's FOMO hitting hard, very addictive, because social media were designed to be addictive, each like is a shot of dopamine, like Fortnite hacks kids brains with random rewards, rewarding sound effects, specific colours, etc., it's too strong to stop on your own (then again, for some people, not all).

dislikedtom2• 4 years ago

I'm one of those weirdos. This is kind of how it actually works. I don't know anyone who has truly stopped all the social media (like hn). But things like facebook, instagram and tiktok; I don't feel getting anything good out of it so I don't use those at all.

misto• 4 years ago

I hate to say it but at least for me, yes. On many occasions I catch myself on a mindless infinite scroll, or youtube binge while filling a seemingly small gap of idleness. So even though I'm completely aware of this being possible, while also being in some sort of moral opposition against such behavior, I still fall for it rather easily. Addiction to some is a strong word I guess, but once I started associating it with my own behavior, it was easier to make some more drastic changes to get away from it.

midislack2• 4 years ago

You’re missing the point. A man with the wrong opinions bought a social media site. This is why there is a flood of articles like this lately - people who don’t like his opinions are screeching in pain.

sn41• 4 years ago

I felt even better when I quit news media as well. Now I read the print newspapers, just to see whether there is any change in legislation that I need to know about.

My blood does boil even there, with the subtle editorializing tell us what to feel about what is essentially a neutral news item, but it's much easier to control than the online media.

fullstackchris2• 4 years ago

I used to listen to NPR news now EVERY morning, mulled over nearly every post on /r/worldnews and then I slowly realized it's mostly fluff and media outlets trying to squeeze discussion out of things that a really just a one and done event. Nowadays, there is just so much drama and noise surrounding every single thing that happens in the world. It's of no value actually. So I've quit news consumption altogether as well, it's super liberating.

This is like the Tim Ferriss approach: if some news is really that huge, you'll hear about it from a friend or coworker eventually. And if it's news like globalthermonuclear war, you won't benefit from hearing about it 5 minutes earlier anyway ;)

DrBazza3• 4 years ago

My blood does boil even there, with the subtle editorializing tell us what to feel about what is essentially a neutral news item, but it's much easier to control than the online media.

The article is on the BBC news site. As someone that's a bit older than the average on here, I can remember when the BBC news site was just that - news.

Now, it's changed subtly.

Some articles now have 'by John Smith', the author, underneath it, whereas some do not. Way back in the mists of time, almost all articles seemed to be anonymous.

The other change, and your point, is that select articles now have commentary or opinion by one of the BBC journalists, which it never previously had.

Still, if the BBC are paying big salaries for 'big' name journos they have to promote them.

afandian• 4 years ago

I've not paid attention to that detail of the news website. We but we've always had named correspondents on BBC Radio news. And newsreaders for that matter.

thelittleone2• 4 years ago

My folks are around 70 now. I just flew back home to visit them. Every day in the evening the news goes on, and they sit together and watch (muting only the advertisements). Years ago I would watch to, but this time I was observing my folks and wondering about the origins of this pattern / habit.

During WW2, the AM radio informed the population, no doubt saving lives. Families would gather around the radio for BBC news, compelled by uncertainty and fear. The war finished, the years went by, radio became a TV. When I suggest maybe skipping the news, it's met with shock and something along the lines of "not watch the news? we need to be informed".

flakeoil2• 4 years ago

I mostly agree with you.

Still, if the BBC are paying big salaries for 'big' name journos they have to promote them.

But maybe they could let the content speak for itself.

breput• 4 years ago

I listened to the BBC World Service (and VOA and Radio Moscow and many others) via shortwave "back in the day" and the reporter was always introduced by name, and even if they hadn't, they were identifiable by the sound of their voice.

x55j33• 4 years ago

Not sure if you're from the UK but if you're not then you should be aware that the BBC has become a lot more politicised as the government appointed a major donor as the director in 2021 [1] and have previously threatened the company, for example by changing the license fee to starve them of funding[2]. In addition, the BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg is not without controversy and accusations of pro-government bias[3].

Unfortunately both sides of the political spectrum now mistrust the BBC's impartiality.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Sharp_(BBC_chairman) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Un... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Kuenssberg#BBC_political...

thrown_222• 4 years ago

My blood does boil even there, with the subtle editorializing tell us what to feel about what is essentially a neutral news item, but it's much easier to control than the online media.

Dear god yes. Give me the facts without trying to insert your politics there. Even the AP does this constantly. I'd pay gold for a news organization which prints something to the effect of:

The current situation in XYZ in unknown. We have heard from partisan sources that A happened, we have heard from other partisan sources that B happened and the state department has told us C would happen. Please check back in three weeks for an update.

rrwo2• 4 years ago

It's gotten to the point where simply reporting information that is unpleasant for one group of people is treated as biased and political.

Report about the cost of housing driving people to homelessness? That's the "left-wing media".

Report about people grifting off of BLM protects? It's the "right wing corporate media".

And those stories can very well be in the same newspaper or news show.

thelittleone2• 4 years ago

+1 on news.

My life was filled with unnecessary external inputs / noise (such as news) that often dictated the mood and output of my day. Example, waking, unconsciously unlocking my phone and scrolling news or socials. It was like gambling my day away but with no upside. These days I start with things I can control (make bed, tidy up) to build positive momentum to plow through the inevitable challenges of the day.

News was one of my worst... along with sugar :) Now I beat both (kinda).

instagraham• 4 years ago

It is very likely that there is a lot more cause to make one's blood boil today, especially with the growing radicalisation of those who enjoy being contrarian for the sake of it.

One can't blame the news for being a mirror. Especially where I live (India), it is almost a joke to suggest (as so many here do) that the media should focus on "positive" stories - when doing so would be Goebbelsian.

Sakos2• 4 years ago

I used TikTok for about a month earlier this year out of curiosity. I feel like it still has significant effects on my emotional and psychological state months later. I can't imagine what it does to a person to use anything like it daily for years.

just_for_you• 4 years ago

I could only imagine what kind of imprinting something like TikTok can do to a developing mind, especially if that person lacks any kind of healthy role models in their real lives.

Personally I'm glad that that the hyper-availability of information was something I experienced only after I became an adult, so I'm able to be more aware of how influential the firehouse of information and manipulation by algorithms can be.

ebjaas_2022• 4 years ago

How did it affect you?

yellow_lead• 4 years ago

Good effects?

Sakos2• 4 years ago

Sorry, I was a bit too vague. Negative effects. For example, my depression got worse and my ability to cope with social contacts elsewhere in my life got worse (such as becoming more sensitive to perceived rejection, and consequently turning more to TikTok to counteract the negative feelings, leading to my reducing maintenance of real relationships).

ThePhysicist• 4 years ago

I effectively shut down my Twitter account a while ago, best thing I did for my mental health in the past year. There are interesting people on Twitter but the algorithm just works like a slot machine that tries to keep you on the site no matter the cost, it's not optimized to serve you but to make you view more ads. In addition it's almost impossible to have a civilized discussion, it often feels more like two people standing in different corners of a public space screaming insults at each other, and various crowds cheering them on.

bambax• 4 years ago

There are interesting people on Twitter but the algorithm just works like a slot machine that tries to keep you on the site no matter the cost, it's not optimized to serve you but to make you view more ads.

Yes. I don't know if it wants us to see more ads or be more "engaged". I'm currently fascinated by generative art and find a lot of interesting posts about this on Twitter.

Yet Twitter keeps showing me posts about politics that upset me; I can't help but "liking" some of those, which feeds the feedback machine.

I never follow any political poster but liking is enough. I could certainly block or mute all of them but that feels wrong, esp. people I fundamentally agree with.

I'm not sure what to do. Not use Twitter seems the best solution.

bobiny2• 4 years ago

I tried Twitter many times but always stopped using it after reading a lot of upsetting materials. Like you follow favorite musician and beside music announcements, there are political rants. I returned to Twitter when I learned to use Mute function liberally. Maybe in your case, you'd feel better on more art related sites like Tumblr or DeviantArt?

elsjaako• 4 years ago

Have you seen https://genart.social/? Unfortunataly it looks like registration is closed right now. You could follow users you like using RSS and join when registrations open again, or maybe someone you know on twitter has an account there can send you an invite.

You can also create an account on any mastodon server and follow users from genart.social, but it's more fun to be in the middle of it.

gwd• 4 years ago

I never follow any political poster but liking is enough.

I suspect that clicking, or perhaps even pausing is enough. The only time I look at Twitter is when running my organization's Twitter account. I try to follow technical people and organizations, and am mostly looking for something of a pulse on what's going on in the Linux / FLOSS crowd on Twitter. Since I'm representing my project, not myself, I never click 'like' on anything political; and I'm pretty sure my predecessor in the role never did either.

And yet, here I am every day, wading through loads of political posts which mysteriously mostly align with my preferences.

Edited for clarity.

te_chris4• 4 years ago

It’s the “x who you followed liked this” that did me in. Turns out a lot of the smart people I followed followed complete tools. Twitter gave me no options to ignore, so I just deleted instead.

msravi5• 4 years ago

There is a "block" and a "mute" function.

recuter4• 4 years ago

Never e-meet your heroes I suppose. But you know, your mind is your own, you can just literally ignore or make peace with parts of reality you find unpleasant.

It seems quite strange to me how people clamor for push button blinders on what is actual life. You are not a horse to be led around by an app.

msravi5• 4 years ago

but the algorithm just works like a slot machine

I'm always surprised that people, especially on HN, complain so much about twitter's algorithms that are so easy to bypass. I use Twidere as a client, and my feed doesn't have any of twitter's algorithms - it's simply a reverse chronological feed. Even the website and twitter's official app have a button right on the feed page that allows you to switch to a reverse chronological feed

In addition it's almost impossible to have a civilized discussion

Just don't use it for discussion then. I use it to read opinions of people all across the ideological spectrum and form my own. You don't need to engage if you don't want to! Also, it's very easy to mute/block accounts that you find are being abusive or uncivilized

It's an invaluable tool to gather peoples' opinions and what they really think.

WA• 4 years ago

Or just use lists. Create list, add people you want to follow. Bam, done. Reverse chronological order with zero ads.

mola• 4 years ago

But then you only get opinions of those ppl that engage in the sort of "discussions" OP talks about. You really aren't exposed to real ppl opinions, only the opinions of the most crazy and or manipulative.

prawn• 4 years ago

Another option is https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/ with an ad blocker. No ads, feed in order. I mostly follow people I know and my feed is very decent and for the most part positive.

To see the loons, I typically have to find a popular account and read replies, and the Tweetdeck URL even hides most of those (which is fine by me - makes me realising I'm wasting my life reading rubbish).

YurgenJurgensen2• 4 years ago

Even if you're using a different client (which is already a strike against Twitter as a social network, along with the need to manually block users because it has no effective moderation) the content you're reading will have been written by users targeting the default algorithm.

teekert• 4 years ago

"It's an invaluable tool to gather peoples' opinions and what they really think."

Or, is it a tool to get the most knee-jerk reactions out of people as fast as possible? How much thought did actually go into that tweet?

bobiny2• 4 years ago

I find Twitter teaching me to stand my ground in terms of my boundaries and what I enjoy. If I talk to somebody and they start insulting me, I mute. I mute people who insult others too. Difference between physical public space is that if some people are screaming at each other, you'd have to engage somehow (like break them off) or disengage by walking away. In Twitter you can mute them. Let them fight between themselves.

deepzn• 4 years ago

Exactly, since 2016, it's been a cesspit. One can argue the world would be better off without Twitter, even keeping in mind The Arab Spring, and during Covid outbreak (was that net positive? I would say initially during the outbreak it was very useful, and then later more misinformation came about.)

rrwo2• 4 years ago

In addition it's almost impossible to have a civilized discussion, it often feels more like two people standing in different corners of a public space screaming insults at each other, and various crowds cheering them on.

It's depressing seeing friends fall down conspiracy theory rabbit holes, or publicly wallow in their racism.

disqard• 4 years ago

Good analogies!

It also kinda follows from your "public space" analogy, that the loudest people screaming the most obnoxious and entertaining insults, will dominate this space.

Extending your analogy a bit further, this "public space" is really more of a "public bathroom" wall, where people scribble hot takes, and others react to those with more hot takes of their own.

I'm happy for you that you shut down your account a while ago -- I haven't used mine in months, and should probably do the same right now.

mmargerum• 4 years ago

Twitter is the least taxing of the social media sites to use and I actually get useful info from it. Just curate who you follow to keep the SNR up. I don't have any other social media accounts. The rest is just trash

fullstackchris2• 4 years ago

I disagree with this general sentiment. I don't think absolutely 0 social media is feasible or even wise this day in age. How are you going to keep up with family, friends, and so on? (In my case, family and friends span multiple states, countries, and continents!) You would at the very least need a phone - ok, that's maybe not "social media" in the sense this article talks about, but it's still tech at the end of the day. You'd anyway likely need an app like WhatsApp or Telegram to keep track of everybody and everything - and those technically ARE considered social media right?

Like all things, "social media" is good only with strict moderation and balance. The real problem is that people let their usage get out of hand.

IshKebab• 4 years ago

Yeah the only reasons I can think of to cut it out entirely is because you want people to see how brave and pious you are, or because you're addicted and need to cut out the temptation to waste your life on Twitter entirely.

I can understand the latter, but there's nothing noble about refusing to use social media at all.

bheadmaster• 4 years ago

You'd anyway likely need an app like WhatsApp or Telegram to keep track of everybody and everything - and those technically ARE considered social media right?

If you consider them social media, that would imply telephone itself is a social media, which makes a definition of the word "social media" somewhat useless for distinguishing services such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and similar.

Normille• 4 years ago

  >You'd anyway likely need an app like WhatsApp or Telegram to keep track of everybody and everything - and those technically ARE considered social media right?...

Are they? I don't consider WhatsApp, Telegram and the like as social media. I don't know if there's a definitive definition for what is or isn't social media. But my own definition is that social media is a medium where you have your discussions in public. So Twitter, Facebook, Discord.. etc. [And, by that definition, I suppose a lot of forums and even HN discussions would be social media].

WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. I'd class more as private communications, alongside email and written letters.

  >I don't think absolutely 0 social media is feasible or even wise this day in age. How are you going to keep up with family, friends, and so on?...

I use Telegram for that. I have managed to persuade everyone in my family to join Telegram and a lot of my friends are on it too. I've set up a Family Channel which includes siblings, in-laws etc. where we can all share the latest goings on within the extended family and swap photos etc. All the social interaction we need, with a geographically scattered family, to all keep in touch. But without the [to me, anyway] incomprehensible need that so many other people seem to feel to broadcast our private family and circle of friends business to the entire world.

On the rare occaasions I've looked at social media content --especially Twitter or Facebook, I'm gobsmacked by the way conversations between people reveal so much personal info about themselves. It's like a huge number of social media users have some kind of mental block whereby they think if they @friend some really personal stuff, only @friend will see it. When the reality is @friend, @enemy, @employer, @parents, @spouse, @anyone-who-happens-to-be-passing-by... etc. are now privvy to that personal info.

I wonder how many of these people are also concerned about buying a Chinese phone, in case it 'spies' on them. When they're broadcasting practically their entire personal life, for all the world to see.

VBprogrammer• 4 years ago

Deleting social media apps from your phone is a good start. I removed Facebook earlier this year after getting into one too many arguments with my conspiracy prone father.

I still login from time to time. I just do it via the website. It has become less of a compulsion, to the point that my partner sometimes has to prompt me to look at some photos or like some important life event from a friend. I'm ok with that.

rglullis2• 4 years ago

That is like solving the opioid crisis by saying "you should use painkillers in moderation" or the obesity epidemic by saying "we all just need to be disciplined with what you eat."

The issue is systemic. Most people's idea of "social Media" today is the algorithm-fueled, privacy-invading, advertising funded model which divorces the users from the curation of good content.

We need social media platforms that are not owned by Big Tech, and we need to reject the notion that it is okay to data tracking and ads one exchange of a "free" service.

Lapsa5• 4 years ago

pro tip: start liking underwear ads on Facebook. you will get to see good looking ladies instead of whatever bullshit you usually get

coldtea2• 4 years ago

How are you going to keep up with family, friends, and so on?

Yeah, god forbid you actually visit them, invite them over, and talk to them on the phone, or, text them...

you'd anyway likely need an app like WhatsApp or Telegram to keep track of everybody and everything - and those technically ARE considered social media right?

No, technically they are considered chat apps...

And you wont need those either...

blitzar3• 4 years ago

Or god forbid that you find out a week after the event that Mavis, your cousins aunt went to the shops only to discover that you couldnt get any green apples today.

nabaraz• 4 years ago

Yeah, god forbid you actually visit them, invite them over, and talk to them on the phone, or, text them...

Think for a minute. You went on a vacation and want to show your families and relatives your photos. Are you going to send 20 photos to each of them via zip file?

Vespasian• 4 years ago

I self-moderate people on social media who go into politics too often. Luckily my family mostly moved to messenger and keeps the discussion to personal matters (kids, illnesses, activities etc)

The few times we talk about politics, are calm and measured discussions even though we disagree on many policy issues.

LordHeini• 4 years ago

It is totally feasible. I never had Facebook or Twitter and the likes and a know many people who stay away as well.

A friend of mine does not even have a phone, i meet him regularly, he has a job in IT and does just fine.

The Family has a Group on Signal, then there are a bunch of other groups on WhatsApp for friends and work.

Chat apps differ from social media in that they don't spam you with other peoples crap.

And i don't need lists of "friends" which i never see on whatever social media site.

Who cares about people you never see in person?

I have a contact list and just call or write if i want something.

The contact list is synced via CardDav to my calendar so i don't forget birthdays which is about the only useful thing social media provides.

rTX5CMRXIfFG• 4 years ago

There’s a problem with the definition of “social media”—we no longer differentiate between messaging apps and what we used to just call “social network sites”, which are generally understood to be content feeds that are optimised for infinite consumption. I think that people would generally agree that messaging apps are not as harmful as the latter, but it’s usually the latter that most people are trying to avoid.

I understand the need to communicate with loved ones, but really, you don’t even need to “keep up” because living one’s own life and reaching for one’s own ambitions should be time-consuming and tiring enough. And then I’m not willing to listen to any perspective that justifies the need for content feeds in one’s life—no news feed is innocent and all news feeds are just utilities for ads. If you really want to know what’s up with someone who matters in your life, you can and you should just ask them directly.

braingenious• 4 years ago

I keep up with my closest friends with a Signal group chat, and the rest of my friends just text/call/email me to get in touch.

I guess your point that “anything can be social media if you call it that” is… technically true linguistically, I have genuinely no idea what that has to do with people that choose not to use Facebook/Instagram/Twitter.

AdrianB12• 4 years ago

If you use a platform just for that, it seems fine. The problem is when you use multiple platforms under the excuse that you need to keep up with family. The problem is the distractions that the platform is pushing to you, making you waste a significant amount of time.

10 years ago, I had a Facebook account and the rule to have up to 50 contacts ("friends") that I was using 10 minutes per day. When that was no longer possible, I closed the account.

bart_spoon3• 4 years ago

No, a phone is not social media. Nor is a standard messaging app. Social media is, in my opinion, any platform or service that connects you with an unknown number of users, a feed, and has some form of "likes" or "upvoting" involved. So simply messaging friends and family via your phone wouldn't qualify. But Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Reddit all would. And I agree with the author, social media (according to my definition), comes with an enormous number of negative consequences and we are all probably better off without it, on the whole (and yes, I realize that I am saying this on HackerNews, which also counts as social media according to that definition).

MrBuddyCasino• 4 years ago

Amazing how as soon as Elon buys Twitter and bluechecks loose their privilege, there is one Mastodon endorsement [0] and one "quit social media" article on BCC in short succession trending on HN. Probably nothing.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33495817

midislack2• 4 years ago

Angry censors and bot herders downvoted you for some reason.

blitzar3• 4 years ago

2 Aug 2018 — Why people are choosing to quit social media. Many people make an active choice not to be on social media. What motivates them?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05y8m4l

19 July 2017 - 'I felt relieved' - What happens when you ditch social media

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-40654983

30 August 2016 - Picture perfect: How helpful is social media for our mental health?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37218059

Social media regulation debate - and much much more.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cvw0z7ezezkt

Yeah probably all about Musk right.

bart_spoon3• 4 years ago

Quitting social media is an evergreen topic and a new article about it pops up about once per month.

ResearchCode• 4 years ago

But didn't quit LinkedIn.

einpoklum2• 4 years ago

I have a LinkedIn profile up as a form of a business card of sorts, but only ever go there if someone contacts me personally.

bart_spoon3• 4 years ago

I wouldn't quit LinkedIn either. For 99% of the time, it's totally worthless, and has even more of an authenticity problem than most social media. But when it comes to finding a job its actually invaluable. I was laid off earlier in the year with a large number of others from my company, and I pretty much exclusively did my job searching through LinkedIn. I made a single post about having been laid off (which was my first personal post on the site ever), and within 24 hours I had so many people reaching out to me with job leads I needed a spreadsheet to keep track of them all. Within 2 weeks, I had 5 competing offers all of which were better than my previous job. I can't imagine being able to do all of that without LinkedIn.

bjoli3• 4 years ago

I stopped using facebook and Twitter about 10 years ago. I can't say I noticed any difference back then.

The thing I am noticing now is that a larger part of civil society has moved to Facebook. I can't even find the opening hours or phone numbers of many restaurants, which means I just have to guess or not go at all. One company I quickly left had support through Facebook.

I hate it. And I think people are crazy to hand such a large chunk of society over to social media companies.

badcppdev• 4 years ago

Just as an experiment I tried to access the facebook pages for the local restaurants. I could easily see the opening hours and phone number even though I wasn't logged in.

I'm in the UK. Is it a different experience where you are?

Or are you refusing to access the facebook website at all?

askvictor2• 4 years ago

Did you clear cookies or try from an incognito browser? Facebook tries pretty damn hard to stick around even if you're logged off

bjoli3• 4 years ago

This changed in the last year in Sweden. Suddenly I was asked to log in.

I believe that it was rolled out in the US in 2019, so it seems based on geography

dazc• 4 years ago

The default public interface for many small businesses these days seems to be facebook for the simple reason that it is free to have your page on there. They don't get much else though unless they are willing to be interacting with the local community 24/7 or paying £30 for their random posts to be shown to another 12 people, etc.

I had the idea of having a local site for small towns where every business could have its own free page and post stuff that everyone could see for free. But, having dealt with a few local businesses and realizing they just don't want to make any effort at all, like I should do everything from providing imagery and content at no cost, I quickly released it was a non-starter. Facebook is actually the perfect solution for these kind of businesses after all.

bjoli3• 4 years ago

Well, people using it for spreading information means people being excluded from receiving that info.

sdiacom• 4 years ago

For opening hours and phone numbers, Google Maps seems to cover that fine in my area. It's not great, as it's still a private company, but Maps is ran more like a public utility, at least compared to Facebook.

freedom2099• 4 years ago

I never understood the charm of social media… why should I care about what people I couldn’t care less think about my life (hence share what I do) and conversely why should I follow people I couldn’t care less. With the people I care I usually have real conversations… no need for social media.

viraptor• 4 years ago

For me that's half social banter, half discovering things I did not know about, but someone discovered and found fascinating enough to share. Pretty close to HN. I completely don't care what other people think about me on the internet, but I care about the things they do or appreciate.

probably_wrong• 4 years ago

But... you are here in HN with the rest of us. Why are you reading the comments of people you couldn't care less about?

Of course, as someone who never uses Twitter and yet has been here since 2013 I have a good feeling of what your answer is likely to be. But my deeper point is: people get out of Twitter the same that I (and maybe you) get out of HN. Different strokes for different folks.

raxxorraxor3• 4 years ago

I think we shouldn't call HN social media, I wouldn't even call reddit social media. Yes, there are discussions. But the topic is the focus, while many other platforms, including Twitter, are people oriented. People curate your content, on the other platforms said content is decided by topic.

Maybe use social media if you want to, but there is an inherit difference between these platforms. I had good discussions on HN but I couldn't name you any user, not even their handle. It isn't of particular interest most of the time. There are a few exceptions of course but those are far and few between.

A bus ride just isn't the same as a party, even if many people come together.

randomdata• 4 years ago

As a farmer, Twitter has shown to be the best place to keep abreast on what other farmers are trying in their operations. I've never met most of them, but insights into what they are doing is still useful information. It provides much the same charm as HN, where I've also not met most, for keeping abreast in what tech is doing.

Facebook has been useful as a modern day telephone book.

I don't see them as competing against real conversations. They serve a very different function.

thrown_222• 4 years ago

I feel like I should try and get back my account which got banned for covid misinformation - who could have seen that the vaccines wouldn't be 99% effective?

Lapsa5• 4 years ago

I got post restricted on Facebook for quoting Futurama's Bender Rodriguez: "kill all humans"

cunidev• 4 years ago

In my experience, I feel like Mastodon is a way healthier social media platform than most. No (intrusive) trends, no "likes of friends", no randomized timeline, but just other people posting pictures of their oscilloscopes, cats, plants and hobbies, or starting healthy discussions about things.

It's not a panacea by any means, but makes an almost mind-blowing difference from the "usual" addictive social platforms (FB, Twitter, YouTube, etc.).

It feels a bit like joining a café where everyone is human, and imperfect, rather than a shiny videolottery casino where the higher liked profiles keep winning.

AdrianB12• 4 years ago

You are describing an experience closed to the old forums of early 2000. I am still an active member of such a forum, we are less than 50 active people that interact for almost 20 years, we meet face to face quite rarely because we live now in several different countries (we were all in one initially) and overall is a nice atmosphere of spending a bit of time with old friends, just async and without the commute time to the same bar.

scioto• 4 years ago

I use a third-party Twitter client TweetBot on both iOS and MacOS, and all I see are the folks I follow and any retweets they do. And that's it. No suggested tweets to rile and inflame and engage me. I only see what I want to see.

And if one particular person I follow gets too verbose, I mute them for 6 hours, a day, a week, or forever, until they calm down. I've even permanently muted acquaintances who it makes them happy to think I follow them as they go off the deep end.

If Twitter takes away the API that TweetBot uses, well, I think that'll be my exit, since I can't imagine having to put up with what I perceive everyone else is experiencing on Twitter.

blodkorv• 4 years ago

I have quitted social media many many times. But i always end back up, even tho i get that liberating feeling. There is alway this boring evening that makes you want to just check in and se what is going on and then it grabs hold of you.

I wish there was a way i could ban my IP or something else more permanent to really remove me from most social media platforms. As it is now, its too easy to create a new account or reactivate your old one.

askvictor2• 4 years ago

Some ISPs have this kind of function (usually because "won't someone think of the children"). You could hand your account details to your ISP to a friend to enable such a function.

rodolphoarruda• 4 years ago

I wish there was a way i could ban my IP

I thought of something like a reverse robots.txt, a file residing in your device(s) that could tell servers you don't want to see news nor social features. Something like no-news.txt or even no-social.txt.

ccbccccbbcccbb• 4 years ago

Data has been harvested, social relations graphs built, patterns revealed, AI networks trained. The damage is done!

Lapsa5• 4 years ago

got some long lasting friends on a private discord channel. I even know some of their phone numbers! that's the only social network I'm on :D

yotamoron2• 4 years ago

7 years ago I deleted my FB account. The mental relief was immediate.

Since then, I deleted all my social media accounts - LinkedIn (in some insanely magical way I'm still employed!) and twitter. Being the old fart I am, I had no other social media accounts.

Not taking any needless selfies, not posting crap, not waiting anxiously for likes or comments, not reading BS from people I don't know just because some algorithm decided that's a good content for me for reasons I have no control over.

Life is so much better.

Lapsa5• 4 years ago

I kept LinkedIn account alive. enjoying those spam letters telling me how much xx new contacts I got. might even log in and take a look who's that if/when I'll look for a new job

yotamoron2• 4 years ago

For me LinkedIn just became another kind of FB, with people writing stupid posts, trying to present themselves as smart and successful and beautiful and PC and blah blah blah.

Not for me, thank you very much.

birracerveza3• 4 years ago

I don't have Facebook. I don't have Twitter. I don't even have Instagram, or TikTok. I stay away from all kinds of social media, aside from Telegram to chat with my friends, and it's been this way for the last 10 or so years... and boy do I get confirmation that I made a very good choice very, very often.

barbs• 4 years ago

Do Telegram and other chat apps count as social media? In my mind they are separate but I could be wrong?

birracerveza3• 4 years ago

Kind of. The difference is that with Telegram you are mostly required to actively participate in your network, directly sending messages/media to a specific person/group (YMMV obviously), whereas with "traditional" social media you put your contents out there, which, depending on the algorithm, may or may not be seen by your followers or the platform's userbase, with a much more passive engagement model where users can consume content without ever putting some out themselves, thus much more vulnerable to algorithm-driven user engagement exploits.

Discord is also very similar to Telegram conceptually, but very different at the same time because of the role it fulfills. Different tools, with different properties, for different needs. Even phone calls can be considered social media! The key is using them responsibly.

dzhiurgis• 4 years ago

How is hacker news and likes of reddit or even slashdot not a social media. In some ways reddit is much worse (echo chamber) than twitter.

xkbarkar• 4 years ago

not sure why you are downvoted. These platforms are social media. I font feel criticizing or mentioning reddit breaks the HN rules.

eddy_chan• 4 years ago

I just had to quit Reddit this weekend. Deleted the app off my phone, edited my hosts file on my computer to send it to 127.0.0.1 along with a whole bunch of mass media sites. I noticed this year that I was scrolling and scrolling and scrolling hours away on reddit and then it hit me, this is a tiny minority of the world having an outsized influence on my thoughts and opinions both in a positive and negative manner but more often than not negative and getting worse over time. The most outraged, the biggest whiners would get the most upvotes so all you see is outrage and rants and I thought to myself, is that really how the general public is? Is this really my experience of it?...then I thought no it's not, it's an algorithm that's feeding off my fear to instil more fear in me in a never ending loop. Delete...

birracerveza3• 4 years ago

It is. It's just different forms of them. HN comment section can be considered a social media, Reddit definitely is a social network. If you are broad with the term, anything with a community can be considered social media. What I quit are the "passive" social media that market themselves as such, with the social part being their primary function and attraction.

MattPalmer1086• 4 years ago

I don't see sites that just have user discussions as social media. To me they're essentially usenet but on a web site.

I'd say to qualify as social media you need to make the experience about connecting people with each other or with groups, and finding people to connect with. Things like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter are all definitely social media.

A site that just posts news headlines that people comment on is not really social media IMHO.

hYqnLX• 4 years ago

The problem of current round-the-clock media is the inevitable lack of actually meaningful events to present. Real meaningful events are rare and cannot solely drive the for-profit ad-driven legacy media and social media. As a result, we see unnecessary "news" like: this public figure said something stupid, discussion on the implications of that, interviewing solely to instigate the interviewee to say something edgy and then broadcast it as breaking news, etc. And social media sites pioneered the idea of getting creators to constantly churn out "content" to catch the attention of the users. News should be event-based like: hurricane to hit this part of the world, and actually useful to the public like: parliament passes this law and what you should know about it and not what you should feel about it. And social media should be used in regulation, if at all.

An actually useful news source would be the one which periodically lists the important happenings in the local area and (optionally) a couple of sentences about them.

flakeoil2• 4 years ago

An actually useful news source would be the one which periodically lists the important happenings in the local area

This is why I subscribe to a local news paper. It's much more interesting and more relevant to read about what is happening in and around my own town than what's going on in world politics or the other side of the world.

Semaphor• 4 years ago

Considering how many people on HN (Almost every FB related thread has at least one upvoted "I deleted facebook, it’s been so much better since" comment.) and apparently in some other places seem to have a social media addiction, that becomes liberating once they quit, I wonder if it’s a widespread problem, or if it’s a loud minority?

I quit most social media, not because it’s liberating, but because either a) the website became unusable (Facebook, I still use it for groups which are closer to how the timeline used to be) or b) It became boring (Twitter many years ago after I had been there since the start). Neither of those felt liberating, and especially in the Facebook case, I missed the interactions I had.

werber• 4 years ago

In the past 6 months I accidentally transitioned to only using BeReal, the finiteness of the app is really comfortable, in its current state you get a quick little update, send yours and the whole thing is over in 2 minutes. I hope it doesn't get ruined, but I also have no idea how they are keeping the lights on.

thih9• 4 years ago

Anecdotally, I’m the opposite, I started using mainstream social media a year ago, I make sure to avoid toxicity and focus on actually beneficial interactions. So far it’s been fun.

ehecatl42• 4 years ago

Gayle, who is a life coach…

Of course she is.

What did it for me was June 2016 (aah, Brexit), and two blokes from very different parts of my life— whom I both love for very different reasons— went to the most perverse ad hominem attacks on each other (they have never even met) on my profile. Such a weird hatred that I decided I did not want to be a part of that.

Eddy_Viscosity2• 4 years ago

I'm not on twitter, but I still view the 'best' tweets on various sites that gather them together. This works for me, I can read the newsworthy or particularly funny ones without all the bla-bla ones to dilute them. It's not real-time, but that's fine.

ivanmontillam• 4 years ago

What I think is happening to our brains is that we are already too fried from the over-stimulus of the constant "feeding" (pun intended with the term "Feed").

The endless treadmill of posts will always overpower you. Doomscrolling is an appropriate term for it. You always end up beaten. It's just too much for people, let alone your brain who has not caught up with the technology pace in terms of evolution.

I've slowly stopped using social media, though I'll never surrender my handles, that'd be leaving people to impersonate me.

stillbourne• 4 years ago

I quit facebook in 2015. I felt like it had stopped being about sharing what I'm doing with my audience of close friends and started to become an infinite outrage machine. Posting things to facebook became akin to slapping the feeder bar. I realized that is was not sustainable, mentally, to indulge in a constantly escalating verbal war with people I only knew by 2 to 3 degrees of separation. I made a full backup of my facebook account to save my pictures I had posted and deleted me account. I feel that was similar in some aspects from unplugging from the matrix.

johlits• 4 years ago

Actually I never understood how people get so upset reading what other people have to say. It's just their opinions..

'It's so liberating': The people quitting social media

Related Stories