zlacker

>>joeman+(OP)
I deleted social media around 2.5 years ago. After feeling extreme anxiety and withdrawal for about a week I realized this was the right move. I gained massive amounts of productivity, felt more awake than ever, and realized just how many HOURS I was killing browsing. It sounds like the usual rant, but I truly think that in 10-15 years there will be a huge anti social media movement after we fully realize the damage. Social media as a concept is wonderful but in reality it adds nothing meaningful to our lives.

>>amikae+t7
What if I told you Hacker News is social media?

>>dehrma+Ce
there are a several key aspects of HN that are very different than social media networks, and that's why it's in a different category

>>insane+qf
One of my biggest gripes with the social media you and I have quit is that it has strongly encouraged flippant, black-and-white responses like the one you're responding to. Nuance, by and large, has been removed from public discourse.

Edit: Just speaking for me, HN is next. Doubt I'll stick 'round much longer.

>>jjuliu+dl
It went weirdly assumed that HN is somehow different. I don't believe in social media addiction, but addicts are known for lying to themselves and making excuses. If you're quitting social media because you don't think it's healthy, you need to look at any social media you're still on really closely.

>>dehrma+oy
There are several key things that make HN different:

- no followers / following (no incentive to increase engagement)

- no notifications of responses to comments (maybe there's a way to do this with RSS but at least it's not obvious)

- no ads

- no endless feed

HN is much more like an RSS feed of interesting articles, where people can leave comments -- there is some back and forth (as in this case) but not a lot; it's centered around the linked content and thoughts on that content, not on engaging with other users. It's not monetized and therefore doesn't employ all the tricks that SM uses to "drive engagement", which is often driven by outrage (which is therefore a highly desirable component of a SM).

>>insane+Lz
HN may survive if upvote/downvotes are removed, but until then it will continue to be astroturfed and manipulated heavily to push narratives and subconsciously teach the startup/hacker community which opinions are favored and disfavored today.