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We should all really quit [Social Media]: Facebook changes product branding to FACEBOOK
Indie Winter
die KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
die KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered User regular
Social Media can be great. It allows you to keep in touch with people that'd otherwise disappear from your life, it exposes you to news and information that are unavailable through more traditional channels, and it provides you with fresh avenues through which to express yourself.
But it can also be pretty damaging.
Recently I noticed that after I check Facebook and Twitter I get sadder, sometimes even depressed. The constant barrage of negativity, outrage, conflicting opinions, shares and retweets forced on you are just too much. You never know if, when you scroll down, you might see a puppy or a massacre. You never know if a person you quite like might decide to point a finger at someone else, and suddenly your view of them is marred by hostility. Even if you don't engage with any of that, you feel like you're constantly on your guard, fighting back against the tides, just trying to keep it together while you're flooded with information.
So, I've had enough.
I've deleted the social media apps from my phone. I've blocked the websites on my computers. I'm trying to wean myself of an environment which, to me at least, seems toxic. It's not easy. I find that a significant amount of my time was spent browsing those services, and now I'm bored more easily, and have nothing to distract me from mundane drudgeries. But I'm trying to fill the time - I've started reading books again, for one, and I rediscovered how great books are.
I'm sure other people have thicker skins and find this whole thing a bit overblown. Others might blame me, not unjustly, of escapism - trying to deny the world and isolate myself from much of the terrible stuff that happens in it. But this is the choice I made, for better or worse. I don't know if it'll last. But I'm going to try.
Sup guys. Tell me about your social media experiences.
But it can also be pretty damaging.
Recently I noticed that after I check Facebook and Twitter I get sadder, sometimes even depressed. The constant barrage of negativity, outrage, conflicting opinions, shares and retweets forced on you are just too much. You never know if, when you scroll down, you might see a puppy or a massacre. You never know if a person you quite like might decide to point a finger at someone else, and suddenly your view of them is marred by hostility. Even if you don't engage with any of that, you feel like you're constantly on your guard, fighting back against the tides, just trying to keep it together while you're flooded with information.
So, I've had enough.
I've deleted the social media apps from my phone. I've blocked the websites on my computers. I'm trying to wean myself of an environment which, to me at least, seems toxic. It's not easy. I find that a significant amount of my time was spent browsing those services, and now I'm bored more easily, and have nothing to distract me from mundane drudgeries. But I'm trying to fill the time - I've started reading books again, for one, and I rediscovered how great books are.
I'm sure other people have thicker skins and find this whole thing a bit overblown. Others might blame me, not unjustly, of escapism - trying to deny the world and isolate myself from much of the terrible stuff that happens in it. But this is the choice I made, for better or worse. I don't know if it'll last. But I'm going to try.
Sup guys. Tell me about your social media experiences.
Indie Winter on
+9
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I generally end up annoyed by most of what people post.
I have a Twitter but I almost never bother with it.
It feels like it's most widely utilized as a time waster, and it's always sad to see companies try to utilize it for actual business purposes, and have the efforts almost univerasally fall flat.
Then cancelled all the accounts and burned the PC I set them up on.
They are literally the showcase of humanity's swill.
facebook is borderline unusable
the only reason i have it is for family
While I mainly use Facebook to message friends and relatives quickly, I kind of encounter the opposite of your experience; I see a whole lot of people posting how awesome their lives are and how they enjoy it so much they broadcast it to everyone. And it makes me feel bad that I somewhat resent these people, being someone that doesn't go out and "have fun", so to speak. I know this is an irrational reaction, but I feel it nonetheless. That's why I don't scroll through everything.
Sorry to hear about your situation, though. I'd probably feel the same if I were in your shoes, but I'd be too lazy to do anything about it, and/or I find the pros of social media outweigh the cons, so I try to mitigate it via blocking/hiding updates from friends I don't really want or need to get updated about.
Good luck with what you're doing. I hope whatever happens, you'll end up in a happier situation.
It's a good source of news as events are unfolding
But those tweets are also the definition of 'report first, ask questions later' and are still as biased as the worst news outlets
like, someone on your feed constantly posts poorly sourced bullshit news and clickbait? Unfollow them. Racist rant? Unfollow them. Even if it's family and you feel obliged to have them as "friends", that doesn't mean you can't tell facebook to silently ignore everything they post.
Same for twitter. Follow awesome people, don't follow crappy people - like magic, your twitter feed is now awesome.
It's very easy to do this and just end up with an echo chamber, though. Surrounding yourself with people that agree with you is an excellent way of convincing yourself that your worldview suddenly represents all reasonable demographics
That's why I remain in this group that my aunt started
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1518693388348662/
just seems kinda pointless and annoying to me
I actually came back to these forums after a few years away when I ditched Twitter. I like the conversational tone and community (something Twitter sorely lacks) that the forums have.
There's a (slight) difference between "awesome people" and "people who agree with me" though, and if "not following my racist aunt's facebook posts or that girl from High School's shaing of bullshit psychology blog clickbait articles" makes for an echo chamber, then fuck it, it's my facebook page, let it be one.
I'm with @Fearghaill in saying that Social Media is only as shitty as you let it be. I've unfriended a lot of people I knew in high school over the last couple of years because they've turned out to be racist/ignorant and unwilling to learn/homophobic/etc. Facebook has actually been really useful in that regard, sort of nipping problems in the bud and keeping things in perspective.
I never really got into Twitter. I have an account but I never really post there. I don't really care about posting little snippets about my life, and Twitter is less pleasant for me to use when posting news/links than Facebook, so it just gets ignored.
I really enjoy using Tumblr, I've found a lot of great articles and images through it. Definitely something that has to be heavily curated though. It also takes a decent chunk of time to blog in a way that feels correct/meaningful, so I go through phases of posting a lot and then phases of not posting anything for months.
I use twitter sparingly, mostly to keep track of news, laugh at artists/games/etc I enjoy, or another avenue to communicate with people from here. I like twitter for entertainment and information but it's terrible as a means of communication and I feel the biggest contributor to the angry atmosphere on the internet these days.
That's pretty much the extent of my social media use.
I think there's a difference between cutting awful stuff out of your feed and making an echo chamber, though. I definitely follow some people I don't agree with, or who have worldviews that don't line up with my own, just because they articulate their points well and they force me to consider angles I would normally have been ignorant of.
And if I want to see awful stuff, so that I know what's going on with other people, I know how to find it. And I do look for it, but it's a conscious decision to do so, something I can at least kind of prepare myself for, rather than something that I force upon myself whenever I look at twitter
Twitter is a bit better in that regards and their have been numerous situations where Twitter did new reporting better than the actual news sites so I stick around. Still has its share of asshats though, but I've managed to meet pretty awesome people in between.
Never used it. Just wasn't able to get into it.
Facebook is a once a day, when I get home thing.
Forums, in the other hand, I lurk too often
I'm facebook friends with a pretty conservative guy who considers himself libertarian, huge gun nut, kind of into drugs. He also loathes police violence and has been very active in protests and marches in his community. He hates new taxes but thinks the ACA is a good thing. He's not a democrat, but actually likes where Obama has come down on a lot of things, even though he was all about Benghazi when it was a thing.
Facebook I like a little better. Sure it has the whole creepy tracking thing going on. But it help me keep up with people I don't often see and is pretty good for organizing parties and the like. Sure it is an endless stream of meme images and clickbait, but there are some gems in there, that I see every day. I helps that I've liked some good pages so I see interesting things every day. Local restaurants tell me their specials. I see the latest from NASA, or TED, or NATGEO.
but they're listening to every word I say
Honestly, Google+ is a way better version of Facebook, but it has a very small active user base, and none of my friends use it ever, so I don't care about that either.
I also feel like people overuse the term "echo chamber". Sure, its a thing but I think you have to go out of your way for that kind of environment.
Yeah, I do tend to follow a lot of like-minded people who agree with me on many subjects. But we also tend to have our disagreements and heck even if we agree with might not be completely on the same page.
Generally, I've found that leads to way more interesting and enlightening discussions than people being as condescending or violent as possible when your view doesn't align with theirs.
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I also don't have Twitter.
I am in a special relationship with social media since it is now such a massive part of my chasing business. Twitter is crucial when communicating and advertising to media outlets with what content I have avalible for them. Facebook and Twitter help with increasing my footprint and personal brand with the public and media and help me greatly when trying to network and work collectively with other chasers in the field, and youtube has added an extra line of revenue for me.
Until just recently, when how one made ad revenue changed for live streams, Facebook and Twitter would give me added bumps to my live stream as well and help me maximize profits from to. So with all that said I sadly cannot leave social media and have to also keep my image on there spotless.
Also I snapchat because I am a narcissist and like taking selfie and sharing them with friends.
Just gotta post in our narcissism thread.
but they're listening to every word I say
That's kind of frustrating.
I never use Facebook unless it's to see cute pictures of my nephews/cousins
Never even tried to tweet
I been tindering recently with p solid results
I don't follow "non-awesome" people
but those people, inbetween being awesome, sometimes write and retweet things that suck the energy out of me
it's like there's no breathing room
information just gets blasted at you whether you want it or not and you can't tune out
Subsequently, I became a bit more active on here (though it's dropped off noticeably), then got on twitter and added some of your from here on to my FB and twitter feeds.
While I don't like FB or twitter, if I didn't have them, I would have shockingly low interaction with anyone whose name wasn't Netflix.