Good observation, just saw this recently.
From a marketers standpoint its an easy sell. We increased users CTR and time on site, wahoo! From a business standpoint, there is a slow churn and dissatisfaction which erodes the value created until the user has a negative viewpoint and distrust of the service.
I use Facebook pretty much exclusively as a way to discover and congratulate people on major life events (birthdays, weddings, babies, etc.). I use it maybe once a week, but I actually really do appreciate being notified about e.g. someone's birthday - it's a gentle reminder to catch up with that person.
The first time I got one of those generic "Jane commented on her status" notifications, I assumed something major had happened: Someone had passed away, had a major life change, etc. Of course, it wasn't that - it was something much more trivial.
The birthday notifications/etc. are useful enough that I keep the app on my phone, but the incredibly vague "so-and-so updated their status" notifications are pushing me towards finding alternatives.
Just put their birthday in a calendar app. You'll be reminded every year, and you won't have to rely on Facebook. Best part is, their birthday doesn't change, so you only have to do it once!
For me my mobile data bundle (10G) could last me for an entire month with all of my regular networking needs as long as I don't watch YT or Netflix. But since I do I also need a separate home connection.
If the cold turkey route would be better for your use case, you can try the blocking techniques from this article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15309393
HN is the vaping to the cigarette smoking that is burning time on Reddit, for me anyway. "It's still got a lot of smart people posting thought-provoking content, and content relevant to my career, it's ok to spend time here", I console myself with.
Unfortunately I'm doing the equivalent of taking a drag from a cigarette followed by a puff of a vape now, having had a severe relapse on Reddit usage, despite internally despising the site and most of everything on it.
The other big lifestyle change was trying to change how I engage in internet comments. I had a knee-jerk failure today but mostly I'm trying to be less breathless and cynical when I post online. Keeps me from spending all day rage-returning to some stupid flamewar that I either started or perpetuated.
When I find the urge to reply to some idiotic notion on the internet, I always think back to that XKCD comic (https://www.xkcd.com/386/) and tell my self I don't want to be that guy.
Now if I want to check Fb I'm only on it for a few minutes due to 1) Using mbasic.facebook.com and 2) Only checking the 'notifications' tab. There's very little else getting through to the News Feed anyway.
This. This whole "News Feed" idea, that the author touches on IG starting too, is just garbage. I want to see the most recent events first and scroll from there. You're not providing me any service by showing me random crap in any random order. All you're doing is giving yourself the ability to tailor what I see even more. Totally made Facebook worthless to me.
I used to scroll through it endlessly and since they started doing that shit I don't even bother anymore. I check notifications and close it, if I do anything.
Do you consider time spent on twitter to be catching up on news, and thinking about the world, or a waste of time?
How about hacker news?
Most of the news I read here is unimportant, or doesn't affect me. Oh look, a framework. Oh wow, a company got funding.
Occasionally there's a neat article about our industry which makes me stop and think. And then I go into the comment section to have a healthy debate about it. But who am I kidding? I don't know anyone here. And nothing I say will likely change any minds. And vice versa.
At the end of the day, HN is mindless entertainment. Some days I'm restless and I can't just do nothing. But I need a break from work. So I spend 5 minutes on HN and go back to what I'm doing. Unless it's nice outside. Then I take a walk.
Because what is a "waste"? Is spending time reading a good book a "waste"?
No notifications from anything but iMessage, phone calls and WhatsApp. Do Not Disturb on continually to filter anyone that is not in my contact list. Fb/Twitter/Reddit/etc. apps removed. Time in calendar set once per week to check updates on FB, Instagram & Twitter, timeboxed to an hour.
This has made daily life a lot more pleasant, I feel. However, behaviour on my desktop/laptop remains pretty unproductive once the workday is done. Still burning time every day glued to Reddit, particularly browsing the comments.
What is it with comment sections that have that particular draw? I don't even post on Reddit, but when it comes to the comments on the content there's a somewhat inert desire to not look away, and I know I'm not alone in that.
Second easiest way to spend it; good call.
I’ve also disabled all notifications. Now every app is agressively telling me agressively to switch them back on. It’s insane (looking at you Messenger).
