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0 pointspelagicAustral4y ago0 comments

Sure thing. Except that its not just on HN, its on regular media, blogs, colleagues, etc.

I used to believe that rhetoric like 'permeates the fabric of society' was so cheesy used when used to refer to the outward damage generated by social media, and yet here we are today when even when not being a part of it you are made to be a part of it.

You even see it everywhere, ads, media, recruitment agencies asking you for social profiles, etc... I dont know a single person [IRL] that does not have a Facebook account, not a single one. And everybody acts like they actually depend on them... How sad is that?

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4 comments · 2 top-level

zenmaster106654y ago· 2 in thread

Is it social media as a technology that you feel is sad/negative? What is the negative or damage that you feel is caused to people who participate?

pelagicAustralOP4y ago

Not social media, I've been around for the last 20 years on all kinds of scenes. I created my Facebook account on 2006 and closed it in 2014.

I used to enjoy web forums a lot, back in the PHP dominated era (MyBB, PHPBB, SMF, vBulletin, Invision, etc). I was an active part of that culture... Had Fotolog, MySpace, DeviantArt, and the like for ages... Grew up as social media evolved and enjoyed Facebook as much as the next guy at a time... I even evangelized for it when other social networks were leading... matter of fact, I reported a XSS vulnerability to them back in 2006, never got thanked for it...

But it changed... It became dark, negative... I felt worse after logging in, and became antagonized by it... So I figured it was me, and maybe I was just too old for it, just like that old pub I used to go, 'its all kids these days'... So I quit... And now more people are realizing the same... Maybe its an age thing... A lot of people go with 'but that's the way I reach my loved ones', bullshit... I live half way across the world and got no problem reaching my fam through Telegram or whatever...

I grew out of Facebook, I guess...

0des4y ago

You are not alone, I followed almost this same path to leaving around the same time. Have a good weekend!

0des4y ago

That's pretty sad. I'm sorry it affects you this way. I dont know if it is any consolation, but I can say that not having a phone, as well as not having social networks (in my case I'm on HN) helped immensely by weeding these people out of my life.

I'd like to reference a past comment I made on this issue: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28314603

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