It has been long time since social media cared about showing us things that we wanted to see.
There have been several shootings that have had massive social media impact, you may have avoided them (and you did the right thing) but a huge amount of people experienced witnessing their first shooting death and maybe 2nd, 3rd and 4th this year. That’s a lot of cumulative psychological stress being inflicted on society and it isn’t like we’re living in a world that is otherwise a calming paradise…
Social media is inflicting real harms and the people in control don’t seem very motivated to try to control them. Or, they did try in tests and determined that Engagement was more profitable and they’re shielded from the externalities so who cares really?
The same thing happens, to a much lesser extent, when you read emotionally charged headlines. Having your mental health being constantly bombarded with outrage, anger, fear, etc may be good for social media companies and their Engagement metrics, but it’s very bad for each individual (and also society).
1000% Even on Lemmy, my default view is my subscribed communities and none of them are political so, outside of Linux v Windows drama and associated memes I don’t have to see much outrage (not counting Mint users, smh)
The best tip I’ve found is to delete the apps and force yourself to use the web interface (and turn on private mode in your browser so it clears your cookies ever time so you have to type your username and password each time).
Adding that little bit of friction is enough to overcome the random compulsions to check social media. Not that typing in your username and password is hard, but it is annoying enough that you’ll avoid it usually.
People watch hours of traumatic content all day voluntarily.
How many people have you seen being killed this year? Probably more than most people ever see in their entire lives (before computers).
That trauma adds up for everyone
“None” is not a huge number. Why would i want to watch someone die?
It has been long time since social media cared about showing us things that we wanted to see.
There have been several shootings that have had massive social media impact, you may have avoided them (and you did the right thing) but a huge amount of people experienced witnessing their first shooting death and maybe 2nd, 3rd and 4th this year. That’s a lot of cumulative psychological stress being inflicted on society and it isn’t like we’re living in a world that is otherwise a calming paradise…
Social media is inflicting real harms and the people in control don’t seem very motivated to try to control them. Or, they did try in tests and determined that Engagement was more profitable and they’re shielded from the externalities so who cares really?
I now avoid all videos showing deaths or serious injuries (if I know that kind of content is coming).
Feels better to not have those images in my mind.
The same thing happens, to a much lesser extent, when you read emotionally charged headlines. Having your mental health being constantly bombarded with outrage, anger, fear, etc may be good for social media companies and their Engagement metrics, but it’s very bad for each individual (and also society).
It’s astonishing how much better your mental health is if you stay off social media even for a few days.
1000% Even on Lemmy, my default view is my subscribed communities and none of them are political so, outside of Linux v Windows drama and associated memes I don’t have to see much outrage (not counting Mint users, smh)
The best tip I’ve found is to delete the apps and force yourself to use the web interface (and turn on private mode in your browser so it clears your cookies ever time so you have to type your username and password each time).
Adding that little bit of friction is enough to overcome the random compulsions to check social media. Not that typing in your username and password is hard, but it is annoying enough that you’ll avoid it usually.
Give me the names of some of those sweet communities, kind stranger.
Please?
Give these a shot:
https://lemmy.world/c/dull_mens_club
https://lemmy.world/c/linux@lemmy.ml
https://lemmy.world/c/linux@programming.dev
https://lemmy.world/c/linux_gaming
https://lemmy.world/c/privacy@lemmy.ml
https://lemmy.world/c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
https://lemmy.world/c/privacy@lemmy.ca
https://lemmy.world/c/technology
https://lemmy.world/c/tenforward
https://lemmy.world/c/linuxmemes
https://lemmy.world/c/memes
Thank you!
You’re welcome :)
Ignorance is indeed bliss.