I'm a little confused as to why anyone is still using it, why people are still defending it, why we're all still talking about it and why I'm getting more (not less) random texts from friends / colleagues pressuring me to get back on to big social platforms.
What are the motivations for people to be daily activate users these days? Honestly just curious.
Why do you go on HN? That may be the beginning of a response since HN is a social platform.
People tend to view every other social media platform negatively except for the one they personally use, and they're prepared to staunchly defend their choice no matter what.
Are we saying that all social media platforms are the same? Are there teams working on the hacker news platform trying to tweak the algorithms to drive addictive user engagement? Is the sorting algorithm not a matter of public record?
Correction to my original comment, I am asking about Instagram / Facebook / Twitter.
I know why I (maybe we) go on HN and its because Im bored and weak and Ive never felt manipulated by it or addicted to it or wanted to be on it for more than 15 minutes.
I have chores I should be doing.
I find Instagram pretty valuable, and I've tried to create a habit of going on it every day or two for 15-20 minutes (I have to exert effort to do this). I have close friends now scattered around the world, and one of the best ways (per unit of time) for me to keep up with everyone is to check out their posts/stories, send some kind of DM commenting on their activities, and post a story of my own. Then when we do end up talking on the phone I feel like I know what they've been up to.
Really? I actually encounter such individuals quite frequently, even if it's more subtly expressed through statements like, "Hey, did you catch that discussion on HN about X? You should check it out!"
> Are we implying that all social media platforms are indistinguishable?
In the sense that they all harbor pseudonymous individuals often baiting one another and getting embroiled in futile online conflicts aimed solely at boosting egos (even our current exchange is not exempt from this and I am guilty of it)?
Yes, I believe that's a valid assessment of virtually every social media platform.
Nobody is saying that.
> Are there teams working on the hacker news platform trying to tweak the algorithms to drive addictive user engagement?
Driving addictive user engagement has little to do with being a social media platform, see Netflix for example.
> Is the sorting algorithm not a matter of public record?
Again, that’s irrelevant. Twitter is more open-source than HN.
a fair amount of the customers would have to go to rehab to successfully leave.
that isn’t judgement. just facts.
On a side note, HN is the place person matters more than anywhere I can think of except for YouTube. Is it possible you feel like that because it's closer to your person/ingroup?
Hacker News isn't an exception in the realm of social media platforms subject to such considerations. It appears that a significant number within this community possess a certain blind spot, often exerting substantial effort to delineate why their favored social media stands apart in some manner from the rest.
They are not virtual substitute, they are actual debates but through a medium different than voice. Of course, the experience is different, but that doesn’t make it "virtual", just like going to the cinema is not a "virtual substitute" to live theater.
- No infinite scroll
- No algorithmic content recommendations (ex: if you like X, you'll like Y)
- Highly targeted and moderated content
- The user is not the product (this is maybe the most important and has far reaching consequences)
This is a good example for this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37210298
> People tend to view every other social media platform negatively except for the one they personally use, and they're prepared to staunchly defend their choice no matter what.
Besides, nowadays pretty much any random content website (including newspapers) have infinite scroll, algorithmic content recommendation (btw, content recommendation is algorithmic by definition), untargeted content and ads (= the user is the product) while not always being a social media platform.
It does use "popularity" and it's gamed - maybe not algorithmic content, but it's still promoting content.
It uses Social media game to upvote/downvote comments, etc. which impacts people's behaviors and group think.
There's such a wide variety of articles on here, and a pretty wide variety of people, too. I'm always suprised by how many non-programmer types are really around here.
The user's not the product? We'll there is targeting of Job ads and such on here for Y-Combinator companies. Probably other things that you just don't know about.
It's just a niche social media company that you happen to really align with. But so are certain Reddits for people, etc.
The one thing it doesn't have here is the distractions with other links (I'm
Then we can discuss which attributes are good or bad and which attributes interact with some kind of synergy or opposition.
On a more superficial level, it often creates a culture of comparison, where people judge themselves in relation to the lifestyles they see others apparently living. I use the word "apparently" because most of those lifestyles are complete fiction. None the less, that comparison can convince a person that they're "losing at life", which can lead to depression and all of the problems that come with it.
Why are people using it? To satisfy the innate human need for social connection.
You're confused because you're attempting to take an entire technology and then view it through a binary lens of "good" or "bad." This is impractical and not at all useful.
I'm sorry your use of social media is filled with such negativity. Other people are using to connect over their hobbies, to collaborate and to do work together, to do research, to put together broadcasts, to have this very conversation we're having right now.
Social media is exactly like all other human activities. It's a reflection of the sum total of humanity. It has both good and bad aspects to it. It is a part of us because we built it.
Social media can also be used for good reasons like you described, and that's how I use it too. I still think it's a net negative on society, though. It's just too good at taking away human interaction and doesn't provide enough in return, the way most people are using it.
It's useful so you stay connected with friends who don't necessarily live next to you. That's the motivation for at least monthly active, maybe daily if you've got a lot going on.
Also, when I was in college (2014-2018), Facebook was extra useful because it was the default way of inviting many people to an event, and there were also really active pages like "free and for sale." It was also a directory for classmates/housemates to contact you if they didn't already have your number, which was an occasional bacon-saver. Nowadays FB Messenger is still ubiquitous enough that at least you can invite ~20 people via a group chat without having to deal with SMS (cause one guy will always have Android).
Of course, you could easily use it to kill time scrolling through random stuff from strangers and possibly go overboard to the point of it being mentally impactful, same how daily video game addiction is different from playing an hour per week. I'm also not going to ignore how social media is more addictive than a lot of other things.
By contrast, I have a Twitter account, but I only log in once every few weeks to check for messages.
I think there is a meaningful distinction between corporate social media and volunteer-run platforms like the Fediverse.
The sincere belief that real town squares don't matter and that the real ones are only online now. This is brought on by propaganda in the media that Twitter, etc is where things 'happen' now and real life should be shunned at every instance.
'If it's not online, it doesn't exist' mentality.
We’ve all been dropped into the most well-funded and technologically sophisticated casino of all time, built and maintained by armies of engineers and ML models that continuously optimize a ~infinite number of useless but highly varied casino games that are then made accessible to you 24/7 via a device in your pocket.
Also all your friends are in the casino and even the ones who hate it are actually having a pretty good time. They are more than happy to send you links/offer you a seat at their particular game of choice (such as these comments on HN).
Normal people have way too many everyday concerns to be (successfully) engaging in a 24/7 battle-for-attention against the most advanced attention-grabbing systems ever created.
It’s so ludicrously asymmetric it seems unfair to even ascribe “motivation” to users, but the motivation for the casino designers is pretty obvious.
I waste far more time on Hacker News, which has a similar dubious added value...
I like to keep up with my friends and see what they're up to, and we trade text messages through our Stories, etc. It's something I can do during a couple poop breaks in the day, so I don't really think of it as being "bad" for me. Maybe I'm the only one using it who isn't addicted?
All the people in front of me, who were there with friends.. kept pulling out their phones. Tiktok, instagram.
Not to grab photos (which is at least interacting with the event sorta) but just.. scrolling.
Not talking to their friends, not enjoying the show, just.. social media.
It seems to be that the social media usage is some sort of crutch. Like meth or alcohol abuse, it's a bad solution to a problem.
Which other solution do you think of for someone who’s bored at an event, can’t go out, and doesn’t have anything more in their pocket than their phone? I don’t know what was the exact situation, but I would be wary about writing conclusions based on something I saw and don’t understand.
Obviously I didn't interview a stranger during a live show, but I suspect if I had asked them they would not have realized they had done it.
I see this behavior at bars and such too. Maybe next time I will just be rude for a bit and ask someone about it (though I would be surprised to get much of a real answer).
Also, people just hate, HATE being bored. It has got to a point where boredom makes people anxious and upset.
Coca Cola is also bad for you but most people will still drink one at a picnic.
If you drink coke everyday, that’s probably bad for you, but swearing off coke (or the govt banning coke) would be wtf on the other end of the spectrum.
Treat social media like coca cola
But I completely agree, I'd prefer delete all my accounts.
I keep using Hacker News, and follow several people on Mastodon or Twitter in read-only mode (don't have an account) to keep up on the news about web development.