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Comment by andy_ppp | Hacker News Reader

Can we switch social media off for 8 hours per day, 9-5pm maybe. I think it would make everyone happier and I bet nobody would miss it.

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That's a great idea. Utah thinks so too. Well, at least between 10:30 PM to 6:30 AM

https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title13/Chapter63/13-63-S105.html?...

It’s only for minors. I think that’s an important note.

Would this be the same 8 hours for everyone worldwide, would it be by the user's timezone, or would we get to choose our own 8 hours?

This question was brought to you by memories of not being able to set the timezone of my tamagotchi and it subsequently dying because it was awake when I was asleep.

Plenty of people use it responsibly. Why should they be punished just because some people can't seem to control their behavior?

That’s good because a quick poll where I am everyone says they would like to reduce social media usage!

A good character building experience then, for free - try all of ya putting down phone for an hour a day. Next time even 2. Everybody knows the trivial steps leading to it, but will bullshit around it for 2 hours just to avoid it. Brave ones block the app. But real hardcore mode is simply uninstalling given app.

The day I removed all FB apps (FB, messenger) was the happiest phone-owning day for me since getting it for the first time.

I think we should encourage healthier social media practices. Forcing people feels more like a band-aid rather than a proper fix.

I don't think the problem is social media, I think the problem is people honestly.

I just don't want legislation telling competent people what to do here. I want the legislation to be more analogous to child protective services.

I feel that a guardian should have a choice up until they are negligent or inhibiting (however a society deems it - specifically left as this definition).

If said guardian is able to raise a kid in a healthy environment, with a healthy relationship to technology, then I do not want to step on their toes.

I think we need to 'reverse Chesterton's fence'(?) our liberty here, let's not lose our freedom and build a restrictive fence or Berlin wall. I know many people disagree with me, but the fact that there isn't consensus here means we should tread carefully lest break some cotton mills.

I would miss it. I would also make it a matter of principle to refuse if someone tried to force a shutdown on us - I've got my Mastodon and Lemmy instances, and if we were to have to go underground, we'd go underground.

I am actually not convinced the people chatting on Mastodon or Discord are addicted in the same way as YouTube and Twitter.

How about this instead, no algorithmic feeds for any 8 hours of the day you choose, so if you want a more peaceful evening you select 7pm-3am and your feed is just people you follow ordered by when they first posted.

No thanks. No way. I'm working on adding algorithmic feeds to my Mastodon instance because it's the biggest issue I have with Mastodon. It's also making me spend more time because I have to scroll through a bunch of stuff I have no interest in to see the stuff I want to see.

Put another way: To me, your statement boils down to telling me I should be less social. These kinds of places are the social contact I grew up with - starting with BBS's in the early 90's onwards - and where I've met and keep in touch with most of the people I know.

I have no problem accepting some people have problems controlling their social media use, but at the same time to me talking about limiting or shutting it down is about as authoritarian and restrictive as enforcing curfew. In fact, more so - it'd affect me more negatively than being forcibly locked in my own house 8 hours a day.

I remember when stores used to be closed on Sundays.

We can close social media on Sundays and reopen monday morning aha

Sunday shopping ban was part of my culture shock moving to Berlin.

The calmness of the city outweighs the mild and easily planned-around inconvenience.

Not everybody needs to live in big cities, the calm you like so much can be obtained outside instantly, any day, every day.

Plus sometimes when actually having a life maybe other days are fully taken doing something important, so its nice to have it as an option. The societies that have Sunday shopping that I ever visited didn't experience any kind of shopping frenzy during it, everything is scaled down, some shops are opened shortly, some are not at all (or some close on Monday instead).

That is all said as an European who knows very well what you mean, from various angles

The flip side is retail workers get worked to death.

Around here the only day retail is closed is Dec 25, every other day is open.

I have not worked in retail for so long, maybe they prefer the opportunity to make more money I don't know.

It would not really change anything for me.

It would be nice to be rich enough to afford a weekend/sunday house in the countryside at the same time as a house or apartment in the city the other 5/6 days a week.

Most people can't afford that.

>9-5pm maybe

i feel like that would just be convenient for work and nobody else.

I'm not saying the proposal is finalised or even marginally thought through. But neither is everyone being horrifyingly distracted by social media.

LeechBlock on Firefox has timed blocks. It works on Android and desktop.

Delete the apps, use the websites.

Nah bro. What about, for example, people who happen to be busy during all but the hours you select for the shutdown. Since it’s forced, they effectively just don’t get to use it at all. In my opinion though, social media can be used in a productive way in moderation, like how a lot of people use it to keep up with the news or stay in touch with family.

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