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Comment by charltonraven | Hacker News Reader

Its strange for me. Some years ago, I only thought that the younger kids/adults was had the "separation anxiety" when it came to social media, but I have a 40 year old sister in law that is purely obsessed and it is crazy. I'm a big tech person but I know how to put my phone down. Heck most of the time I don't even have it on me.

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My partner was for a bit. She deleted Instagram and started reading books again. This was surprisingly difficult to pick up again after a year of Instagram apparently. It does form very bad habits.

Understand that social media endorphin-inducing algorithm optimizers, have made these sites optimized for _all_ ages, so it should not be a surprise. Very few of us are immune.

Agreed.I am a victim of doom scrolling

The biggest culprits are the senior citizens. They are the most addicted to social media.

My MIL in her 70s has been staying with us for the past month or so and her phone habits are bonkers. I rarely use my phone at home, have young kids that are small-screen free; so we tend to engage in conversations and activities during family time, or even just watch big-screens movies/TV as a family. The MIL is glued to the phone/tablet and constantly wants to talk to everyone about it like it’s a shared experience. “Who’s this lady in the photo with Janet?” Like we know or care, maybe ask Janet or just scroll on. Anyways I don’t criticize her directly but my wife has even become annoyed by it and I’ve asked her to have a etiquette conversation with her or give her feedback some way because I can’t stand it for another month lol.

Yup, my parents (mainly dad) are the same, reading social media, putting the speakers on, falling for all of the AI generated stuff, rage bait, etc, and broadcasting it to the world because idk, they still seek engagement and interaction I suppose.

But at least it's only part of their day.

Anecdata here but my 60-something year old mother acts like a sullen teenager around my kids/her grandchildren. She just scrolls endlessly on her phone until my father/her husband calls her out on it.

It's maddening and sad.

I agree, and I think it’s due to the decline of executive cognition and the behavioral training of the TV generation. They believe the news, and grew up in a time when trust was aplenty.

Similar experiences. Many people are surprised when I do have the phone wiht me in person during walks, at meetings, etc. In the sea of digitals, I find peace in writing with pen/paper.

I have noticed the same.

Silencing all notifications and checking it on a timer is a big step.

Yes! My phone is alway on silent and it kills when I look at my phone 5 hours later and have missed calls, but WELP lol

There aren't many things that can't wait an hour.

By notifications I mean the ones that aren't phone calls.

You know, the social media updates, the emails, the instant messaging that thinks it's more important than whatever you're doing.

Notification silencing can be selective and blissful.

Interruptions can be the enemy of productivity that everyone is chasing.

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