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Facebook Social Networks

Is Facebook Bad for You? It Is for About 360 Million Users, Company Surveys Suggest (wsj.com) 41

Facebook researchers have found that 1 in 8 of its users report engaging in compulsive use of social media that impacts their sleep, work, parenting or relationships, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. From the report: These patterns of what the company calls problematic use mirror what is popularly known as internet addiction. They were perceived by users to be worse on Facebook than any other major social-media platform, which all seek to keep users coming back, the documents show. A Facebook team focused on user well-being suggested a range of fixes, and the company implemented some, building in optional features to encourage breaks from social media and to dial back the notifications that can serve as a lure to bring people back to the platform. Facebook shut down the team in late 2019. A company spokeswoman said Facebook in recent months has begun formulating a new effort to address what it calls problematic use alongside other well-being concerns, such as body image and mental health. The company has been public about its desire to address these problems, said Dani Lever, the spokeswoman, in a statement. Some people have struggles with other technologies, including television and smartphones, she said.
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Is Facebook Bad for You? It Is for About 360 Million Users, Company Surveys Suggest

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  • Yes (Score:3, Informative)

    by UnknownSoldier ( 67820 ) on Friday November 05, 2021 @12:43PM (#61960489)

    Is Facebook bad for you?

    No shit, Sherlock. [thesocialdilemma.com]

    The CEO calling its users [esquire.com] "Dumb Fucks" wasn't your first clue?

    If a company isn't selling you something then you are the product.

    • by Merk42 ( 1906718 )

      If a company isn't selling you something then you are the product.

      I got all this FOSS for free, I guess I'm the product!

      • You paid for the FOSS with your time. Maybe you think your time is worthless? But I suspect you're confused about the various senses of the words "free" and "freedom".

        Now if FOSS was smart enough to make you into a product, then maybe it would have been a sustainable economic model. Like Facebook's?

        So what is the true "price" of Facebook?

        "The first hit is free! Try it! You'll LOVE it!"

        How many "heavy" Facebook users have you talked to? How do you define "normal" behavior?

        I tend to be overly influenced by wh

        • You paid for the FOSS with your time

          Actually, no. I'm finding that the sum total of Microsoft fuckups is costing me way more time than my free stuff, which tends to just work.

          • Also, the free stuff tends to work faster than Microsoft's bloated laggy junk.

            • by shanen ( 462549 )

              Excuse me for confusing you with facts and valid reasoning. Perhaps heresy, too? Plus I found your repetitiveness boring.

              How about if you politely ignore my comments in the future, and then I'll endeavor to politely ignore yours? Might be difficult since there's nothing notable or memorable there. Another shrieking fool of some sort in an Internet too full of them. No one can even keep track of their identities. Yes, in the long run they will all vanish into oblivion, but that doesn't offset all of the othe

    • foss is the exception to that rule otherwise I agree To be fair... Mark Zuckerperv is correct about his users being dumb fucks though... and he is taking full advantage of that
  • The Only Fix. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Arzaboa ( 2804779 ) on Friday November 05, 2021 @12:45PM (#61960497)

    The only fix is disallow political advertising and remove "the algorithm."

    If Facebook would simply show you your friends and family, and nothing more, then they might have something. Until then, the highest bidder will control the minds of millions.
    --
    When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps. - Confucius

    • The problem isn't political advertising, is the content which they call political speech.

      The brand of shoes someone wears, their favorite fast food sandwich, the MPG of the car/truck they drive, If a business decides to stay out of a political charged issue they will get hate for caving in, if they decide to speak out for a politically charged issues then they will get hate for being political where they should just focus on business.

      There is an effort to push people to become Hyper Masculine anti intellect

    • Re:The Only Fix. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Friday November 05, 2021 @01:17PM (#61960659)
      Some people's problems are with politics, others aren't. Did you see the recent stories on teenage girls' problems related to Instagram and Facebook? Their problems ARE their friends. These are media for communications. People bring their problems to the platforms, and the platforms, being highly efficient at engagement, magnify them.
    • The only fix is to abandon Facebook.

      • Facebook is a locus of MANY problems and there are many fixes. Even for the heavy addicts, I doubt that any of them take Facebook as their "only fix".

        I think it's better to think in terms of solution approaches and prioritization of problems. In the case of Facebook, I'm usually able to rank the size as the #1 problem, so solution approaches that reduce the size would be best. The simpleminded regulatory approaches seem unlikely to succeed because the gamesters will just figure out new ways to cheat, so I'd

  • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Friday November 05, 2021 @12:45PM (#61960501)

    And I have to correct all of them.

    How else are they going to find the error of their ways, unless some guy they don't know tells them that they are wrong, and they are being an idiot.

    • I used to think like that, and it made me depressed and anxious, knowing that there are so many stupid people and I can't rectify this.

      Then I learned how to use the idiots to dupe them into doing what benefits me and that greatly improved my mental health. Ok, it's detrimental to theirs, but no longer caring sure fixed that good.

      • I guess you have a business in Dallas that you recently got some people to stop buy your store, to shop. Well played.

    • by aitikin ( 909209 )

      And I have to correct all of them.

      How else are they going to find the error of their ways, unless some guy they don't know tells them that they are wrong, and they are being an idiot.

      You used the wrong "there" in the subject.

      • I know. I expect you know I intentionally did that, because you are wrong as well as it supposed to be "they're" or "they are", but it kinda proves the point when trying to correct everyone who is wrong, it doesn't make you right.

        • I know. I expect you know I intentionally did that, because you are wrong as well as it supposed to be "they're" or "they are", but it kinda proves the point when trying to correct everyone who is wrong, it doesn't make you right.

          So you're saying the subject/title should have been "they're are people who..."? wtf?

        • by aitikin ( 909209 )

          Grammatically, "But there are people..." makes perfect sense. The implication that you're making is either that it was supposed to read, "But they're are people..." which is bafflingly incorrect, so I'm guessing that you're trying to say your intent was to say, "But they're people..." which was not clear at all...

          And yes, I was trying to prove your point for you.

    • Why pick on them? :(

  • I mean... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by segwonk ( 1064462 ) <jeffmwinn at gmail> on Friday November 05, 2021 @12:46PM (#61960507) Homepage

    I'm no fan of Facebook, but couldn't this be said of just about any social media? Instagram, Twitter, even Slashdot?

    • there should be a mandatory warning label and a picture of someone with brain worms on the front page of each of these websites.

    • Facebook has more lax rules, in which bullying and misinformation can happen more often and be allowed.

      Slashdot, we are mostly anonymous, in which some guy starts getting hard on an other account, is just still virtual, and not something we really fear too much.

      Facebook, was created with the idea of you invite people that you know to see and interact with your account, this reduces a level of your safety, and emotional health, as people know who they are insulting or who is insulting them.

    • Slashdot is more anti-social media.

      But yes, Twitter/Insta/Snap etc. are all problems.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Can you set it up to look at info from your personal contacts (and not general acquaintances), and then only original messages that they post directly (not retweet or whatever), and then set it up to just get a digest of everything at the end of the day/week? Also, can you put people in different categories, so friends/family/coworkers/acquaintances can show up on different pages? Or is it all in one giant pile, like email?

    Seems like that would be more an extension of personal communications, which coul

  • -removing access to FB from my computers, home and work (see below) -i keep it on my phone, but the icon is not on the first page, so i don't think about it so often -so once in a while only I think about it and check it out, mostly to see what my family is up to (they live in other countries) on windows pc, to block a site, follow these instructions: https://gadgets.ndtv.com/inter... [ndtv.com]
    • I replaced my phones Facebook icon on the home page with Angry Birds 2, and buried Facebook deep in my folders. My Facebook feed isn't nearly as bad as others are, because when I do logon. I actively block overt misinformation, regardless of if I agree with the general statement or not.

  • If you have to ask, you have not been paying attention....
  • It's manipulative, you say. Society is manipulative.

    It's ugly, you say. Reality is ugly.

    We got the social network we deserve.

A right is not what someone gives you; it's what no one can take from you. -- Ramsey Clark

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