Comment by earthscienceman | Hacker News Reader

Comment by earthscienceman | Hacker News Reader

earthscienceman

I'll make a comment that tries to be different than the range of criticism here already. Instagram is toxic for everyone.

For reasons too personal to put here, I've been pretty depressed and dysfunctional lately and I've unintentionally discovered the experience of doomscrolling. The output of the instagram algorithm is absolutely terrifying. It has the perfect metrics (swipe time, profile browsing, etc etc) to prey on every impulse inside of you and to send you the perfect cocktail of content to feed those impulses. Fear, doubts, wants, etc. etc. are all inputs to the algorithm and the output is content that makes you feel those things more.

I have to wonder if this type of media is similar to magazines on steroids, or other pulp media of the bygone era. No one here makes this comparison so maybe I'm off base but I do often if I'm scrolling through the worst possible version of a home produced checkout-aisle magazine.

EDIT:

I appreciate the comments that make this personal and are trying to help, but my instagram problem will be fixed when I manage to fix my real life problems... a much bigger task. My point is to highlight that the algorithm can suck anyone in, not just teen girls. They just happen to be the most vulnerable.

I echo others here and encourage you to just delete your account and get off it. I did so with Facebook many years ago after getting sucked in to so many arguments and so much angst, and now, when I log in every year or so to check if an old friend has messaged me, I get physically sick within minutes seeing the garbage posts that get pushed by the algo.

Do it. You're not missing out on anything but happiness.

> Instagram is toxic for everyone.

> For reasons too personal to put here, I've been pretty depressed and dysfunctional lately and I've unintentionally discovered the experience of doomscrolling.

I never check the Instagram discover tab and I don’t feel like I’m missing anything. For me, Instagram has been a good tool for keeping in touch with friends as we all move around the country. If someone starts posting memes or content I don’t want to see, I use the Instagram mute function on their stories or posts. I can catch up on everything I want to see on Instagram in about 5-10 minutes per day and then I’m done.

Obviously, not everyone has the same experience with Instagram that I do. But by the same token, not everyone has the same experience with Instagram that you do.

If someone is unable to control their compulsion to “doom scroll” and setting limits on app usage isn’t working, I think deleting the app or the account is a good solution.

I had some friends go through similar problems with Netflix: They insisted Netflix was evil because they couldn’t control their usage and were staying up until 2AM every night watching shows. Meanwhile, they couldn’t understand how I managed to watch one episode and be done.

Same story with alcohol: I can have one drink and be done or decline to drink at all. Yet I have friends who find themselves drinking to excess every time they’re around alcohol. Interestingly, the demonization of alcohol is almost taboo despite arguably causing more damage than products like social media. No one has ever died from social media withdrawal, but alcohol has massive negative effects on addicts.

> I have to wonder if this type of media is similar to magazines on steroids, or other pulp media of the bygone era

Definitely. Even if we could make Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter disappear tomorrow, the people who struggle to control their compulsions would quickly find the next thing to fill their time. The only sustainable solution I see is more education about responsible consumption and taking accountability for time management. Not an easy thing to do, but it’s the only lasting solution I can see.

I mean it helps you auto curate content, but you can tell it what you do or don't want too.

I was getting hella bikini girls for a while but a few "not interested" and they are all gone. Now my feed is just people I know and my explore page is entirely almost woodworking content with a little bit of car stuff or travel stuff.

I think of it like reddit. The front page or all of reddit is absolute hot garbage that seems intentionally made to be divisive politically at this point (even on non political subreddits), but I also have a curated part of reddit with my woodworking and programming and video game hobbies i can browse happily.

Sure. I know this, and it's true. But by analogy, this is like saying "heroin is only addictive in small doses if you choose to take less". Is it good advice? Absolutely. Will everyone follow it? Nope. Should we despise heroin addicts? No. We should create a better system.

Instagram basically wouldn't allow you see anything if you don't login. All you need to do is delete your Instagram account, then you are out.

I never have an Instagram account, and never see the need to create one.

I had a Facebook account, but I deleted it years ago. Problem solved.

Unfortunately, this shit is addictive and implying that the solution is _just_ for people to delete their account is effectively blaming the victim.

Some people never start smoking and never have a nicotine addiction problem. Some people smoke a few times or even occasionally but don't pick up a habit. Some people get addicted but manage to quit easily, some manage to quit after many attempts. Some can't quit ever, but we don't tell them that they just need to try harder or they shouldn't have started smoking in the first place.

Try quitting smoking or drinking in a place where it's socially expected to do one of these, and you'll be quite close to how difficult it's for someone to quit social media in a society where using social media is the social norm.

> for people to delete their account is effectively blaming the victim.

I think it's fair to describe social media as addicting, but it's not the same thing as a chemical addiction where one can experience physical dependency and withdrawals. "Just quit" really is a valid solution, the reality is that most people just prefer to complain about social media rather than accept that they are responsible for how they spend their time.

That might be a solution to you as an (i suspect) rational adult. But the article is about teens, who might have a number of reasons why they wouldn't "just quit".. peer pressure and so on. That in turn "starts" the addiction or problem. When they do become rational adults they are so immersed in and interconnected on that platform that losing it would still be a very difficult decision.

I've developed a healthier way to use IG for myself. I follow only a small number of artists in the particular fields of art in which I'm interested and I keep my accounts private. As a result, I'm limited in what's available for scrolling and the 10 or so people who like and comment on my art I know are actually interested and very likely not bots.

When I signed up for Instagram, I was quite careful to follow and like a bunch of accounts that feature Corgis. Now I get all sorts of dog recommendations on my Instagram and love it.

Disclaimer: I work for Facebook.

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