I thi k one if the damaging things about social media sites like Instagram, Facebook etc is that everyone displays their best life on it. You visit these sites and see these photo that make you feel bad because you ask "Why is my life not exciting? Why don't I have those things?"
Hackernews and other forums don't really hit that nerve with me. Yes, it's easy to just keep scrolling and reading more but at least I don't feel like shit afterwards. It's addictive but only but for me in that I waste time on it when I could be doing other stuff. It doesn't make me depressed though.