Completely quitting social media gets lonely.

[Scepticalscribe]

It also has one very useful feature that spoken/live communication doesn't: the Backspace key.

Agree.

Can't count the number of times I spoke before thinking things thru, and wish I hadn't said that. Emails give me a chance to step back and make sure I hadn't said anything I'll wish I hadn't.

This works well as long as the email doesn't have a tight deadline by which it must be sent, but, yes, in general, I'm in agreement with you.

And I've learned that if its an email about something I'm angry about, to send it the next day, after sleeping on it.
😉

Excellent advice, to recommend sleeping on something - and re-reading it closely, the following morning, and revising and editing as necessary - before proceeding to press "send".

For what it is worth, when not tied to time by an immediate deadline, this is exactly what I do.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Yes, iMessage works well for communicating with family and friends. Most contractors I know in Fairbanks, Alaska use iPhones for communicating with their clients, and often use iMessage to give me a heads up when they are arriving to do work in my house, or the yard, driveways, and so on. But it seems that WhatsApp is more efficient than iMessage in relation to transmission speed and things like that (texting a photo, for example, is quite fast), regardless of cellphone type, and it can be used to make international calls. Maybe I don't know enough about iMessage?

About email: it use it quite often. It is an efficient way to communicate with family and friends, plus work settings at a professional or just business level. But I don't consider these mediums "social media."

I won’t use WhatsApp as it’s FB. No data shared with those guys thanks.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I won’t use WhatsApp as it’s FB. No data shared with those guys thanks.

Couldn't agree more.

Now, I'll grant that WhatsApp can be quite useful when I am working abroad (as it comes with a work phone - and is frequently used by colleagues); however, I never use it on my private phone.

 

[decafjava]

It also has one very useful feature that spoken/live communication doesn't: the Backspace key. Can't count the number of times I spoke before thinking things thru, and wish I hadn't said that. Emails give me a chance to step back and make sure I hadn't said anything I'll wish I hadn't.
And I've learned that if its an email about something I'm angry about, to send it the next day, after sleeping on it.
😉

I've got something to say about that - as well as social media in general as I just rashly reacted to what I thought was a bigoted post on FB. I should not care but the account where the post was made belongs to fellow I genuinely like. I want to write more but it is late and in almost exactly one week the fall cohort arrive.

 

[dumastudetto]

The problem with social media is it attracts a lot of brainwashed idiots shilling for billion dollar corporations as if they are major shareholders. All that #teampixel stuff makes me sick. There are Pixel fans who would happily allow Google to spy on them in the bathroom or bedroom if Sundai pitched it to them.

 

[ericwn]

The problem with social media is it attracts a lot of brainwashed idiots shilling for billion dollar corporations as if they are major shareholders. All that #teampixel stuff makes me sick. There are Pixel fans who would happily allow Google to spy on them in the bathroom or bedroom if Sundai pitched it to them.

Fanboys suck on every platform. There’s enough people in other areas already trying to paint the world in black and white, I don’t think artificial superlatives (“apple watch is a super computer” and the like found around here) add anything but hollow silliness.

 

[1rottenapple]

I don't necessarily think one has to completely quit social media; the problem is when it becomes addictive and is interfering negatively with your "real life". Though for many it is a lot like a drug: you can't just do a "little bit" of it. It's either "check your phone every 3 minutes and feel antsy when you haven't looked at TikTok in a while" or "cold turkey". Getting a like, getting views, it's a dopamine hit.

I'm a young person and at this point I'm only on Instagram and forums like MacRumors. I've pared it down to a small amount of online media and I do feel it has been better for my mental health than when I was on Reddit and Discord all day (I have completely quit both of those). So I'm not completely offline, but the online interaction I have, while there is less of it, is of higher quality.

More and more I think we're seeing people use online friendships as a substitute for in-person ones, and ask any kid what they want to be when they grow up and they'll say "YouTuber" or "influencer". It's taken over so many facets of our lives. I'm not saying online relationships can't be fulfilling, especially for an introverted person, but in my experience it often doesn't alleviate loneliness. We're more online than ever and loneliness is at an all-time high. Those two things are not unrelated.

Im finding myself on reddit too much. And realize it's social media trying to engage you with different subreddits. Damn. I thought I was good for not having FB or instagram.

 

[Shortpay]

Im finding myself on reddit too much. And realize it's social media trying to engage you with different subreddits. Damn. I thought I was good for not having FB or instagram.

reddit's a waste of time. many of the ideas that gets wide propagation will rot your brain.

 

[Isamilis]

Couldn't agree more.

Now, I'll grant that WhatsApp can be quite useful when I am working abroad (as it comes with a work phone - and is frequently used by colleagues); however, I never use it on my private phone.

I use WhatsApp as it is the most popular where I lived. But for my family, we use Telegram. Good things on Telegram is all past posted pictures can still be accessed from anywhere, so it become our family album as well.

 

[dumastudetto]

Fanboys suck on every platform. There’s enough people in other areas already trying to paint the world in black and white, I don’t think artificial superlatives (“apple watch is a super computer” and the like found around here) add anything but hollow silliness.

I know some people go a little overboard in their love of being part of this Apple family of products and experiences, but it's nothing like as bad as the Google fanboyism.

There is also some justification for the fanaticism on the Apple side of the fence, especially given all the incredible product innovation and laser-focus on best-in-class manufacturing. Apple has literally created almost all the popular product categories within technology today. And every product that is shipped to a customer is a source of pride within Apple.

 

[ericwn]

I know some people go a little overboard in their love of being part of this Apple family of products and experiences, but it's nothing like as bad as the Google fanboyism.

There is also some justification for the fanaticism on the Apple side of the fence, especially given all the incredible product innovation and laser-focus on best-in-class manufacturing. Apple has literally created almost all the popular product categories within technology today. And every product that is shipped to a customer is a source of pride within Apple.

Making my point exactly. Tribalism at its best is what these over the top generalisations are.

 

[decafjava]

Fanboys suck on every platform. There’s enough people in other areas already trying to paint the world in black and white, I don’t think artificial superlatives (“apple watch is a super computer” and the like found around here) add anything but hollow silliness.

Try politics as an alternative discussion to tech fanboyism.

How about toxic fandom - Star Wars "Rose sucked and so does the actress" - Attack on Titan "Yeagerists" - Vinland Saga "Season 2 Farming arc was boring and Thorfinn became a wimp".

 

[dumastudetto]

Try politics as an alternative discussion to tech fanboyism.

How about toxic fandom - Star Wars "Rose sucked and so does the actress" - Attack on Titan "Yeagerists" - Vinland Saga "Season 2 Farming arc was boring and Thorfinn became a wimp".

It's acceptable to be passionately enthusiastic about truly great things. Apple makes exceedingly great products.

Google fanatics are fawning over a company watching their every move offering hardware products with volume buttons that fall off, spontaneously crack, overheat, shut down, and have biometrics that are lousy and unreliable at best - on top of all the spying and phoning home to Google hundreds of times an hour.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Fanboys suck on every platform. There’s enough people in other areas already trying to paint the world in black and white, I don’t think artificial superlatives (“apple watch is a super computer” and the like found around here) add anything but hollow silliness.

A heartfelt and profound and passionate amen to this.

Bravo.

Well said.

Very well said.

 

[ericwn]

Try politics as an alternative discussion to tech fanboyism.

How about toxic fandom - Star Wars "Rose sucked and so does the actress" - Attack on Titan "Yeagerists" - Vinland Saga "Season 2 Farming arc was boring and Thorfinn became a wimp".

Agreed, plenty of silly examples of tribalism, also typically associated with issues beyond the poster’s control or stuff that will never get solved anyway. There’s never a shortage of Idiots, loud mouths, influencers, bullies, and the internet gives them the chance to appear everywhere. I solely picked tech as the examples are found immediately.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It's acceptable to be passionately enthusiastic about truly great things.

There is a difference between "passionately enthusiastic" and "uncritically adoring".

There is a further difference between "uncritically adoring" and "fanatical cult member".

Apple makes exceedingly great products.

That is a matter of opinion.

However, I will concede that they have made some terrific products in the past, some of which transformed tech, and some of which transformed not just the nature of tech, but the world in which that tech operated (here, the iPod and iPhone both come to mind).

Google fanatics are fawning over a company watching their every move offering hardware products with volume buttons that fall off, spontaneously crack, overheat, shut down, and have biometrics that are lousy and unreliable at best - on top of all the spying and phoning home to Google hundreds of times an hour.

Why waste your time and energy on such an excess of emotion?

And, Google "fanatics"? Really?

The thing about 'free' products is that you - the individual who signs up to use this platform - are the product; it is your data that is a source of potential profit ("monetised" to use an ugly word for what is an ugly if inevitable concept).

In any case, one of the things about "passionate enthusiasts" that bothers me is not just that they must show the depth of their passion, - perhaps as part of the cultivation of a sense of identity - (I am what I own, this brand defines me and whom I am) - but that - almost as a proof of the obsessive and perfervid nature of that passion - they must also signal that they hate - with an equal passion - what they deem to be its polar opposite.

 

[maflynn]

Fanboys suck on every platform.

Yes, whether we're talking windows, blackberry (now extinct), Nokia (now extinct), Samsung, Android, etc.

It's acceptable to be passionately enthusiastic about truly great things.

Indeed, without that enthusiasm, MacRumors would not exist. Its when that enthusiasm crosses over to blind fanboyism ignoring common sense, decorum, and civility - that's when it becomes distasteful and inhibits normal debate and dialog. Its difficult to have a discussion with people when they consider the company or product to be perfect.

I had a recent conversation with someone about a stand alone router/firewall and that person was trying to make a case that apple Airport Extreme discontinued in 2018 is a better fit and offers better security even though it hasn't gotten updates in 4 years. Its that sort mentality that makes no sense and degrades honest and meaningful dialogs

Apple makes exceedingly great products.

Yes, as does, Google, as does Samsung. Guess what, Apple makes mistakes and has produced some very poor products, as does Google, as does Samsung.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Agreed, plenty of silly examples of tribalism, also typically associated with issues beyond the poster’s control or stuff that will never get solved anyway. There’s never a shortage of Idiots, loud mouths, influencers, bullies, and the internet gives them the chance to appear everywhere. I solely picked tech as the examples are found immediately.

Agreed.

Increasingly, I suppose that I see it as an example of people who are adolescents (psychologically, if not physically), seeking out such forms of tribalism as a means of creating or crafting or defining a sense of self.

In other words, you are - or, you define yourself as being - the brands you buy, or the causes you support.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Yes, whether we're talking windows, blackberry (now extinct), Nokia (now extinct), Samsung, Android, etc.


Indeed, without that enthusiasm, MacRumors would not exist. Its when that enthusiasm crosses over to blind fanboyism ignoring common sense, decorum, and civility - that's when it becomes distasteful and inhibits normal debate and dialog. Its difficult to have a discussion with people when they consider the company or product to be perfect.

I had a recent conversation with someone about a stand alone router/firewall and that person was trying to make a case that apple Airport Extreme discontinued in 2018 is a better fit and offers better security even though it hasn't gotten updates in 4 years. Its that sort mentality that makes no sense and degrades honest and meaningful dialogs


Yes, as does, Google, as does Samsung. Guess what, Apple makes mistakes and has produced some very poor products, as does Google, as does Samsung.

Very well said.

And yes, I completely agree with you.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Why all the fanboy hate? What did I do? 🤷‍♂️

 

[Surfsalot]

I use FB for market place only, have no friends on it, follow a few surf pages, instagram was good when it started and was just photos and no ads, still have it but mainly for family OS.

 

[martint235]

@Scepticalscribe @rm5 Lemmy is like a federated version of Reddit. It got a lot of attention during the recent protests but it’s still lacking in support and involvement

 

[Scepticalscribe]

@Scepticalscribe @rm5 Lemmy is like a federated version of Reddit. It got a lot of attention during the recent protests but it’s still lacking in support and involvement

Ah, thank you very much for this explanation; very much appreciated.

I had neither heard of it, nor known what it was (is).

 

[Shortpay]

If your revenue stream, livelihood and income are not dependent on social media I'd only use it for my fake birthday, Christmas and New Years.

Family and friends that matter to you know your phone number and can iMessage or FaceTime you.

It helps that the apps of these social media outlets arent on your iPhone or iPad. They're just accessible via your browser.

 

[1rottenapple]

If your revenue stream, livelihood and income are not dependent on social media I'd only use it for my fake birthday, Christmas and New Years.

Family and friends that matter to you know your phone number and can iMessage or FaceTime you.

It helps that the apps of these social media outlets arent on your iPhone or iPad. They're just accessible via your browser.

Agree the apps kinda push you to use it more.