Participants were measurably happier and less anxious.
But, disappointingly, not by a huge margin:
Perhaps this is due to the fact a significant number of users switched to less harmful online platforms and didn’t stop using their phones.
Or perhaps there is actually something more sinister. My real concern with this study is the involvement of Meta.
We actually have evidence that Meta halted internal research about social media:
Would you study tobacco and have tobacco companies involved?
Would you study obesity and have Coca-Cola involved?
I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but could Meta actually bully/bribe Stanford in order to change the figures?
I deleted the apps. I don’t visit those sites in alternative ways but I crave it man. I miss doom scrolling and I ended up on yt shorts. Way less of the time and my field seems to avoid viral trends so I guess it’s my nicotine patch: I still do it’s just not that harmful I guess. How are you guys dealing with it? Do you consider lemmy as addictive/harmful as the mainstream socials?
Personally I find there to be less new daily content on lemmy, so it ends up self limiting as I see the same posts again. Might just be what I’m subbed to, and or how I sort. But I do end up spending less time here than I did reddit, or I currently do on youtube.
I think it comes down to an insufficient user base than is required to get the previous fix of social media.
This was a problem in the early days of Facebook as well…
Leechblock and unhook are required browser extensions for me.
YouTuber is extra tricky because I can easily convince myself that I’m not wasting time, I’m “learning”. Even though I doubt I’ll ever need to know how to build a mud hut with a secret swimming pool underneath…
In general, I found if I remove the addictive elements from YouTube or whatever, as opposed to blocking the website entirely, I’m more likely to stick to being sober. I treat my phone the same way, I use YAM Launcher to help remove distractions.
I struggle. I love social media. Lemmy adds to the depression because somehow every post is political and I get to see all the bad things the government is doing every day. I’m shutting it all down. If I need a social fix I can play an MMO lol
NGL. You had me till the last line.
Haha! That line is a special little tip only for me. I’m a hopeless EverQuest addict.
That’s a very funny typo. But also kinda relevant. Lemmy’s sorting “algorithm” is just a very basic sort. There’s no personal tuning, just basic “does this post have more activity than this other one” so it’s as un addictive as it can get really. Short of purposefully trying to be bad.
But yh it’s not being algorithmic that much is pretty much the reason why I don’t open it that often
Lol nooooooooooo I did not fckn meant to do that
Yes but since its users are mostly reposting from sites trained on said algorithms. There is certainly a “trickle down” effect.
Posts that weren’t popular on Reddit, or on the news website aren’t going to be seen and then posted here…
Lemmy is a lot less addictive for me than personalized algorithm-driven TikTok/Reels/Shorts type stuff and has better quality content, but there’s also a lot less content. I blocked internet access for Instagram and other apps on my phone and now I ended up on YT shorts on my computer also
Get yourself extensions to block youtube shorts and convert it to regular videos. Use phone apps to do the same, I believe revanced and grayjay both do this