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Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

(www.scientificamerican.com)
757 points headalgorithm | 2 comments | 05 Feb 25 14:55 UTC | HN request time: 0.493s | source
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joshdavham ◴[05 Feb 25 15:50 UTC] No.42950233[source]▶
One thing to consider for those of us who are more sensitive to online outrage is to just quit social media all together. I’m technically gen z and I’ve been off of social media (aside from HN, WhatsApp and discord) for years and you wouldn’t believe how great it’s been for my overall state of mind.

Reddit, instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, etc are all the equivalent of digital junk food and I’d argue that we’re all a lot more negatively affected by it than we think. There’s a reason ‘brain rot’ was word of the year.

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sporkydistance ◴[05 Feb 25 17:43 UTC] No.42952227[source]▶
Why do you exclude HN from your list? It is literally social media, but with the dial turned down a little. Yet, you don't have to dig to deeply to see flamewars, outrage, and trolling. I mean, look at many of the garbage comments in this very thread that are on par with /.,xchan.
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vaylian ◴[05 Feb 25 20:02 UTC] No.42954294[source]▶
If HN is social media, then old online forums from the time before "social media" are also social media.
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Klonoar ◴[05 Feb 25 20:30 UTC] No.42954663[source]▶
Well, yes.

That’s not really a gotcha statement.

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1. vaylian ◴[05 Feb 25 20:44 UTC] No.42954827[source]▶
But that makes the term "social media" a very broad category that doesn't tell you much.
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2. SlackSabbath ◴[06 Feb 25 08:45 UTC] No.42960394[source]▶
Yes but more importantly it's a definition that allows those who wield it to feel as though they are on the right hand side of the 'bell curve meme'.