[danso]

Given than HN is a discussion board frequented by people who generally see the Internet as a fundamental aspect of “real life”, it seems ironic to argue that people should solve their social media problems by just logging off. It’s feels akin to telling someone who is forced to live with throttled capped Internet bandwidth to “go outside and read a book” or “just go to the movie theater”.

Presumably, the people who are most unhappy about Instagram harassment are people who use the social network to make connections and friendships that they can’t make otherwise — there is no line between their social network relationships and “real life” relationships, especially as the former so often becomes the latter. That Instagram is so massively popular, and even an engine for economic activity, is a sign that it’s not something that people can simply log off from. Imagine telling a developer to just “log off” and get a “real” job if Microsoft were to kill every Github repo that didn’t agree to abide by new draconian licensing and terms of service.