[Apocryphon]

I don’t know if the OP is even on Facebook, but I it noteworthy that it’s not on their list of sample blocked sites. I don’t find FB to be addictive either, unlike a lot of people. Usually when I check it, I find myself a quick skim of notifications and the newsfeed to be sufficient, really just a minute or two a day. It runs counter to the popular narrative of Facebook addiction.

Anyone else feel that way? I wonder if it’s because Facebook has no longer become a place for novel content, and there’s an aversion to lingering on it. Of course this is my personal opinion, but I do think it’s easier to find topical content on Twitter and HN, and so they’re more distracting and worth blocking.

[bgutierrez]

On Facebook, most of the friends and family I used to know have been reduced to the memes and shares that flow through them.

Twitter, on the other hand, will have me doomscrolling every single time.

[rikroots]

I have a Facebook addiction. I post something; I crave feedback. When I get feedback, it's like a little jab of oxytocin to my system.

Twitter, Linkedin - I don't have the same problem. I post something (when I remember, which isn't often) and then forget about it. I can go weeks without checking LinkedIn. I tried Instagram and just didn't 'get it'. Reddit annoys me. TikTok scares me - I tend to avoid mirrors at the best of times, so the thought of short video clips of me floating in the aethers ... it's never going to happen.

I'm probably a little addicted to HN; I have no desire to cure myself of the site just yet. I'm not convinced that blocking the site in my browsers/devices would help me if I wanted to cure myself - I'd probably end up spending time trying to subvert the blocks (as a learning exercise, of course).

[awild]

I've just deleted my reddit account because I found none of the communities I am interested in bearable anymore. But somehow Facebook keeps being the main source of interesting information for me.

I've unsubbed from most people and keep my friend list extremely slim (less than 200 people over ~10y of usage, with extensive pruning). Its basically a news aggregator for me, and additionally a way to connect with the communities I am involved in (which are niche (home) brewing groups). The groups are surprisingly untoxic but that's entirely down to the awesome moderators and the scientifically minded people they manage to attract.

I think the usage of mostly real names also helps knowing the people better than just some random nickname and knowing where (if even) they work.

[zarkov99]

yes, but it all changes the moment one posts something, no matter how inane. Then narcissism makes it almost impossible to stop checking it.

[derefr]

I don't find any reason to repetitively check a post on Facebook (or Instagram / any of the other image/video sharing platforms.) If I put something up, I can go back and find out what my "final earnings" in social-capital were days/weeks later. There's no urgency to that. It's not like the stock market; it's not going to suddenly start dropping. It just rises until it plateaus.

I find places where I leave comments (like Reddit, or HN, but Twitter also works this way) a lot worse for this "addiction via narcissism" aspect. On these services, your post/comment doesn't only get more and more popular; it may also be rebutted by a reply (not necessarily made in good faith), at which point it might start getting less popular, possibly dipping into the negatives if the reply's reinterpretation paints you in a bad-enough light. Because of this, there's a feeling of having to watch for these replies, and leap to defend your post against them, so that the reply's interpretation of your words doesn't "win out" against your own actual meaning (which may not always have been perfectly clear from your original, succinct wording.)

That's "narcissism" too, in a much stronger sense of what Narcissistic Personality Disorder means: the obsessive paranoia over losing social capital, due to being perceived as having committed a social faux-pas, that leads one to avoid taking social risks, and perhaps even lying to make oneself seem more "middle-of-the-road" within one's social cluster than one actually is in private.

[zarkov99]

Oh, yes, sure, I was not really distinguishing posts from comments. Either works by attracting the attention of others in a public setting. In that context the effects of both praise and reproach are amplified enormously and otherwise sane people can't help but continuously engage, as you say.

[sudhirj]

Yes, I've long known that imaginary internet points are the only things that fill the void in my soul. I'm quite embarrassed to say that I go and re-read all my HN comments if I'm feeling low.

[zarkov99]

Shhh, we do not talk about such things.

[organsnyder]

Funny—I re-read my HN comments if I'm thinking too highly of myself.

[diminish]

Disabling internet is fine How do you disable games?

[occamschainsaw]

Freedom[1] allows you to block apps but it is a paid service. [1] https://freedom.to

[meej]

Freedom is a great service; I have a "forever" subscription. In addition to blocking apps, it works on iOS and you can manage all your devices, sessions (which can be scheduled), and blocklists centrally from a dashboard in your profile at their website. They also offer some nice affiliate discounts.