[hn_throwaway_99]

I think your comment is both wrong and spot on.

IMO the "wrong" part is that most heroin users will tell you they fucking love heroin. It makes them feel great/escape from life's problems, and users know this. The fact that users also know that heroin is destroying their lives isn't incompatible with loving it.

The "spot on" part of your comment is that the addictive dynamics between social media and heroin are basically exactly the same. And over the past 5-10 years as this awareness has grown (e.g. documentaries like The Social Dilemma), social media companies have paid lip service to acknowledging some of the dangers of "endless scrolling", but the rise of TikTok has proven that the lip service was always bullshit. The second another company came along with a stronger drug, all the incumbents are immediately trying to copy that addictive drug. They don't give 2 shits about your well-being and never did.

[stavros]

> IMO the "wrong" part is that most heroin users will tell you they fucking love heroin.

Yeah, the analogy wasn't great there but I think the point comes across. This is very timely for me, as I've just had a day spent playing chess (and losing) for hours.

I hate it, but I can't stop, because I get easily addicted to games. Luckily, I've wasted enough time on DotA to recognize the pattern, so I uninstalled the app, but by now I recognize the pattern of "this makes me feel terrible but I can't get enough of it".

Not everyone is, which is, I think, why social media (especially jealousy-fueled ones like Instagram) is so insidious. It's easy to mistake it for enjoyment.

[hn_throwaway_99]

Yep, I think the good analogy is someone on a diet. It's like the social media companies are saying "Hah, see, you say you don't want chocolate cheesecake, but you eat it every time I put it in front of you!!"

No shit sherlock, if I didn't love chocolate cheesecake I wouldn't need to be on a diet in the first place. But we need to acknowledge (as you put it, "It's easy to mistake it for enjoyment") the ability to say "Even though I am addicted to this thing, I know it's bad for me and I'm trying to stop".

Social media companies are trying to pretend (as they lie through their teeth) that there is no difference. They are modern-day drug pushers and I wish society would treat them as such. Instead of saying "Oh cool, you have that great job at Facebook" I wish we would give them the same amount of social respect we give to corner meth dealers.

[throwaway290]

> IMO the "wrong" part is that most heroin users will tell you they fucking love heroin.

It's totally possible to choose to take a drug regularly and at the same time hate it (along with your own guts for choosing to take it). Source: former smoker.