Its strange for me. Some years ago, I only thought that the younger kids/adults was had the "separation anxiety" when it came to social media, but I have a 40 year old sister in law that is purely obsessed and it is crazy. I'm a big tech person but I know how to put my phone down. Heck most of the time I don't even have it on me.
My partner was for a bit. She deleted Instagram and started reading books again. This was surprisingly difficult to pick up again after a year of Instagram apparently. It does form very bad habits.
Understand that social media endorphin-inducing algorithm optimizers, have made these sites optimized for _all_ ages, so it should not be a surprise. Very few of us are immune.
big normie social media yes, but people still have hella actual conversations on bluesky and mastodon and (i think) they use chronological fields by default
Related (should've been source at): "Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media" 12-jul-2026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48879902 183 comments
One of the most insidious aspects of social media is how the reward and discoverability mechanisms train users to become their own marketing department. It's most obvious on LinkedIn, where your presence is materially tied to career growth, but each platform does it in its own way.
I am on a path to recovery from social media addiction (Twitter/x > Instagram > Youtube Shorts). Here is what has worked for me so far -
1. Uninstall the apps, but replace them with mobile browser views. All these services have functional web views that will feed your withdrawal, but adds friction to slowly wind you out.
2. Desktop/laptop (that you use for studying/working) - modify you /etc/hosts and map x.com to localhost.
3. Leave phone in the car when you get back home from work.
1) Mobile browser views: I do this too, for extra friction don't store your password in your mobile browser and force yourself to type it manually when logging in.
Burnout is a symptom of prolonged unsustainable engagement.
I think it is a false narrative to say that the majority of people who are leaving platforms were overcommitted to that extent.
I think it is the simple fact that the platforms no longer provide enough to justify sticking around,
People came for the pie, stayed for the pie, and left when the vendors started serving cardboard wrapped razor blades and tried to convince you it was still a pie.
In 2026, expecting articles about social media to contain a definition of the term ‘social media’ is so peculiar as to seem disingenuous. Can you perhaps explain exactly what you think is so ambiguous about how they use the term that we can’t just assume the common meaning?
I hope we can reach a point where there's enough research on the negative effects of social media (or more specifically which features of it e.g. scrolling videos) that we can inform people from a young age.
But nothing's going to change as long as we continue pretending that billionaires hoarding pieces of "special" paper (or numbers in a bank account) are less mentally ill than people hoarding pieces of regular paper (or other things).
> "Political content is pushing users toward the exit"
The culture war is exhausting. The idealist dream of some sort of Athenian public deliberation has been overwritten by ragebait. It's both very effective at meeting social media goals (getting people to spend too much time online arguing with strangers), and political goals (Project 2025; the Hungarian/Russian/American conserviative project CPAC; whatever it is that Musk is doing with X; Cambridge Analytica; and so on).
I've heard people say that if your post on social media isn't making you money, then it isn't worth making. This is very different from early Facebook/Twitter where the majority of posts were mundane things about one's life.
Going on Japanese Twitter was a very different and refreshing experience, because people still post random little life updates. But Westerners rarely do that now.
Its strange for me. Some years ago, I only thought that the younger kids/adults was had the "separation anxiety" when it came to social media, but I have a 40 year old sister in law that is purely obsessed and it is crazy. I'm a big tech person but I know how to put my phone down. Heck most of the time I don't even have it on me.
My partner was for a bit. She deleted Instagram and started reading books again. This was surprisingly difficult to pick up again after a year of Instagram apparently. It does form very bad habits.
Understand that social media endorphin-inducing algorithm optimizers, have made these sites optimized for _all_ ages, so it should not be a surprise. Very few of us are immune.
I have noticed the same.
Silencing all notifications and checking it on a timer is a big step.
Social media isn't "social" anymore. It's algorithmically designed to keep you scrolling. Burnout is inevitable.
big normie social media yes, but people still have hella actual conversations on bluesky and mastodon and (i think) they use chronological fields by default
Related (should've been source at): "Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media" 12-jul-2026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48879902 183 comments
I know many people who say they're "off" social media but they're still scrolling. They may post less or not at all, but the algorithm still has them.
> "More than half (51%) of participants indicated that maintaining an online presence feels like work."
Well, because it is. Social media turned most of its users into digital beggars.
One of the most insidious aspects of social media is how the reward and discoverability mechanisms train users to become their own marketing department. It's most obvious on LinkedIn, where your presence is materially tied to career growth, but each platform does it in its own way.
Digital beggars whose activity is enriching platform holders much more than what they themselves get out of it.
I am on a path to recovery from social media addiction (Twitter/x > Instagram > Youtube Shorts). Here is what has worked for me so far - 1. Uninstall the apps, but replace them with mobile browser views. All these services have functional web views that will feed your withdrawal, but adds friction to slowly wind you out. 2. Desktop/laptop (that you use for studying/working) - modify you /etc/hosts and map x.com to localhost. 3. Leave phone in the car when you get back home from work.
1) Mobile browser views: I do this too, for extra friction don't store your password in your mobile browser and force yourself to type it manually when logging in.
Burnout is a symptom of prolonged unsustainable engagement.
I think it is a false narrative to say that the majority of people who are leaving platforms were overcommitted to that extent.
I think it is the simple fact that the platforms no longer provide enough to justify sticking around,
People came for the pie, stayed for the pie, and left when the vendors started serving cardboard wrapped razor blades and tried to convince you it was still a pie.
Social media not adequatly defined in this article. It's hysteria, a buzzword.
The article is just noise without specifying what they're talking about
Hysteria is not adequately defined in this comment. It's social media, a buzzword.
This comment is just noise without specifying what they're talking about.
> The word hysteria originates from the Greek word for uterus, hystera.
The way you use the term hysteria feels wrong to me.
In 2026, expecting articles about social media to contain a definition of the term ‘social media’ is so peculiar as to seem disingenuous. Can you perhaps explain exactly what you think is so ambiguous about how they use the term that we can’t just assume the common meaning?
I hope we can reach a point where there's enough research on the negative effects of social media (or more specifically which features of it e.g. scrolling videos) that we can inform people from a young age.
There is more than enough research.
https://thehighwire.com/news/metas-internal-research-proves-...
But nothing's going to change as long as we continue pretending that billionaires hoarding pieces of "special" paper (or numbers in a bank account) are less mentally ill than people hoarding pieces of regular paper (or other things).
Chat apps have already replaced socialapps like FB long ago and the companies know it. Meta has FB Messenger and WhatsApp.
Everything happens "quietly" these days...
Claudely
It’s likely if this is a thing, that early internet users of the 90s experienced their equivalent of having enough.
> "Political content is pushing users toward the exit"
The culture war is exhausting. The idealist dream of some sort of Athenian public deliberation has been overwritten by ragebait. It's both very effective at meeting social media goals (getting people to spend too much time online arguing with strangers), and political goals (Project 2025; the Hungarian/Russian/American conserviative project CPAC; whatever it is that Musk is doing with X; Cambridge Analytica; and so on).
My facebook seems to have trained itself to never give me "political content".
Still, I open it about once per week to check for events at my favorite saturday evening hang outs, look at some cat photos and close it.
It’s not burnout, it’s panic.
The void is coming and everyone knows it.
I now realise that incogni and incognet are two different companies.
I've heard people say that if your post on social media isn't making you money, then it isn't worth making. This is very different from early Facebook/Twitter where the majority of posts were mundane things about one's life.
Going on Japanese Twitter was a very different and refreshing experience, because people still post random little life updates. But Westerners rarely do that now.