I deleted Instagram

[Lyubov]

15 minutes ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

https://metasinternalresearch.org/

Curated repository and analysis of Meta's leaked/disclosed internal research, not itself the primary research. But if anyone is interested. 

@Lyubov I am keen to hear back after sometime of having no access to Instagram. I found that, despite me thinking I was relaxing or unwinding, I was left feeling slightly empty, numb and seeking further stimulation. It really disrupted my wind down routines.

Yeah, it is really like smoking, it's maybe not the best comparison but it is similar. Constant timeouts for some bit of a high. It doesn't relax me at all yet it's the first thing I reach for after work. I work a lot and am under a lot of stress right now, I have to be careful with both food (sweets) and my phone for managing my energies. I am constantly seeing something disturbing on there or that is repulsive, something lustful like half naked women, no one talks to me in real life like they do on social media, and if they did they would end up best case ignored, worst case in a fist fight. Almost nothing on it is real. It's impossible to even clean it up and set it up so it's healthy, it's designed to always lead you back to scrolling and wound up because it's been engineered to constantly push people's buttons. it feeds comparisons and judgements. 

I have a theory that social media will largely become something a digital underclass is more engaged with while people who are financially successful and prioritizing their health and wellbeing no longer scroll or use the app much. Think about how health and wellness products became something associated with wealth, living in nature by the beach, not having to drive. Owning a car was once seen as a luxury, now no one wants to be in traffic breathing exhaust. I think the next stage in the social media evolution is a lot of the people at the top with resources just quietly shutting the app off, still posting on it some, maybe checking messages, but no longer a consumer on it, relying largely on their established network of friends and groups they joined, using AI agents and bots to automate a lot of the process of using it. People whose livelihood that is really entangled with it will have a harder time reaching this stage but those who set something up that is more passive in nature (passive income being the gold standard of success in the USA) you will see this crowd essentially say they no longer watch anything on it and just pay someone to upload their content with trending audio for them. 

Edited 5 hours ago by Lyubov

[PsychedelicEagle]

7 hours ago, enchanted said:

Cal Newport talks a lot about this too on his YouTube channel. Reading is a good antidote and is even more important, radical, and therapeutic because of this.

Cal's content (and books) are great.

[PsychedelicEagle]

2 hours ago, LordFall said:

Instagram is basically a digital mall or shopping district.

It's much more than that. Instagram has mechanisms to keep you hooked that leverage ancient neurological pathways such as fear, social comparison, habit formation. If you want to activate your reptilian brain one of the best ways is to use instagram more often.

[BlessedLion]

16 hours ago, LifeEnjoyer said:

Yeah I just post my material then delete it instantly after.

Same i use it to post but absolutely hate the app, it's full of garbage and has been detrimental to my efforts to quit porn. It's basically a soft porn junk machine.

 

At the same time, it's a powerful tool to share ideas and I get a lot of satisfaction from sharing my work (Lions Heart YouTube) there

[Lyubov]

1 hour ago, BlessedLion said:

Same i use it to post but absolutely hate the app, it's full of garbage and has been detrimental to my efforts to quit porn. It's basically a soft porn junk machine.

 

At the same time, it's a powerful tool to share ideas and I get a lot of satisfaction from sharing my work (Lions Heart YouTube) there

Yeah it absolutely pushes naked women, I’ve gotten ads with AI porn and naked women. The app funnels young men, many underage, onto porn pages of onlyfans whores. It’s just annoying. The app is rapey, it doesn’t even ask you if you want this or give you any sort of choice or control just “LOOK NAKED LOOK SEX LOOK GET ANGRY.” It would be one thing if the app was engineered differently where you could choose this and close it off when you’ve had enough but it’s entire design down to the foundation isn’t this.  

Edited 1 hour ago by Lyubov

[Jirh]

The wicked algorithms are no joke. I didn't have IG until last year, and I used it mainly for porn since I only follow models lol. Everything was under control. I'd get on the app for like 15 minutes max, do my thing and get back to life. Then today I realized my feed is rarely porn anymore, and I'm spending almost an hour each session on that son of a bitch. It got to me against my will and my consciousness, slowly over time. The algorithms won.