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man I did this with facebook and it obliterated my social connections. it doesn’t make sense from a micro perspective, game theory sucks man

i installed instagram in december and it’s so much easier to make friends. I feel in touch with what’s going on in the community




That's how Meta pulls you in, but reddit has always felt less user-focused than subreddit and comment-focused. Read a link, make some smalltalk about it asynchronously for a few hours, move on.

Reddit is probably among the least sticky social media sites because of it.


It may be less sticky from a social perspective, but its comprehensiveness is (was?) its strength to me. I often search Reddit for very specific questions about a range of subjects. That's what I come back to it for.

(Although it's been a while now; the user hostility is just too much).


>I did this with facebook and it obliterated my social connections.

Huh... I did this with Facebook and it basically changed nothing. I was forced to text my friends life updates, that was it.

Out of every social media site I've quit, Facebook seemed to have the lowest impact on my life(as long as I or my wife checked it every 1-3 weeks for Events).

It seems Facebook has an ability to make you feel popular without actually making you friends. I'd be skeptical of the 'friends' you make on Instagram. I've made a few over the last 6 years, but since quitting, I really only talk to 1-2 of them rarely.


whoa, you’ve really opened my eyes! i’ve now realized my lived personal experience is invalid

gonna take your advice and cut off the people i’ve met because hospitalJail is skeptical!

Appreciate you providing insight into my life


Yeah, text people. Should solve that problem.


It's not a problem with reddit. I've been there maybe 15 years and never had a single "friend". I rotate the accounts every year or so, not a big issue.


I would've agreed with you 5 years ago. However, my weak connections seem to have thinned themselves out—the people I'd only ever see on FB have gotten bored and stopped posting there. Everyone else, I have other means of contacting.


It’s been 1 year plus of deleting IG and unfortunately I feel the same

Considering making it back let’s see


Are you making new friends or connecting with old ones?


making new friends!

i don’t in my hometown and didn’t go to school near my home state.

old friends get harder to see every passing year. it’s just incrementally harder to stay in touch given the geographical distance. i do text and visit when i can


Are / were they really 'friends' though if doing so obliterated your connections? Most people tend to misclassify being friends with being open & friendly with another.


There’s nothing wrong with having acquaintances that aren’t close friends though. I always see this argument and don’t get it.

Yea, my “true” friends will contact me anywhere, but it’s nice to have a small network of people I know that I can invite to stuff or even better yet invite me to events and activities. They may also become close friends at some point.


>I always see this argument and don’t get it.

Internet misanthropes contributing to the trend for people to lose friends and acquaintances as they age.


Yes. Putting people through hoops and then going "were we really friends if you didn't do it for me, huh, HUUUUH?" is a "I'm the main character" mindset.

A friend recently deleted all his apps and he asks me I just email him if I want to talk. I'm just not gonna do that. I barely remember to email my work people.


> Yes. Putting people through hoops and then going "were we really friends if you didn't do it for me, huh, HUUUUH?" is a "I'm the main character" mindset.

Interesting point.

> A friend recently deleted all his apps and he asks me I just email him if I want to talk. I'm just not gonna do that. I barely remember to email my work people.

Oh. You have zero self-awareness. Got it.

Since you can't figure it out yourself -- you are doing that first thing in that second thing. Your poor friend.


>You have zero self-awareness.

Not wanting to jump through hoops for someone you don't necessarily care that much about ain't 'zero self awareness'

It helps me trim down 'friends' who might not be real friends.

I tend not to be the person who tends to bother other people constantly even after getting signals that they don't want to interact with you. Are you?


Sorry but you're just a bad friend.


I have other friends whom I interact with just fine. I'm not going to go through hoops just for one person I don't care much about, sorry.

That's something this strategy helps to trim out. Who I want to talk to and jump through hoops for, and whom I don't.


> A friend recently deleted all his apps and he asks me I just email him if I want to talk. I'm just not gonna do that. I barely remember to email my work people.

If you put them below “work people”, they’re not a friend. Or rather, you’re not a friend.


Indeed. That's something this strategy helps to trim out. Who I want to talk to and jump through hoops for, and whom I don't.


LOL. Wow. Speaking of “I’m the main character”…=)


Ah yeah man totally wanting to jump through hoops (email was just an example), installing shit like wechat, kik, tiktok etc is the same thing) totally makes me the 'main character.'

That's something this strategy helps to trim out. Who I want to talk to and jump through hoops for, and whom I don't.

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