Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Social platforms that once centered on friends’ updates are increasingly seen as ad-driven “attention machines” dominated by algorithmic feeds, short-form video, and viral fads. Commenters reminisce about early Facebook, forums, and blogs as genuinely social tools, contrasting them with today’s cable‑TV‑like feeds that optimize for engagement, outrage, and influencer content rather than human connection. Many describe coping strategies — from quitting mainstream apps to using RSS, federated networks, or strict time limits — while debating whether sites like Hacker News count as social media and how much any of these systems can be reformed.

Was Social Media Ever “Social”?

  • Many argue early Facebook/MySpace/Hyves (mid‑2000s) were genuinely useful social tools: real‑life friends only, chronological feeds, event coordination, picture sharing, and serendipitous meet‑ups.
  • Others say even then it was shallow: friend-count contests, clout-seeking, and weak ties masquerading as social life.
  • Several note that real sociality increasingly moved to messaging (Messenger/WhatsApp/Discord) while feeds became less relevant.

Algorithms, Ads, and Engagement

  • A dominant view is that algorithmic feeds and ad‑driven “engagement maximization” flipped platforms from social networks into entertainment/propaganda channels.
  • Comparisons to cable news and yellow journalism: constant fear, outrage, and sensationalism to keep people watching, now supercharged by personalization and infinite scroll.
  • Some see benefits: discovering local friends’ travel, niche communities, small‑business outreach. Others reply that these upsides rarely outweigh mental‑health harms and time sink.
  • Many describe feeds now dominated by short‑form video, memes, influencer ads, and AI‑slop, with genuine friend updates buried or effectively gone.

Is Hacker News Social Media?

  • Large subthread disputes this.
  • One side: HN is clearly social media—user‑generated content, voting, algorithmic front page, karma, addictive design; structurally similar to Reddit/Digg.
  • Other side: HN is a forum/news aggregator; text‑centric, no personalized feed, no images or DMs, minimal growth/engagement optimization, so qualitatively different from Instagram/TikTok.
  • Some resolve this by distinguishing “toxic, engagement‑maximized social media” from “nutritious” or old‑school social sites; HN is put in the latter bucket.

Coping Strategies and Alternatives

  • Reported tactics: deleting apps, disabling notifications (“notification zero”), turning off YouTube history, using RSS, old.reddit, Mastodon, email digests, or browser/phone extensions to strip recommendations and ads.
  • People describe both relief (more focus, real‑world projects, calmer mind) and downsides (feeling isolated, missing updates from distant friends).

Broader Cultural Effects

  • Concerns include: polarization, bot/astroturf campaigns, weaponized targeted content (politics, advertising), erosion of local communities, and a globalized fad/monoculture.
  • Some nostalgia for pre‑algorithm internet (IRC, forums, blogs) and skepticism that today’s youth will experience anything similar.