[pinusc]

A majority/totality of my IRL friends has a problem with spending too much time in front of a screen. Regardless of the political/liberation parts of the article, it is hard to argue against social media being designed to be addictive, and all forms of digital entertainment encouraging binging, from Youtube to Netflix to videogames.

Boredom, I think, is a key motivator for fulfillment. Anecdotally, I find myself in a city where I have very few IRL friends; you could say I'm lonely, and yet I am not seeking out activities or "third places" where I could meet more people. I think it's plausible to say that's because digital entertainment keeps me busy enough, but that's a (very) local maximum

So what's the "nonsense" these people have not heard about? Maybe "terminally online" evokes images of reddit and 4chan hardcore users, but it should also include people who spend hours a day scrolling instagram, tiktok, and what have you. The _average_ screen time per day among internet users is almost 7 hours [1]; of which 3 hours on average spent on social media (which does not include entertainment such as youtube/netflix) [2]

The amount of "real human beings embroiled in online communities" is extremely high. They might not be engaging in niche collectivism outrage, but that's only half of what the article is about... I took it to be complication, an additional stake: if you _do_ care about, say, liberation, then note: this is also controlling you in that specific regard.

1: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-global-overvie...

2: https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-medi...

[ryandrake]

Most of the problems the author is worried about simply go away when you switch off the computer and phone and go out and “touch grass.”

Real Life doesn’t care what someone on Reddit (or HN, to be fair) is posting. Real Life doesn’t care who’s being canceled on Twitter. Real Life doesn’t care about whatever the latest ragebait is being shared and passed around. Real Life doesn’t care about 4chan or QAnon. If people would just log off, spend some time with their families, with their neighbors, with their community, all the pointless shit author is writing about would simply disappear.