this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
470 points (99.8% liked)

You Should Know

42472 readers
554 users here now

YSK - for all the things that can make your life easier!

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with YSK.

All posts must begin with YSK. If you're a Mastodon user, then include YSK after @youshouldknow. This is a community to share tips and tricks that will help you improve your life.



Rule 2- Your post body text must include the reason "Why" YSK:

**In your post's text body, you must include the reason "Why" YSK: It’s helpful for readability, and informs readers about the importance of the content. **



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-YSK posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-YSK posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

If you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- The majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Rule 11- Posts must actually be true: Disiniformation, trolling, and being misleading will not be tolerated. Repeated or egregious attempts will earn you a ban. This also applies to filing reports: If you continually file false reports YOU WILL BE BANNED! We can see who reports what, and shenanigans will not be tolerated. We are not here to ban people who said something you don't like.

If you file a report, include what specific rule is being violated and how.



Partnered Communities:

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

Credits

Our icon(masterpiece) was made by @clen15!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Participants were measurably happier and less anxious.

But disappointingly, not by a huge margin:

Perhaps this is due to the fact a significant number of users switched to less harmful online platforms and didn't stop using their phones.

Or perhaps there is actually something more sinister. My real concern with this study is the involvement of Meta.

We actually have evidence that Meta halted internal research about social media:

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/meta-buried-causal-evidence-social-media-harm-us-court-filings-allege-2025-11-23/

Would you study tobacco and have tobacco companies involved?

Would you study obesity and have Coca-Cola involved?

I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but could Meta actually bully/bribe Stanford in order to change the figures?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 1 points 36 minutes ago

I have anything to do with news switched off and only follow crafters, local event announcements, nature photographers and close friends. Why would quitting FB or Insta make any difference?

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 hour ago

I did that over a decade ago... Should I re-sign up and quit again?

[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Obviously yes, because once removed from social media an individual stops being compared against and forced into FOMO.

Otherwise it takes some technical skill to curate experiences in social media, like choosing whom to actually follow and interact, keeping only truly best friends, limiting how much personal information is given to Zuck, and using plugins and scripts to control how much actual content is being shown. As someone who lived with a dumb phone for a long time until 2012, it's disgusting but is a necessary evil I have to be on social media in some form (not using my deadname), because the majority of the clients I have to deal with are mostly on Facebook Messenger nearly all the time.

[–] 0485919158191@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

I discovered this about a decade ago when I deleted all my socials. Now I only use Lemmy and follow topics I’m genuinely interested in!

[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

The problem with the tobacco analogy is that you can buy a pack of cigarettes and walk away, then study it at peace. You cannot run any kind of testing on the shithole systems of Meta without their permission and involvement. That’s how you know every such independent study will be tainted by Zuck’s dirty hands.

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago

Yeah I got back on FB after a 10-year absence for my nonprofit, and then Insta. Went as far as downloading the apps to my phone. Within 1 week my mood and productivity had completely collapsed. I was just sitting there slumped into my chair, like I was hooked up to an IV drug or something. I used to do the same with Reddit to an extent, and being banned there was actually good for me. Now I am - well that nonprofit, I started with all the time I wasn't wasting on Reddit. Fuck all that dopamine-addicted noise. I'm quitting weed this Christmas break, I want all my neurotransmitters back.

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 8 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

The only reason why I started to doomscroll social media, is because I want to keep tabs on how close my nation is to having a civil war. If it is to happen, I don't want to be completely surprised, and have some agency at my level.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

… can’t you put a google alert on that?

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 1 points 55 minutes ago

I distrust Google and the mainstream media. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they simply ally with the Trump Regime, and remain silent about ICE death squads seeking out Democrats or something along those lines.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

"Hey Google, notify me when alpaca lips."

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

The revolution will not be televised.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Ai content and gossip aren’t exactly facts.

[–] ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Clean since 2014, you betcha it’s nice

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

Around 2010 I realized the more I saw of my casual acquaintances the less I liked them and quit. I didn't make many great decisions at 16 but that was one

[–] ada@piefed.blahaj.zone 18 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

I experienced this when I got rid of facebook (or more accurately, when I wouldn't provide them with my ID to get my account unlocked).

But the other side of it is that a lot of the social groups that I was involved with, and a lot of my contact with my friends, was done through facebook, and my real world social life has been impacted by losing facebook.

I still wouldn't go back, but it's a first hand example of just how wide the facebook network effect can reach.

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

This is why I opted for the keep messenger option when I deactivated my account. I have so many people even just from old jobs and while I can get a job pretty much anywhere I apply (that offers my specialty) and be working within a month, that comes with having to vet employers / weed out sketchy facilities.

So I need to be able to message old coworkers and be like "hey do you know anyone who's worked at ___? That 10k sign on bonus is SUS" and have them be like "yeah 5 people got fired and 15 bailed after the state inspection. They were reusing paper iso gowns and billing for surgeries their sister hospital in the city was doing to get the Medicaid incentive for providing rural care." Like WUT. Honestly me having a low social media presence is a plus for most employers especially in psychiatry, but I need to be able to get the tea on these people before I sign up for REAL shitshow instead of the lowkey kind I'm used to.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Were they your good friends to begin with?

[–] ada@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 hours ago

Friends was probably the wrong word. What I was really referring to is community and social events. My good friends are still there in my life, but the broader queer community is now harder to connect with, and lots of social events and meetups that are happening in my city happen without me even knowing.

[–] proudblond@lemmy.world 41 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Can attest. Dropped Facebook in like 2016 and am not on anything else aside from Lemmy. I constantly felt like I wasn’t measuring up to people’s perfect family pictures and exciting vacations, even though I knew intellectually that their pictures were posed and their lives were edited for social media. The world still sucks but at least I feel less inadequate.

[–] nixon@sh.itjust.works 16 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Lemmy is the only platform I engage with. I closed down or abandoned all other platforms around the same time you did. My quality of life has greatly improved since, though I do still miss certain aspects sometimes.

[–] dditty@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

I deleted my FB, Instagram, and Twitter when I joined the fediverse in June of 2023. So far the only thing I miss are FB event invites. Now my friends have to specially message me for events they put together. Otherwise it's been a great change.

[–] Minnels@lemmy.zip 1 points 35 minutes ago

Only had FB but yes, if they want me to attend they have to reach out some other way. I also moved to another city so I can't attend as much any more anyway but sometimes it is a bit lonely. No regrets however.

[–] nixon@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 hours ago

Yeah, those are the things I miss too. It feels like being a bit outside of a bubble looking in sometimes.

And then those early days of Facebook, where it was actually useful and engaging, I miss those days too. But the world is a different place now and the slippery slope is too slippery for me to feel comfortable getting anywhere close to that slope.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 37 points 9 hours ago

I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but could Meta actually bully/bribe Stanford to change the figures?

Asking questions about who's paying for the study isn't being a conspiracy theorist. Especially Meta, they're evil af. They seem to be cautious as well.

This project is part of the U.S. 2020 Facebook and Instagram Election Study (Gonz´alez- Bail´on et al. 2023; Guess et al. 2023a,b; Nyhan et al. 2023; Allcott et al. 2024), a partnership between Meta researchers and unpaid independent academics. Under the terms of the collab- oration, the independent academic authors had final authority over the pre-analysis plan, data analysis, and manuscript text, and Meta could not block any results from being published. More details of this partnership are in Appendices E and F. We have posted answers to frequently asked questions online at this website.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I haven’t used social media since 2011. Personally I don’t see the draw because it all lacks authenticity.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

This is social media! Do you mean corporate social media or social media focused on using real names?

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (3 children)

This is forums not social media. Anonymous conversations on topics that I’m interested in. I’m not following anyone and I don’t see anyone’s history.

[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 2 points 59 minutes ago

Forums are a type of social media.

[–] sep@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

And most importantly, there is not an algorithmic feed. With a singular purpose to keep you hooked as long as possible.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Well… mods and bots can push an agenda, but it’s usually not a big issue in smaller forums.

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 1 points 2 hours ago

Forums are a social media subcategory.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 15 points 9 hours ago (4 children)

Damn! I've never had Instagram and i haven't opened Facebook in five years. So why aren't I happy?

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Try going to maid cafe. It's silly and endearing.

[–] Xella@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

I believe being on Lemmy causes unhappiness as well. We need to stop using all forms of social media. Today is my birthday and as a birthday present to myself I'm uninstalling all social media on my phone by midnight. I'm just getting my last few fixes in before I do it 😹

[–] sep@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Congratulations! I hope you never read this!

[–] 200ok@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

Happy birthday ❤️

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Goretantath@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

"Science once again proves common sense correct."

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago

I've never had Instagram, but I noticed an improvement in my mood after dropping Facebook and Reddit.

load more comments
view more: next ›