Instagram boss: 16 hours of daily use is not addiction
6 months ago by excel24 to c/technology
Greatest accomplishment of my life was quitting cigarettes.
Congrats!
Thank you. And to anyone out there trying to quit. You have to try out vaping and then when you get sick of getting sticky from the juice. You’ll finally want to just stop.
I did both for a while, smoking and vaping. A place I shop at was giving away cans of nicotine pouches when you bought a pack of cigarettes for a little while.
One day I was starting at the nicotine pouches and thought, "fuck it, let's add another addiction to the mix." Over three hours later I realized I hadn't even thought of a cigarette or vape yet and I didn't feel like one even though I was thinking about it then. A lightbulb went off in my head.
I think I bought one more pack of cigarettes after that. I quickly went down to a few cigarettes a day, then down to two cigarettes a day, then one for a few days, and then none. Vapes were just an indoor substitute for cigarettes, once I didn't want cigarettes I didn't want to vape, either. It took me about a month after that to wean off the pouches, too.
Post headline deserves a downvote. Quote from article:
Lanier asked Mosseri what he thought of K.G.M's longest single day of use of Instagram being 16 hours.
"That sounds like problematic use," the Instagram boss answered. He did not call it an addiction.
He also didn’t say it was a tomato. Like wtf do you want, I can’t tell if he was asked specifically if 16 hours a day was an addiction. The prior question was about whether he had known she had a 16hr day, and he had not. (He should have; poor trial prep.)
This is sensationalist BS and I dearly want this platform to be better than that.
Just so we’re clear, Meta can die in a fire and the world would be better off, I’m not defending them in the slightest.
The title is accurate.
He was asked if it was an addiction, and he repeatedly used technicalities and weaseley language to refuse to admit it.
"It's important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use," [Instagram head Adam Mosseri] added.
"I'm sure I've said that I've been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don't think it's the same thing as clinical addiction."
Yet, Mosseri repeatedly said he was not an expert in addiction in response to Lanier's questioning.
he repeatedly used technicalities and weaseley language to refuse to admit it
see
Yet, Mosseri repeatedly said he was not an expert in addiction in response to Lanier’s questioning.
Even if a nonexpert claims something is clinical addiction, they're a nonexpert & their word is meaningless. For a credible statement, they'll need to admit relevant evidence instead of ask a nonexpert.
Imagine being asked for a medical diagnosis when you're not a qualified physician. It's perfectly fair to point out you're not an expert on the matter & point out your awareness of distinctions between imprecise conventional language & precise, scientific definitions.
No one is obligated to volunteer dubious claims to antagonize themselves on the stand just because you want them to.
That still sounds misleading. He was not speaking for 16 hours of use which is what the headline suggests. As other has stated, I hope those companies crumble but I think honesty is important, not sensationalization.
I fear for the future of reading comprehension. Before the portion Analog quotes, the article gives people multiple paragraphs of context to understand addiction as what is being talked about. I don't expect the word to be wedged into every sentence about the same topic. Meta's Adam Mosseri was clearly doing everything in his playbook to not use the word "addiction" in a sentence.
And Adam Mosseri knew better. We know he's been confronted with evidence of addiction but doesn't want to listen.
But I do find it much more concerning that Analog appointed himself judge of bad articles, then either accidentally or intentionally omitted the preceding paragraphs that I had to quote for him.
He's right. Clinical addiction has nothing to do with how much you do something, it has to do with how much it causes problems in your life. I know everyone on Lemmy is tripping over their own hard ons to kill corporations, but there are people using lemmy 16 hours a day and if laws are passed to fight Internet addiction, they will not specifically target corporations. We all go down together. Just ask the creator of Urban Dead.
*hards on
So someone doing Heroin everday is not addicted if it doesn't cause any problems in life? Clinical Addiction absolutely does have to do with how much you do something (and other factors of course).
That's a physical addiction. Drug addiction is a problem physicians handle. Psychologists handle addiction to video games, gambling, sex, the Internet, etc and that's how they define addiction.
The entire line of questioning was about addiction and the CEO was pretending it wasn't (he didn't want up admit the truth because his company would be liable). The headline was accurate and your take is officially a hot one.
You dislike the truth. You should watch Tobacco CEOs deny that cigarettes were an addiction.
Yeah and you probably think headlines that say "suspect dead after ICE-involved incident" is fine and that "ICE performs summary execution of innocent person" is sensationalism.
The post accurately copies the article's headline without editorialising.
The article itself is shit though.
What do you even do on Instagram for 16 hours?
My ex was super depressed. Long story short she was struggling with sexuality. I watched her spend literal hours on the couch scrolling insta. She got deep into Reels and would watch them all day. The algorithm is so addicting. It kept her eyes glued. She also ended up down the self diagnosed rabbit hole deciding she had all sorts of mental illness. It was awful.
I only have an Instagram account to follow when special beers are released by a local brewery. That's their only method of communication, which is annoying.
I have found myself on IG watching skateboarding or cliff diving videos for 15 or 20 minutes before catching myself. It's crazy how addicting it can be. I'm not doom scrolling or even researching a hobby I often do. I just find those videos fascinating, and it keeps feeding that to me. I just don't open IG anymore.
I recommend imginn for checking instagram via a browser. I use it for basically the same reason, checking on local businesses.
You can set limits with warnings. It’s super helpful. I get a warning if I’ve spent more than 15 minutes a day on it. It actually cuts me off after 30.
I just don't use it anymore. Saves me money on beer. I opened it up last week for the first time in 2 months to see if Pliny the Younger was on tap at a local bar.
Why do ppl spend hours on slot machines in bars and casinos? What are they doing during all those hours?
FB, IG, TikTok, Candy Crush etc. are all using those exact same techniques to get you hooked like junkies.
It’s literally a crime a against humanity.
Doom scroll
What's the deal with tech bosses obviously lying lately? Just a legal thing? Or a it's true if we say it long enough thing?
When the president of the united states is held to zero accountability and no one seems to care. Why would these assholes?
They are the exact same type of assholes
Oh they do care, just in the wrong way.
In the business world "benchmarking" basically means "let's copy what the successful people do, so that line go up"
In their robotic, amoral view of the world, they see one of the most successful people on the planet (according to their definition of success) constantly spouting obvious lies and being surrounded by sycophants while getting elected twice and grifting billions and facing no punishments. Maybe if the tech CEOs get rich enough and their companies get important enough, they can join his club.
Ohhh, and they must be how we get oligarchies!
All I do is play fucking games and even 16 hours of that is absurd unless I'm specifically trying to force my sleep pattern into something usable again.
I've definitely hit 16 hr days before for gaming but it's rare as hell. Warframe, Runescape and Minecraft are probably the only 3 to hit that peak, and I'm definitely not a functioning human during that time.
I wish I could game for 16 hours straight, but my flesh is spongey and weak.
All CEOs of the big ones are sociopaths. It's by design.
You don't have to be a sociopath to be a CEO, but most CEOs are sociopaths.. because sociopathic traits, mostly lack of empathy and zero issue with being horribly manipulative, are traits that tend to be selected for to move up to this level.
"Its not an addiction, I'm not addicted snorts line off a toilet seat I'M PERFECTLY FUNCTIONAL"
A system that benefits people who lie about objective facts should be destroyed.
If the tactical business decision is to look someone in the face and say "spending 2/3rds of a day, 16 whole hours, idly gazing at photos of anything is not an addiction" in order to protect business interests, then things are wrong. Addiction to a product should be met with horror! Oh no, how could this happen? Instead, it's part of the business model.
"Business" is a blight.
spending 2/3rds of a day, 16 whole hours
Even worse: if you get a proper night's sleep, 16 hours is literally the entire day. Dude is saying if you are getting healthy amounts of sleep, it is perfectly acceptable to spend 100% of your time doom scrolling on their website. No eating, no going to work, no showering.
It's an absurd statement.
Are you sure it benefits him to say that? I think its not even a left vs right issue to recognize this is an issue. At least it sparks discussion and makes people criticize him.
Bro I spend 4 hours a day gaming and I feel guilty enough to fuck over my sleep schedule and get some chores done. 16 hours????
Chores dont stop because you get older bud
Well yeah, because you are fucking dead. Dying might be the best cure for addiction's known to man.
I think the better language is "you can be drunk 16 hours a day" which, some people are, and they're certified alcohol addicts. So shoving Instagram in your brain the same way is the same disease, different symptoms.
Pfft. I've drank for 16 hours many a day and I'm not dead.
A child a day keeps the Attorney General away!
Thought it was the Verizon guy.
UltraViolence
This has to be rage bait. I feel like the less time I'm on there, the happier I am. Even the 30 minutes daily limit that I usually set for apps like that is time I'm never getting back.
The only reason I have an account to begin with is because I'm a photographer (even if just a hobbyist) and I like to have some presence in the circles I'm in. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be there at all.
They want to be an integral part of our lives, like thinking, except they'll take the place of thinking, or talking, or even looking around.
Punchable face.
What a smug stupid fucking lying face on this piece of shit.... He thinks he's fucking being cute with his little glasses and eyebrows feinting surprise
That lede photo is the very fucking epitome of the Upton Sinclair's "it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it"
He is being paid hundreds of millions of dollars to pretend to be ignorant, to blatantly lie to people, while looking them straight in the eye. More money than you or me will ever see in all our combined lifetimes, to make that stupid fucking face
Coming from a potential cocaine sniffing addict that’s not surprising
I dunno. I found it pretty addicting when I was holding both a vape and my phone, and I had doomscrolled for 9 hours till the battery died without having hit my vape once
Punching that guy in the face is not violence either, you know? /s
Of all my active addictions, none take 16 hours to satiate.
Diablo 3 and Tiny Tina's done this for me
Tiny Tina omg
Well, it’s very simple, don’t you see? When he makes money, it’s not addiction When he makes no money, it’s addiction
"That's not addiction. They can log off anytime. Bro, it's called commitment."
Life is better without selling your data.
First stage: denial.
What did Snapchat and TikTok settle for? Did they just pay money to not to expose themselves in court? Or did they actually settled to FUCKING FINALLY crack down on addiction and other issues on their platform? (x) Doubt
"Because like 10hr of that is background usage while we harvest your data."
16 hours of doing coke? Im never gonna financially recover from this.
Instagram, really is ZUCKERBoRG using his puppets in his stead.
It's not a bug - it's a feature!
When I read Instagram boss: 
He's right, it's whatever we call the next stage up from addiction.
Oh, fuck this article. He didn't say it wasn't . He just didn't even mention the word at all.
"It's important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use," he added.
"I'm sure I've said that I've been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don't think it's the same thing as clinical addiction."
Yeah, I dunno what article that dude read. Or didn't read, apparently.
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