• bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    71
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Yeah FOMO is a helluva drug. I’d be willing to bet that while there are plenty of users on the newplaform, people actually posting is not there yet, and with the lack of content for users to doom scroll they’re hopping back to whatever app they came from. Most people don’t give two shits about actually engaging with a given userbase, they just want to doom scroll content and zone out.

      • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        44
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s generally when you’re stuck in a loop of reading negative posts/articles. I think the phenomenon comes from how when you read a negative article/piece of news you feel down, so you want to scroll further in the hopes of seeing something positive to lift your spirits. But then of course it’s only more negativity, and so you keep going. And the algorithms of Twitter/Facebook knows this, so they don’t tend to help you find something positive.

        • another_lemming@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          25
          ·
          1 year ago

          Nothing positive is needed. It’s an outrage engine that keeps you involved by edging on the max level of disturbance you are comfortable to consume. Seeing, posting reactions, having likes enables you to keep it going.

          • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 year ago

            That’s fair, I don’t partake in that side of the web myself but when I get stuck in it it’s usually because I read something depressing and am scrolling desperately hoping for good news.

      • paddirn@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think alot of it relates to just scrolling through news and wanting more content/headlines. It’s not that users are necessarily seeking out bad news or “doom”, it’s just that, given the state of the world today <motions broadly>, that’s what a lot of the news ends up being. I think I often engage in “doomscrolling”, but I’m not doing it because I want to see bad news, I’m an information addict and I’m just trying to get as much content as I can. Reddit fed that habit well, but I’ve moved on from there. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing if Lemmy can’t feed that addiction, not seeing new content pushes me off and forces me back into the real world or on to other sites/apps. I’m fine with that, I hated my constant need to flip through Reddit whenever I was bored before.

      • bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s been a thing for a while, basically just mindlessly scrolling for hours on end on a neverending feed

      • zeppo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Covid era when many people had nothing to do, were more worried and anxious than usual, and the internet seemed full of concerning and bad news. The term has never meant that much to me personally. I’ve only regular scrolled.

    • nLuLukna @sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I also think that there were linch pins with in the threads app, people followed shadow accounts for there friends etc. Now I wouldn’t be surprised if alot of those friends then didn’t get the app, making said shadow follow pointless