Fiona  
Most (if not all?) #Fediverse clients (#Mastodon, #Miskey, #Sharkey, #Akoma, #IceShrimp,…) have an infinite scroll functionality, which is famously one of the big factors that makes social media addictive…

To be clear, I don’t blame the Fedi devs for this, they mostly followed the common approach other social media platforms that did add them with actual malice established, but this might be a good point in time to ask whether doing so was the right call.

Maybe a page mode, let’s say one page per day, or a similar well defined timeline (rather than number of posts) in the homefeed might be a good idea there? It might not even be necessary to remove infinite scroll, but maybe provide the paged option as the alternative (or even default).

Thoughts on this, anyone?

(Ping @sharkey, because that’s what I’m primarily on. 😉)
Jun 7 at 11:12amWeb
Show threadDroppie4d ago
@Fiona @sharkey i don't find it addictive [but then again i don't seem to have an addictive personality, in that gambling, alcohol, drugs et al do not "hook" me either]. however your idea seems a decent one if it might help others. i don't understand peeps with addictions, so this question might be very naive; if there was an option to change from continuous to page mode, wouldn't the very demographic for whom it was intended, simply change the setting?
Show threadFiona  4d ago
@MsDropbear42 I also don’t have a general problem with addiction, but given that facebook specifically introduced it because they found out that it is addicting is kinda enough evidence for me that there is a problem.

And just because you (believe) that you are not very susceptible doesn’t mean that this cannot change if your circumstances change. I have two close friends who have used different psychoactive substances (alcohol and weed) as makeshift antidepressants and while that may have even been a good thing in the moment, it is an extremely dangerous path and I’ve insistent on pretty hard rules at least in the case with the alcohol to prevent it from going there.

I myself also limit my alcohol intake by being very strict about not drinking alone, which I may have broken like once, maybe twice over the last year, and even then it was primarily because I really like mead, not because I wanted to get drunk.

But now imagine that someone were to place a Madame Brulée or a Mango Nr. 5 in front of me every evening, with me just being able to not drink them…
Let’s just say I love those two too much for them not going to end up in my stomach, even if I was alone.

It’s about controlling exposure and keeping it to an extend that is manageable.

I cannot explain to you why and how infinite scrolling is a problem, but we should be aware of what the various evilcorps have found out is addictive and try to do something else, since fedi is the only place that’s for people, not for profits.
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