No more n. of followers, n. of likes and so on. It’s a simple but powerful change. it’s the core of the addiction: we see numbers, our brain makes automatic comparisons, we ultimately suffer and strive for more dopamine when the counter increments. The user would continue to see if someone likes or follows, but no aggregation on users’ actions would be made (how many users did something). That’s where masses of strangers weirdly affect our expectations and our rewards.
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Then you should check out the FB and Twitter demetricators on 
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Thank you for the link, but I didn’t mean to find a way for me to get a metrics-free Facebook account (I don’t even have one). I meant to rise public opinion about this and eventually push Facebook to remove metrics from its app, as a forced marketing choice in order not to lose more users.
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Another part of the problem isn’t just letting people see the number,s but basing algorithms on those numbers. Giving people incentive to acquire large networks, rather tha nincentives to be themselves, maintain a network that accurately represents who they’re in touch with, and not [degrade] the network by trying to [master / game / instrumentaliize] it.
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That is a great idea, I was thinking about the same thing. Displaying the metrics is a logical development in the context of our culture at large and how it defines success – but logical or not, we need to start somewhere, and removing the metrics would be a good place to start, for the sake of our collective sanity.
It would also take care of half of the the issue of bot accounts and fake traffic, there would be no incentive.
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this is a great idea…potential to remove the psychological dependency especially with adolescents at a vulnerable stage of development
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This could be something that characterises this community and the humanetech.com movement in general. If you agree that counting our social interactions is what social apps are poisoning us with, we have to act. Nothing comes for free, here there are giant interests to keep these numbers up. We have to start a campaign, something like that:
Don’t count on me
Wouldn’t be weird and creepy if someone counts the number of times someone else made an appreciation on her dress since she bought it? Or if someone keep asking people she knows: “are you my friend?”, and keep constantly track of the total number of her friends? And looks for the others’ total friends numbers too?
Well, this is what happens every minute on social media and what makes them so addictive and attention suckers.
So social media X (Facebook, Instagram, …), simply put, don’t count on me.
Don’t show on my profile the number of followers, friends, followings, and so on.
Don’t show how many people liked my post.
Let me know if someone likes it right now, like it happens in real life: “Hey, I like your dress!”, and then let me forget about it.
Let me now if someone makes a request to become a friend of mine or starts following me, and then let me forget about it.
Otherwise, really, don’t count on me after next … (put a future date), I’ll go on strike:
- I’ll quite your social media
- or I will not do nothing on your social media for … (put an amount of time)
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I agree with most of what has been posted here but whats the difference between knowing now or later? How does your brain sort that out?! The mechanism of what you purpose is exactly the same as it is currently… the dopamine trap is there, business was built around this loophole in our brains and drive all this recently new digital environment - this behaviour has escalated in the last 10 yrs, mostly since smartphones (iphone)…
We seem to forget that it’s not about the technology, ** it’s about the way we use it** we cant outsource our responsibility of how we use technology to those who profit from it, they doing their business the way they think it fits better for them (a big hooray to capitalism)!!!
B. Fuller used to say that you shouldn’t fight the current system, you build a new one that turns the old obsolete!!! Also, big business doesn’t make us what we are, we make them what they are, we are in power not them - so we have a choice, IMO, to start from scratch, a clean slate where we take on board all of what we have learned and do it again, we improve it, with better goals in sight, a more humane perspective, where the apps actually serve their initial purpose of networking, knowledge/tools sharing, make the world shorter for those far away… Dyson made more than 5000 prototypes before he got the bagless vacuum cleaner right!!! Because business, as usual, will stay the same, a new data decoration won’t be a true and lasting solution!!
If everyone got out of facebook, instagram, snapchat, tinder, and whatnots… and have the ‘experts’ (and non-experts IMO) designing a new improved digital ecosystem we would be better off!!! We kill the bad weeds, pulled them by the roots, and nurture the good ones in our garden, right?!
Plus, this behaviour is mostly occurring in big cities and in the so-called civilized society, guess what, from a Design (wrongly) perspective you are a hedge case, sitting on that 20% of the population… not worth working for (not my words - just check how big design agencies work)!! But on that note, you see, most of these problems are peanuts for those that have real-life problems around the world!!!
You have a choice - get off the digital environment, its dull and boring unless you are on acid and enjoy flashy lights!!! Stop having aspirin for your headache when what you really need is a new pair of glasses… makes no sense, or does?!
Happy wednesday all!!
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I think we users are producing the value (the data) for those who profit from it, so we have to fight for better social apps. According to me a better social app is an app without counters. Since the only bargaining power we have as users is to use or not to use the app, we should leverage this power (i.e. not producing any data on the social app for a while or threatening to quit it) to force app owners (Facebook, etc,…) to change their products and come towards us, towards a more humane direction. They won’t do it by themselves spontaneously, they are making a lot of money out of it, and not only them.
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Yes! And best do this via the Product Feedback or Support option of the app or website… and before you go there, go through the Preferences section and optimize settings to your liking and also determine what are the best default values - opt-in or opt-out - for these settings. Then mention those in your support request!
Yes!! (and no) This is a hard topic, whats the answer?! I don’t know! I don’t have a clear answer as this becomes very emotional rather than logical to me. How can I answer for the 7,8 billion people on the planet? How can I design world solutions from the comfort of my living room, one solution that fits all?
We need to plant more trees…
I miss having big trees nearby, where I could sit under and reflect on this!!!
Have a blessed Easter weekend!!!
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Hi Michele, we are at that point 
We can take this to Awareness Program!
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Thank you @micheleminno, for creating the Theme and Campaign issues. I have created corresponding topics for forum discussion:
- Resocialized Media Theme: Re-engineer values, beliefs and norms of Social Media
- Don't Count On Me Campaign: We don't need those Social Media metrics to socialize
I’ll close this topic and create cross-references.
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