Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for March 10, 2021

My unhappiness cannot be described with a feeble statistics chart.

Yes, Pig. The world has a right to know.

Social media: the new dope.

Heard at a Facebook board meeting: “Bad news, folks—people are starting to wise up.”

must be a conspiracy

I feel social media has made me happier. I get to be social without worrying about every tic my body might have.

Correlation is not always causation. But in this case …

Some of us were unhappy in the old days!

I’m thinking Rat has it right.

Hey Rat, maybe you should check out one of the depression support groups on the web!

Social media always improves my mood!

I’ve been farcebook free for over a decade. No regrets.

Facebook is good to follow the informative sites as for me the car clubs and railroad news, but political stuff and “News” I shy away from!

Yes. Yes of course there is.

The left chart could equally be “Number of PBS strips extant”.

As since when was Rat ever happy? He’s still the same gloomy gus he was 20 years ago.

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2003/03/09

Send it in to http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

The graphic works also for global stupidity and decadence of mankind.

I’m going to go out on a limb here. I bet the people who are unhappy on social media were unhappy before there was such a thing. At least for the most part. There was research several years ago that showed having lots of money did not affect a person’s happiness (though happiness was dependent on having enough to meet basic needs). I suspect having social media is similar.

I’m amazed and saddened about the power we have given to Fakebook and Twitler.

Stay away from Twitzone. And Falsebook. And comics page comments sections. Er…

I did a report like that in 10th grade.

You could replace the left graph with ‘loss of hair’...I’ll show myself out then….

Permanently left Fakebook this past January! Free at last!

And of course the inverse graph of human intelligence

People have always been miserable.

As with any tools, it all depends on how you use them.

Ah yes, I remember the old days when ignorance was bliss!

THIS is as close to “Social Media” as I have EVER gotten.

I could be Facebook-free if I could just kick that Candy Crush habit.

And old man Stephan is bitching about social media again…

Correlation is not causation, Rat.

Simple solution. Dump social media. I never took the bait (except for comic commenting) So, as I recognize that I can’t change what I don’t control, I live a pretty contented life……

2 years now and no regrets either

It certainly could be that there is something there, but then again … http://tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

I’ve never used social media so…

Ma-Bell mid-management for over 30 years, well prepared for this, but miss the face-to-face.

If you know what would make you happy then go that way.

Happiness comes from inside, not outside.

I dunno’. I find it relaxing and enjoyable to bully exceptional, m_rderous politicians! I posted SO MANY MEMES on Greene’s page!:DDD

It’s called a correlation.

I’ve many people tell me what I’m missing by not engaging on facebook, twitter, or the like. When I ask them why or how would I miss something I’ve never wanted and so never had, they just look confused and upset.

Almost got it right: the actual correlation is reading it.

I’m posting this!

As a 60 year old I well remember life before Al Gore invented the internet. All the people under 40 have the interwebs mixed into their lives even greater the the Boob-Tube was for me. The change in our lives has been as profound as anything since electricity.

Hmm…I’m an outlier. My misery index has remained relatively constant since birth.

DON’T DO IT! You’ll likely end up in “Facebook jail.”

I’m on Facebook to keep in contact with family and the few friends I have across the world and genealogy groups and church groups

Yup, there is a connection.

By far, the single most important feature of any electronic device, is the ‘OFF’ switch. I really can not recommend it highly enough.

Many have long felt this way. Even the amateur songwriters have been singing about it for years at open mics (when we used to have them). E.g. https://soundcloud.com/yllawulfe/momma-were-all-addicts-now-2019-05-19

Making comments here on my comics and over at Dear Abby is the extent of my social media presence – and sometimes I think I spend to much time doing even that much!

Go right ahead, Pig. Prove Rat right! It’s Science!

The social media didn’t anger me. Racism did.

I guess I’m built different because my happiness increases with social media. It allows me to feel like I’m with friends who have been separated from me because of COVID-19. Sure, not all of it is desirable, but you can easily block the parts you don’t like. It also has a way to report misinformation. Social media can be good if you make it.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

Ditto!

Looks like my unhappiness chart when I saw the gocomics server was down two days in a row.