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A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

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Re: A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

#31

Post by saiya-jin »

adventured wrote: post #18
maxxxxx wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me a little of obesity. A lot of people have recognized the problem and are doing something but in the end the average still gets fatter and fatter.

That's not correct however. Recognition can and often does lead to correction. In the US, the percentage of children five years of age and under that were obese, dropped from 14% to 10% over ten years (2004-2014). That's due to first recognizing a terrible problem and then acting against it. US obesity rates have stabilized. [1] I think we can be fairly certain that's in no small part due to increased knowledge and a…

Very true, this can be often seen in older photos or videos, ie 60s hippies, or any odd-fashion-70s or most 80s. Very slim people everywhere, like whole nation went to gym or for a run every single day.

Re: A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

#32

Post by tapland »

flukus wrote: post #17
hammock wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>remember the 70s and 80s, when TV and video games were supposed to turn us all into zombies? What happened? We eventually learned Did we? A third of teens haven't read a book in the last year. And we "binge" on TV shows now which didn't really exist in the 70s.

> And we "binge" on TV shows now which didn't really exist in the 70s. Isn't that an improvement overall? You decide you want to watch something and you watch until it's finished. Media consumption habits in the TV era were much more passive and a lot of people would watch a show just because it was on. "There's nothing good on TV" used to be a common lamentation, I wouldn't be surprised if this generation is better…

Reading ability must be the goal with the criticism though? If it's just listening to a story you might as well watch it, or play it.

Re: A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

#33

Post by XorNot »

rayalez wrote: post #27
ddingus wrote: post #2

I found it notable the "Ready Player One" movie, featured the group decision to close "The Oasis" on Tuesdays and Thursdays. -->Because reality is real.

That was the most annoying part of the movie for me. The whole movie(and a book) was about using this amazing virtual world as the only escape from the shitty horrible reality. It wasn't just entertainment - people go to school there, people have friends there, for many it's the only source of happiness. And that's what it was for the protagonist, he understands this better than anyone. But the moment he becomes a bi…

Iain M. Banks had a much more nuanced take on this in A Few Notes on the Culture [http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm] (free to read online), where his general point was that things like the Culture's drug glands should be taken as contraindicators by the government that they're messing up in reality and need to do better.

Ready Player One's problem as a movie/book is really that its not interested in exploring too much detail about how this world came to be, so you get fairly trite morals like that.

Like you could imagine a much longer epilogue where the protagonist uses his wealth to improve society, reduce poverty, advocate for governmental change, provide refuge for domestic abuse victims, and uses individual participation rates in the Oasis as a barometer for his success. Which wold be a real interesting moral for a mainstream movie to include.

Re: A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

#34

Post by saiya-jin »

rayalez wrote: post #27
ddingus wrote: post #2

I found it notable the "Ready Player One" movie, featured the group decision to close "The Oasis" on Tuesdays and Thursdays. -->Because reality is real.

That was the most annoying part of the movie for me. The whole movie(and a book) was about using this amazing virtual world as the only escape from the shitty horrible reality. It wasn't just entertainment - people go to school there, people have friends there, for many it's the only source of happiness. And that's what it was for the protagonist, he understands this better than anyone. But the moment he becomes a bi…

Haven't read the book, but the movie was disappointing for me, even as a Spielberg and overall shallow popcorn fun lover. It felt like a typical family movie which is for everybody who doesn't look for any cinematic quality, cheap moral statements forcefully inserted here & there.

Maybe I was not in a mood for it back then and should re-watch it, but the story really felt cheap and characters shallow.

Re: A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

#36

Post by afarrell »

coffeeandjunk wrote: post #20

A majority, 54% of teens, said they spend too much time on their phone, and nearly that many – 52% – said they are trying to limit their phone use in various ways. Knowing is one thing and actually getting rid of it is a completely different ball game. There's a gulf between the planner and the doer. The far-sighted "planner" in us knows that social media/Netflix/cigarettes are bad for us. When you conduct a survey,…

The best way to approach this is to start by mechanically removing the possibility of doing the thing you wish to avoid. In the cases you mention:

- An alarm clock without a snooze button: https://www.amazon.com/Travelwey-Clock-Outlet-Powered-Operat...

- An app that you can use to block facebook and other sites from your phone: https://freedom.to/

There are people who claim that this sort of thing is 'a crutch'. These same people probably would not encourage a dieter to keep a packet of cookies on their desk though. Regardless, crutches are useful whether you've broken your ankle or your mindfulness.

You can and should build more active mindfulness practices on top of this.

Re: A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

#37

Post by rtpg »

hammock wrote: post #13
vinceguidry wrote: post #4

It's important for people to remember that humans are still intelligent creatures that are capable of recognizing, eventually, what's good for them and what isn't. How many of you guys remember the 70s and 80s, when TV and video games were supposed to turn us all into zombies? What happened? We eventually learned how to see these things as the tools that they are. Humans get fascinated by the new and shiny. This fasc…

>remember the 70s and 80s, when TV and video games were supposed to turn us all into zombies? What happened? We eventually learned Did we? A third of teens haven't read a book in the last year. And we "binge" on TV shows now which didn't really exist in the 70s.

I like reading books, but there's nothing inherently good about getting knowledge through books.

Especially a lot of the "entrepreneur" or "productivity" books, where you have 80% padding because nobody wants to buy a 40 page book.

Re: A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

#38

Post by afarrell »

saiya-jin wrote: post #29
electic wrote: post #22

I am not surprised. One thing that I have noticed about myself is I ask myself after a session on Instagram, "What did I get from that?" and the answer is usually nothing. Did it help my career? No. Did it make me smarter? No. Did it help me make friends? No. It didn't improve my life in any way. The instant I asked and answered that a few times, I started cutting down my usage dramatically.

> "What did I get from that?" and the answer is usually nothing. Did it help my career? No. Did it make me smarter? No. Did it help me make friends? No. By no means I want to defend current social media fads (never had instagram/snapchat, removed facebook from phone 2 years ago), but that's not how humans work. You don't go for a beer with a friend to gain something, you go to enjoy it/him/her, have a social interact…

> Nothing learned and no career progress is still a perfectly fine result.

This is a hard lesson to learn, especially if you were good at school growing up. I find it helpful to, after/while hanging out with friends or walking in the park, make a conscious effort to reflect on and appreciate the feeling of fulfillment that comes from it. There's something healthiness-reenforcing for me about looking around, breathing deeply, and saying 'this is nice'

Re: A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

#39

Post by afarrell »

siruncledrew wrote: post #12
newfocogi wrote: post #3

Believing something is bad for you and actually successfully changing it are two very different things.

That’s the problem of addiction. Changing established behavior is really hard and takes a ton of self-discipline and self-control.

And building self-discipline and self-control is one of those skills that many don't know the first steps to. I know that I spent many years thinking that self-discipline meant mentally punishing myself for wasting time. It isn't.

discipline is saying to yourself something like "This is worth it, but this is uncomfortable. I'm going to do it anyway because I'm stronger than I think" and following through on that.

Re: A majority of US teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use

#40

Post by rorykoehler »

rtpg wrote: post #37
hammock wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>remember the 70s and 80s, when TV and video games were supposed to turn us all into zombies? What happened? We eventually learned Did we? A third of teens haven't read a book in the last year. And we "binge" on TV shows now which didn't really exist in the 70s.

I like reading books, but there's nothing inherently good about getting knowledge through books. Especially a lot of the "entrepreneur" or "productivity" books, where you have 80% padding because nobody wants to buy a 40 page book.

I'm in the early stages of writing a book now. Looking at my notes I'm thinking this will be a short but information dense book. At first it demotivated me slightly but then I realised I'm mostly writing the book as a reference for myself so now I'm actively trying to further condense. Thinking back most of the good business books I've read have been exceptionally short and to the point.
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