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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

#91

Post by _nothing »

madeuptempacct wrote: post #74
kruczek wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be flat out surprised if books didn't have their detractors back in the day. They most certainly did have. This reminds me about Socrates' take on books: "for this discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to…

Reading is a balance - not reading in childhood is missing out. Reading too much as an adult is running away from life, much like TV and video games. On the other hand, I am reading the Three Body Problem now, and I am learning some history and being forced to remember scientific principles I didn't review since high school. So I guess the lesson is quality and not doing too much of it. I stopped reading sci-fi that…

Kids today miss out if they're not online (which largely takes place on phones) and on social media. They miss out in social interaction, which is arguably even more vital to their development than reading books. Even when I was younger, so many interactions outside of school took place on AIM-- whole friendships and relationships were built off of these online interactions.

Nowadays kids have to be on top of the latest viral trends and YouTube videos and Twitch streams in order to keep up with what their friends are talking about. Like it or not, the digital world is pretty much essential for kids these days.

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

#92

Post by hondadriver »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #85

I just bought a Nokia 3310 3G and plan to curb my smartphone use completely. I'm sick to death of looking at my phone being the only thing I do. I used to do things at night, projects, hobbies, meeting people, and going places. I drive places now via GPS and have no recollection of how I got there. Driving without GPS makes you actually look at your surroundings and enjoy them and start making mental maps again. That…

Just be sure to remove the Twitter and Facebook apps ;)

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

#93

Post by mindcrime »

Man, when did TC decide to go full-on yellow journalism?

Today’s internet can be a toxic place, and not one where people should spend large amounts of time.

But many of these networks were built by young men who couldn’t conceive of all the ways things could go wrong.

... and even dopamine drug dealers like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have begun to ...

Thankfully, as this study shows, there’s growing awareness of this among younger users, and maybe, some of them will even do something about it in the future – when they’re the bosses, the parents, and the engineers, they can craft new work/life policies, make new house rules, and write better code.

Yep, every group of teenagers thinks exactly the same thing. "Our parents fucked things up, but when we're in charge, we'll fix it all". Sadly the real world does not make it easy to effect such change on a large scale. But hey, now that my generation (Gen-X) occupies many key positions of influence, maybe we can finally get it right...

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

#94

Post by mindcrime »

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…

I'd be flat out surprised if books didn't have their detractors back in the day.

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. ~~ Albert Einstein

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

#95

Post by adiusmus »

Good.

Most social networks are bad for you. They’re deliberately designed to be addictive in pointless ways.

I’d prefer teenagers to be tech savvy individuals who have plenty of face to face skills like conversational skills, curiosity, travel, ability to think, work, play, and plenty of other practical skills such as woodworking etc.

Technology as tool but not as a bubble to live in.

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

#96

Post by lalos »

dfxm12 wrote: post #76

Headline: A majority of U.S. teens are taking steps to limit smartphone and social media use The study: 52% – said they are trying to limit their phone use in various ways. Addicts will often lie about trying to get clean. "Trying to do" something is also not the same as "doing" something something. I'm not saying that teens aren't taking concrete steps to reduce smartphone and social media use, and after all, the fi…

A first step is acknowledging the problem or being aware that there is room for improvement. Even if they just think about it, that's how trends start.

Headline: 'taking steps' Study: 'said they are trying'

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

#97

Post by leesec »

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…

Just tacking on to this, I'd also be careful to attempt to quantify what we gained by an experience, just because of the limitations of our words or thoughts.

Just because there is 'nothing learned' or something doesn't seem beneficial, does not mean it did not have benefits that often can't be labeled.

Also there's no goal to life, just a reminder. There's no like progress bar you fill up to 100% and then you win. You don't have to stay 'productive'.

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

#98

Post by [deleted] »

weliketocode wrote: post #59

This underscores why I'm almost inherently biased against most regulations. In a lot (not saying all) of cases, we figure out what's bad for us and make decisions to help solve it. Social, legal, and economic issues in our society often appear to work themselves out when left to their own devices. Yet, so many have the opposite gut reaction: Teens using too much social media? Regulate the industry! Tax them! Take awa…

[deleted]

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

#99

Post by weliketocode »

alanbernstein wrote: post #61
weliketocode wrote: post #59

This underscores why I'm almost inherently biased against most regulations. In a lot (not saying all) of cases, we figure out what's bad for us and make decisions to help solve it. Social, legal, and economic issues in our society often appear to work themselves out when left to their own devices. Yet, so many have the opposite gut reaction: Teens using too much social media? Regulate the industry! Tax them! Take awa…

I understand your general point, but I have never heard of a suggestion to regulate teenage phone use. Have you ever heard someone actually suggest this?

Yeah. There was just discussion here on hn recently of schools banning cell phones.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17671176

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

#100

Post by [deleted] »

slx26 wrote: post #64
burkaman wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I genuinely don't think I've ever heard anyone suggest teenage phone use should be regulated. Generally regulations are suggested when bad actors are blatantly unwilling or unable to regulate themselves.

Yeah, I believe that the key point here is that regulations should prevent "harm" to others, not "self-harm". And as far as I know, that's how it goes most of the time.

[deleted]
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