Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Social media addiction linked to cyberbullying

news.uga.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 103 posts

Re: Social media addiction linked to cyberbullying

#11

Post by TheJoYo »

Jaygles wrote: post #5

I wonder if social media had the potential to be a force of good or if it was doomed from the start. I'd like to run an AB experiment where social media companies didn't optimize for engagement. And maybe an AB experiment where they tried to optimize for healthy usage, even if it harmed engagement.

I've been using a chronological order social media for a couple of years now and I wouldn't trade it for a sorting algo. Sure, I miss some things that are likely interesting and sometimes I need to mute some that post too often. I think content tagging is what people were really asking for when they got "optimized for engagement."

Re: Social media addiction linked to cyberbullying

#12

Post by Nextgrid »

TheJoYo wrote: post #11
Jaygles wrote: post #5

I wonder if social media had the potential to be a force of good or if it was doomed from the start. I'd like to run an AB experiment where social media companies didn't optimize for engagement. And maybe an AB experiment where they tried to optimize for healthy usage, even if it harmed engagement.

I've been using a chronological order social media for a couple of years now and I wouldn't trade it for a sorting algo. Sure, I miss some things that are likely interesting and sometimes I need to mute some that post too often. I think content tagging is what people were really asking for when they got "optimized for engagement."

Is there a mainstream social media platform that still supports a chronological order? Twitter is the closest one but as far as I know they still periodically reset the feed to the algorithmic one, overriding your previous decision.

Re: Social media addiction linked to cyberbullying

#15

Post by DoreenMichele »

colloq wrote: post #9
DoreenMichele wrote: post #4

What I'm not seeing is what is going on in the lives of these people that fosters such negative behavior. These studies almost never ask questions like "Are you being abused by your parents?" or "Have you been molested?" There is this presumption that they engage in malicious behavior simply because they think they can get away with it, basically. It's an "idle hands are the devil's workshop" theory and generally lac…

I don't think it's only adolescents. You can see rich Google employees bullying poorer developers on Twitter in the name of social justice. Some of the bullies must be at least 50 years old. Social media and Twitter are bad because you can form virtual tribes and yield to age-old instincts. The more individualistic people are, the less they join those tribes. Individualists tend to be grumpy though, for which they ar…

In recent years, I have found my internet experiences enormously frustrating because I used to have real friends via internet.

We exchanged Christmas presents. They helped me sort out how to raise my challenging children. I always had someone to talk with any time of the day or night when I was having insomnia or whatever.

And I haven't had stuff like in recent years. I just thought it was me because I spent a few years homeless.

But then I run into comments like this one that posit people can either connect socially and be assholes or have a mind of their own and (implicitly) no friends and be grumpy.

I don't know what the hell is going on in the world, but maybe my internet life going to hell isn't just about my life going to hell. Maybe there's something else going on and it's sort of "coincidence" that my internet life went to hell at the same time that my actual life went to hell.

But in my experience life does not compel you to either have a mind of your own or have social connections. And having social connections doesn't compel you to go along with being part of a lynch mob or some shit.

That's never how my life worked. I used to have friends and a mind of my own. I still have a mind of my own, but I've mostly not had friends in a long time.

I kept thinking "I must be doing it wrong," but maybe not. Maybe the internet isn't what it used to be or something.

Re: Social media addiction linked to cyberbullying

#16

Post by diogenescynic »

Wohlf wrote: post #8
DoreenMichele wrote: post #4

What I'm not seeing is what is going on in the lives of these people that fosters such negative behavior. These studies almost never ask questions like "Are you being abused by your parents?" or "Have you been molested?" There is this presumption that they engage in malicious behavior simply because they think they can get away with it, basically. It's an "idle hands are the devil's workshop" theory and generally lac…

I would bet on a large scale it's not people who are being abused, just people who are miserable and unhappy with their lives for whatever reason.

This. It's the modern equivalent of breaking windows on an old building or setting off fireworks or some other adolescent destructive behavior. It's just they have access to a new platform to conduct this behavior on. These people always existed--people just didn't have to see it and it wasn't easily accessible like it is now.

Re: Social media addiction linked to cyberbullying

#17

Post by echelon »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #4

What I'm not seeing is what is going on in the lives of these people that fosters such negative behavior. These studies almost never ask questions like "Are you being abused by your parents?" or "Have you been molested?" There is this presumption that they engage in malicious behavior simply because they think they can get away with it, basically. It's an "idle hands are the devil's workshop" theory and generally lac…

I wonder what happens to bullies when they grow up.

Do they start behaving good to other people?

Do they recognize their past behavior and feel bad for it?

Re: Social media addiction linked to cyberbullying

#18

Post by Lammy »

colloq wrote: post #9
DoreenMichele wrote: post #4

What I'm not seeing is what is going on in the lives of these people that fosters such negative behavior. These studies almost never ask questions like "Are you being abused by your parents?" or "Have you been molested?" There is this presumption that they engage in malicious behavior simply because they think they can get away with it, basically. It's an "idle hands are the devil's workshop" theory and generally lac…

I don't think it's only adolescents. You can see rich Google employees bullying poorer developers on Twitter in the name of social justice. Some of the bullies must be at least 50 years old. Social media and Twitter are bad because you can form virtual tribes and yield to age-old instincts. The more individualistic people are, the less they join those tribes. Individualists tend to be grumpy though, for which they ar…

My personal rule of thumb is that I don’t trust anybody whose Twitter profile picture is a photo of themselves.

Re: Social media addiction linked to cyberbullying

#19

Post by Chazprime »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #4

What I'm not seeing is what is going on in the lives of these people that fosters such negative behavior. These studies almost never ask questions like "Are you being abused by your parents?" or "Have you been molested?" There is this presumption that they engage in malicious behavior simply because they think they can get away with it, basically. It's an "idle hands are the devil's workshop" theory and generally lac…

I think looking for deeper motivations such as abuse will likely prove fruitless in these cases.

A few years ago the 14-year old old daughter of a coworker of mine got into a lot of trouble after being revealed as the person (cyber)bullying two classmates because they were "flaunting their new iPhones on social media too much". Anecdotal for sure, but kids can be mean and with the internet still offering a veil of anonymity, incidents like this are bound to happen.

Re: Social media addiction linked to cyberbullying

#20

Post by [deleted] »

Chazprime wrote: post #19
DoreenMichele wrote: post #4

What I'm not seeing is what is going on in the lives of these people that fosters such negative behavior. These studies almost never ask questions like "Are you being abused by your parents?" or "Have you been molested?" There is this presumption that they engage in malicious behavior simply because they think they can get away with it, basically. It's an "idle hands are the devil's workshop" theory and generally lac…

I think looking for deeper motivations such as abuse will likely prove fruitless in these cases. A few years ago the 14-year old old daughter of a coworker of mine got into a lot of trouble after being revealed as the person (cyber)bullying two classmates because they were "flaunting their new iPhones on social media too much". Anecdotal for sure, but kids can be mean and with the internet still offering a veil of an…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN