91–100 of 231 posts
Why isn’t the mental health of people using its platform a priority for Facebook?
I've no love for Facebook and the rest of social media - I can't help but hear this latest warning as just the current "think of the children". We've had Elvis's hips, communists, hippies, satanic rock, video-nasties, murder-simulating computer games, raves and have worked our way through at least 3 waves of 'internet panic' My guess is we'll rank this discussion in retrospect the same way as those previous 'issues'…
I don't think everyone sees it as just a "children" issue - it's not like the topic doesn't come up when it's about adults. But children is the angle laws can hit the easiest, and it does hit an extra "think of the children" emotional spot. And mental health among adults is more of a taboo topic politically. So I think it is a mix.
This also seems to be an obvious counter to the implied hypothesis that "rate of depression increases linearly with facebook usage" since they launched in like 2005 or so, grew steadily from at least 2007, and also have most likely seen a significant decline in usage among adolescents in the recent years.
will we live to see the day of wanting to 'work for a faang' as seeming as morally repugnant as wanting to work for monsanto, blackwater, etc? i guess nobody cares _really_ because everyone is addicted to their products, and no one wants to stop using the products because of fear of missing out. they should look into seeing if this stuff is actually making people depressed
This article discusses correlational evidence. The basis for causation is speculative at best, and there is a long list of cofounding factors. The side effects of attempting to bar social media usage by teens might further amplify the problem, driving them away from carefully moderated platforms.
If you had a well formed hypothesis before conducting a correlational study, and the outcome supported your hypothesis, it is not "just speculative causation" anymore. In fact, short of human experimentation, that is as good of a data as we could ever get.
> The side effects of attempting to bar social media usage by teens might further amplify the problem, driving them away from carefully moderated platforms.
Is there any data, even correlational, for this particular speculation?
My Instagram is basically the same. Cars, hobby painting, and to be fair, puppies as well.
It's made me feel better.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
fwiw, this comment also isn't really in the spirit of the "open discussion" you miss.
The point was not made in a generous way, but it's worth considering that adolescence is famously - and in Western culture universally - viewed as a time of great emotional distress, raging hormones, rapid physical change, rebellion, and so on. And the OP's point was specifically that every generation seems to blame the "new thing" for this exact phenomenon, to the point where it is now obvious that it is not the "ne…
I like your post.
It's very odd, I use to use Instagram and it would make me depressed. IDK how to explain, I don't even have any friends on there I follow. Just something about seeing everyone at their best 100% of the time, doing amazing things 100% of the time, never facing adversity 100% of the time. I know it's not realistic but it still gets to your head. I uninstalled it from my phone I feel better about myself after a few week…
> IDK how to explain, I don't even have any friends on there I follow. Social media is best used for keeping in touch with friends and family. If you're just browsing popular photos from people you don't know, it's basically an interactive and targeted version of watching TV. We all grew up understanding that endless TV consumption is an unhealthy activity that we should minimize, but it has taken a while for the sam…
will we live to see the day of wanting to 'work for a faang' as seeming as morally repugnant as wanting to work for monsanto, blackwater, etc? i guess nobody cares _really_ because everyone is addicted to their products, and no one wants to stop using the products because of fear of missing out. they should look into seeing if this stuff is actually making people depressed
It already is the same to me. I do not respect anyone that works for Facebook. They are the same as working for RJ Reynolds tobacco to me. There is no safe dosage or way to use the Facebook product. Maybe we thought there was, but I don't know of anyone that is not harmed by it that has an account. Apple - some things good (well designed products), some things bad (phone addiction is a real problem, but they do at le…
Consider wiktionary's definitions of the word 'binge':
> A short period of excessive consumption, especially of food, alcohol, narcotics, etc.
> (by extension) A short period of an activity done in excess, such as watching a television show.
The word 'binge' is often used by people to describe their netflix habits (https://hn.algolia.com/?query=netflix%20binge&sort=byPopular...). Insofar as the design of netflix encourages binge consumption, I think netflix is harmful.
Note that Facebook does not have the choice to agree. To do so would be to open Facebook to unimaginable legal liability. So Facebook's opinion in the matter is moot. There are practically no inputs to this function that will change its behavior.
Is it your position that if someone produces content that causes depression, that they are liable for damages? Do you also extend this legal opinion you likely just made up and have no subject matter knowledge on to other forms of media or websites? Depressing music? Depressing novels? Depressing video games? Or is it only depressing social media websites that you feel are held to some kind of standard about depression?