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Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

nytimes.com

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Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#131

Post by paganel »

hiptobecubic wrote: post #123
dylan604 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>To be fair, isn't this how every generation looks down on the next generation? If we're talking about music, movies, fashion styles, etc, I'd say yes. However, no previous generation has had the juggernuat that is FB to compare to. FB has had more (at least potential) than any other source of influence on the younger generations especially those that are young enough to never know life without FB.

I'd say tv and radio were both comparable.

Fortunately TV and radio weren’t broadcasting what my peers/colleagues were doing in that very moment, so I wasn’t comparing myself to my school colleagues and I knew by definition that I wasn’t as cool as Kurt Cobain or Dr Alban (that’s what I saw on MTV back at that time). Not comparing myself with my peers almost each and every moment was a very good thing for adolescent me.

Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#132

Post by NelsonMinar »

shadowgovt wrote: post #110

The discussion in this thread is indicative as to why companies don't do research like this in the open.

Facebook doesn't do much research like this in the open either. The WSJ articles are largely based on leaked internal private reports. Their employees are leaking them because they're tired of being ignored.

Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#133

Post by hef19898 »

dylan604 wrote: post #128
hef19898 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, radio and cinema paved the way for modern mass propaganda. Sure, as a society we figured mass media out. The experiments involved a world war so. Sometimes I think that we will learn to handle social media, sometimes I worry about the damage social media, either directly or indirectly, do until we learned our lessons.

>Sure, as a society we figured mass media out. Are you saying this as in mass media is "safe" from manipulation? I would 100% disagree with that. Stating that it only took a world war to figure out mass media seems very odd as a qualifier. Along those same terms, social is leading us to world wide civil wars.

Ah no, quite the opposite. It is simply that we figured out mass media, and the ways it is manipulated and used for manipulation. We have not yet reached that with social media.

Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#134

Post by NelsonMinar »

'Facebook data scientists and researchers discussed how they were being “embarrassed” by their own employer.' Boy that's a mistake; we know as much as we do because Facebook employees are tired of being ignored by their executive team.

Do you work inside Facebook? Consider leaking what you know to a reporter or research group you trust. Jeff Horwitz of the WSJ may be a good option, he has contact info in his twitter bio https://twitter.com/JeffHorwitz

If you're involved in something you fear is illegal you may want to talk to a personal lawyer. And keep written records at home in a secure place.

Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#135

Post by shadowgovt »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #132
shadowgovt wrote: post #110

The discussion in this thread is indicative as to why companies don't do research like this in the open.

Facebook doesn't do much research like this in the open either. The WSJ articles are largely based on leaked internal private reports. Their employees are leaking them because they're tired of being ignored.

Correct, and the reason is clear. There is no incentive to do research like this in the open. Even asking the question is grounds for being pilloried in the court of public opinion.

Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#136

Post by tubby12345 »

hkaly wrote: post #3

Irony is Facebook will not attract the talent it needs to work constructively on these unsolvable problems. It will attract thd clueless and the most ambitious. People who are ready to defend it for their own profit. Its a trap where the hole they are in just keeps growing deeper.

The idea that FB will become a radioactive brand is wishful thinking that people indulge in with every new FB "scandal". Recruiting (yes even from "target" schools) hasn't slowed one bit. And regarding eg FAIR: The ones that have started murmuring about jumping ship are not the ones that are excellent but the ones that have outsized ideas of themselves as do-gooders.

Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#137

Post by chrisseaton »

dylan604 wrote: post #121
amelius wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just observe a teenager of your family to see the values that are being taught through it. Is this how you want the next generation to be? To be fair, isn't this how every generation looks down on the next generation? > We don't even need clinical reporting to tell that instagram has a bad effect on teens. Sorry, we can't leave this to armchair psychologists.

>To be fair, isn't this how every generation looks down on the next generation? If we're talking about music, movies, fashion styles, etc, I'd say yes. However, no previous generation has had the juggernuat that is FB to compare to. FB has had more (at least potential) than any other source of influence on the younger generations especially those that are young enough to never know life without FB.

> However, no previous generation has had the juggernuat that is...

Every single generation for all of time has said this.

Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#138

Post by heresie-dabord »

shadowgovt wrote: post #109
heresie-dabord wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Facebook is such a terrible human manipulation company $X is such a terrible human manipulation $enterprise. Let's not be naive about the nature of prominent elements in our society. To take action against FB, one would establish precedent to curtail many types of widely-accepted manipulation and exploitation, not to mention corporate machiavellianism. (Machiavelli seems thoroughly benign these days.) "Social media…

Maybe, maybe not. We took action against the cigarette companies and it didn't establish that precedent.

Interesting discussion.

The tobacco settlement was a settlement. It didn't put the poisoners out of business. Their poison is still sold in our society. People -- including young people -- are still smoking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Master_Settlement_Agre...

FB isn't some harmful drug like thalidomide, nor does it cause concussions or cancer. It's going to be a subtle battle to wage, and must take into consideration that all the rotten and stupid behaviours of FB/social-media users -- as well as pathological behaviours -- were observable and demonstrable both outside of and long before social-media business.

It's the implicit rule in our society that children should be protected, but foolish adults can be maximally abused.

Maximally-abused adults are not going to do much for progress or for children. For example, children and young adults are still encouraged to play concussion sports, despite the evidence.

Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#139

Post by dylan604 »

hef19898 wrote: post #133
dylan604 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Sure, as a society we figured mass media out. Are you saying this as in mass media is "safe" from manipulation? I would 100% disagree with that. Stating that it only took a world war to figure out mass media seems very odd as a qualifier. Along those same terms, social is leading us to world wide civil wars.

Ah no, quite the opposite. It is simply that we figured out mass media, and the ways it is manipulated and used for manipulation. We have not yet reached that with social media.

Have we though? As an example Fox/CNN/etc all have opinion shows advertised as "news" programming. People listen to these opinions as news. So have we really figured out mass media?

Re: Facebook Struggles to Quell Uproar over Instagram’s Effect on Teens

#140

Post by dylan604 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #137
dylan604 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>To be fair, isn't this how every generation looks down on the next generation? If we're talking about music, movies, fashion styles, etc, I'd say yes. However, no previous generation has had the juggernuat that is FB to compare to. FB has had more (at least potential) than any other source of influence on the younger generations especially those that are young enough to never know life without FB.

> However, no previous generation has had the juggernuat that is... Every single generation for all of time has said this.

they have said this, but please, provide an example of prior generation's FB level juggernaut of manipulation
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