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California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

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Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#131
It's really hard to take some of the arguments shifting the blame from the companies to the parents or the child themselves when their livelihood depends on those companies.

They're weaponizing hundreds of years of human psychology research for profit.

Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#132
post #72

Creating regulations like this may end up acting as a regulatory moat for existing social network companies. This probably makes the overall social media pie smaller overall but guarantees incumbents slice of the pie. We've seen this happen in other highly regulated areas such as healthcare, telecommunications, etc. I suspect the way things are trending, in 10 years, very few entrepreneurs would be willing to start a…

> very few entrepreneurs would be willing to start a new social media company. I’m not sure this is a bad thing. Is the world better and happier from social media? Do we want it to keep rising from the ashes and sowing misery, ignorance, and depression? Maybe it is my nostalgia glasses but I feel like everyone I know was happier when the only way to communicate long distance for the average person was a rotary phone…

Preventing competition in social media won't eliminate it - it will prevent innovative new entrants from solving its issues, while allowing the status quo to continue and likely deteriorate further.

Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#133
post #5

If only there was a way parents could exert some sort of influence or authority over these children to prevent what they believe is harmful. We could call it “parenting”.

When it's a few people, the individual is the problem. When it's a large percentage of people, it's a systemic problem.

Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only parents could exert some sort of influence or authority over others harming their children. We could call it "sueing".

Why just limit it social media? Why not also include video games, streaming services, movies, etc.?

You can. You just have to make a strong enough argument to prove video games cause violence for a judge to let the case proceed. There's a reason it doesn't matter and it's not because video games are beyond banning.

Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#135
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A controversial take. We should consider individuals aren't able to parent their kids effectively. Would you rather trust two exhausted individuals or a huge army of trained professionals at payroll by government to parent the kids? There is very less transfer of knowledge and the worldview of individual parents is often limited. If there is an organization parenting thousands of kids, they can run A/B tests, see res…

While I appreciate the social cohesion and equality of opportunity such a totalitarian indoctrination and control could provide, it’s anathema to most Westerners. I would not support it. Certainly it’s the fastest way to curb religious extremism, racism, and other social ills. Sadly it’s also the fastest way to create them.

> Certainly it’s the fastest way to curb religious extremism, racism, and other social ills.

Specifically, it eliminates extremism by extinguishing religious and cultural groups in their entirety. Under some definitions and the specific intentions/targeted groups, this can even qualify as genocide.

Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#136
post #63

I don't have children but am closely befriended with a few couples that I see almost every week that do have children. All are of a similar age, and I've seen them grow up from birth to their current age of about 12-14. I wanted to share some observations as a "neutral" observer... Their first device is the iPad, starting at about 3-4 y/o and I've seen a case as young as 1 y/o. Before the iPad, the children act natur…

You are effectively absolving the parents of responsibility even at ages as low as 3-4(!). I'll say this: I think it's very fashionable to put no guilt on anyone ever even when it's objectively clear who's guilty. Same goes for sugar intake. Children don't have jobs, they have no money of their own. They are not going to get addicted to sugar products unless you give them the money to buy these products or you buy them. My parents gave me 8€ a month. I got addicted to sugar products because my parents bought cereal and I ate it with milk every day and then I ate toast with nutella. Once again: This is the fault of parents, not the 4 year old or 6 year old or frankly even the 13 year old. They have no money to buy an ipad or even a single candy bar unless you give it to them. And no, they also don't "need" a smartphone. Other kids bully them if they don't have a smartphone? Tough, get over it. I got weird looks because my parents gave me rainbow colored pants to wear and I had acne. Tough stuff, I guess life isn't perfect. Casinos, alcohol and smoking are addictive too, my parents always warned me about that. So that's why I never got into those things. I was warned by good parents (in that area). I was never warned about sugar, they didn't care or know. So I got into sugar.

Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> very few entrepreneurs would be willing to start a new social media company. I’m not sure this is a bad thing. Is the world better and happier from social media? Do we want it to keep rising from the ashes and sowing misery, ignorance, and depression? Maybe it is my nostalgia glasses but I feel like everyone I know was happier when the only way to communicate long distance for the average person was a rotary phone…

Yes, it's a very bad thing. There are a lot of different types of social media. How about projects with Discourse forums? That could be considered social media. Do you want to force them onto Facebook?

From the article:

> The proposal would only apply to social media companies that had at least $100 million in gross revenue in the past year

And also:

> Also, companies that conduct regular audits of their practices to identify and remove features that could be addictive to children would be immune from lawsuits.

...if a company is earning $100 million per year from their social media product I think I'm kind of okay with demanding they spend a person-day every couple months verifying that they're not adding features classed as addictive to children.

I'm not really seeing where your outrage is coming from, here.

Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#138
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's a very bad thing. There are a lot of different types of social media. How about projects with Discourse forums? That could be considered social media. Do you want to force them onto Facebook?

Discord doesn't have an addictive algorithm and seems like it would be totally safe.

The question isn't whether you think they have an addictive algorithm, the question is whether a lawyer can convince a jury that they fit the law's definition of one.

Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A controversial take. We should consider individuals aren't able to parent their kids effectively. Would you rather trust two exhausted individuals or a huge army of trained professionals at payroll by government to parent the kids? There is very less transfer of knowledge and the worldview of individual parents is often limited. If there is an organization parenting thousands of kids, they can run A/B tests, see res…

If you had any experience with child protection services you would know that it is just a 9 to 5 job for those people and they do not love the kids (I don't mean that harshly doctors don't cry every time a patient dies on them). Parental love is an impossible thing to simulate.

Child protective services seem like exactly the kind of job that you cannot do if you care too much about the kids you see. For very similar reasons to the doctor example. The entire job is visiting children in terrible situations and deciding whether forcibly taking them away from their homes and families would better for them on-the-balance. If you get it wrong you might make things far worse for the very kids you want to help, and even the ideal outcome may still suck for everyone involved. Personally, I could never do it. Certainly not while keeping my sanity

Re: California parents could soon sue for social media addiction

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> very few entrepreneurs would be willing to start a new social media company. I’m not sure this is a bad thing. Is the world better and happier from social media? Do we want it to keep rising from the ashes and sowing misery, ignorance, and depression? Maybe it is my nostalgia glasses but I feel like everyone I know was happier when the only way to communicate long distance for the average person was a rotary phone…

Yes, it's a very bad thing. There are a lot of different types of social media. How about projects with Discourse forums? That could be considered social media. Do you want to force them onto Facebook?

I think they're safe from addiction.
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