Live data from Hacker News

Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns

nytimes.com

21–30 of 548 posts

Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What reasonable action could be taken on the parent side? I feel like apps should be regulated to for example, only show up to 20 videos max on tiktok per day to prevent doom scrolling. I don't think preventing kids from accessing social media entirely is viable or reasonable.

Don't give your kid a smartphone or laptop without only whitelisting certain sites. If they somehow get a device without permission, it gets donated.

Isolating them from their peers can be just as mentally devastating. I don't think there is a good solution to this.

Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't give your kid a smartphone or laptop without only whitelisting certain sites. If they somehow get a device without permission, it gets donated.

Isolating them from their peers can be just as mentally devastating. I don't think there is a good solution to this.

They can deal with it. In middle school, I was called a faggot, relentlessly, for not owning a Jansport backpack. I am 100% serious. They'll find friends, I'm pretty sure of it.

Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns

#24
post #5

[flagged]

Ehh Do you believe that you realistically can change grown ass, old adults? They had plenty of time to realize and should have known better. I dont think there is a hope for them. Bet on the youth, they are still malleable

> Bet on the youth, they are still malleable

Yes, they're the most vulnerable to online propaganda.

Sounds like a good reason to keep them away from social media.

Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't give your kid a smartphone or laptop without only whitelisting certain sites. If they somehow get a device without permission, it gets donated.

Isolating them from their peers can be just as mentally devastating. I don't think there is a good solution to this.

Sounds like MAAD: Mutually Assured Attention Destruction.

Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't give your kid a smartphone or laptop without only whitelisting certain sites. If they somehow get a device without permission, it gets donated.

Isolating them from their peers can be just as mentally devastating. I don't think there is a good solution to this.

[deleted]

Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns

#28
It also can be a 'profound life safer' to youth people which live has been saved by the internet warn.

It also helps a lot with democracy as it's much harder for autocratic states (or governments aspiring to become such) to censor and mute the news about their bad deeds.

The main problem I'm seeing is not "social media" but how exactly it is implemented, often stuffed full of dark patterns designed to lead to addictive behavior and nearly always with no consequence to people which try to use it for scams (targeting young people) harassment and similar.

IMHO we need laws to ban "dark patterns" and "engineered addiction" as well as a system to handle and reduce harassment and other abuse. That alone might make enough difference to make any further steps unnecessary. But to be safe early (and reoccurring) education about social media, social media hygiene, and media manipulation would be excellent additions. Just not seeing most governments doing the later point, as it probably would mean them not getting elected again in the future.

Another "problem" is that the internet in general allow young people to relatively early see how messed up the world is and at the same time how the people in power often double down on it to gain more power then to fix it. This can lead to a feeling of helplessness and despair young people preferably should not be exposed to. At the same time denying them access to the truth doesn't seem right either. In the end despair and helplessness are like poison, it is what drives people to suicide and it is also what often is a major factor for weather or not a "bad situation" becomes a trauma or not.

Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns

#30
post #6

I argue social media is a profound risk to anyone. It's an entire industry that's made to exploit every insecurity and vulnerability within a human psyche. Nervous about vaccines? Sure, you can go to your local doctor, but in the meantime you ask your fellow parents on Facebook and suddenly someone tells you that not only do these vaccines have the potential to fuck up your child for life, that doctors are totally in…

[flagged]

That’s a particularly hot take but I think it’s interesting. Lots of actual honest to goodness damage to the very fabric of society in recent years was done by adults using this tech, not adolescent girls.

I understand Protecting The Children, but I can also sympathize with them pointing to us and saying “What the F have you been up to old man? Done destroying the world already? Lets focus on other things rather than controlling us for our supposed own sake.”

Post reply on HN