Social media is poison for young minds. My oldest is going into middle school. I'll get him a phone but he will not be allowed to use social media. This includes YouTube. There is no need for it. We already track his iPad use and will do the same with the phone. He does sports, boxing and math tutoring, if he needs more social interaction he can hang out with friends. There is literally nothing on social media that I think a middle school kid needs exposure to in order to become a successful, good, and well rounded person.
Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
71–80 of 548 posts
Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
What are your specific concerns with the advice given in the social media warning?
> What are your specific concerns with the advice given in this warning? Social media upturns traditional government controlled information transmission. E.g. the US government built its case for the Iraq War partly on fake information run by the NYT (by the currently media-respected journalist Judith Miller). Control of information transmission by attempting to FUD alternative means is a way to consolidate opinions…
Thanks for the details.
I’ve updated many of my comments as I’ve researched.
Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
#73Earlier 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.
Aren't there at least a few studies that indicate better long-term mental health outcomes among kids who don't use social media until later in life? Sorry for the lack of citation, but if that is true, wouldn't that pretty much obviate this problem? If, on balance, the outcome is better, then whatever short terms shocks they may experience are better than the alternative.
Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
#74Earlier 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.
Abstaining from social media is not isolation. There are more healthy ways to interact with friends without the perils of social media platforms.
Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
#75I get it, I agree with it, but I also grew up with unfettered access to the Internet during a period of time when the World Wide Web was growing and maturing and you saw a lot of stuff you shouldn’t have as a kid. It seems like extreme helicoptering to restrict your children from things like this that are in the world and it’s an easy way out. Hey! All of a sudden you don’t have to parent. Some software can do it for…
When we were growing up, people weren't getting paid to get us to click on lemonparty.
Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
it is guaranteed at least subtle socially isolating them
No more so than it's isolating them by giving them a curfew, telling them they can't hang out in certain places, not giving them a car, etc. That level of "isolation" seems innocuous at worst to me (even though it may seem like the end of the world to the kids).
Every kid through history was horribly isolated before we got smartphones and social media, I guess.
They're already spending the best hours of every weekday for like 3/4 of each year with their peers. More, if they do any other activities that involve other kids. Seems like quite a bit. I'm skeptical that they'll be harmed if they can't catch up on the latest bullying-memes, creep shots of other students, and tips for getting old guys to send you money online (all real examples, and none of them one-offs—trends) at 1AM on a school night.
Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
#77Earlier 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.
I don’t have time right now to go into details but it was surprisingly simple, from a filter rules perspective, to create an “iMessage only” access point.
So there is no isolation from peers, but also no other usage of the device.
We turn it off completely at 9pm.
Edit: oh, the other important detail is that they have no-data SIM cards. Tello sells text and talk only sims for $8/mo or whatever. Weirdly, when they are away from home, apple finds a way to tunnel blue bubbles through (sms only) … not sure how … bottom line is, at home, it’s iMessage or nothing.
Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
#78Earlier 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.
Thankfully, there are other ways of interacting with one's peers, most of which create more meaningful connections than social media.
To put it more bluntly: if social media is the only thing standing between a child and total isolation, that child has far bigger problems.
Maybe sign your kid up for little league?
Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
#79I think we are on the tail end of a generation that grew up without internet trying to govern generations that did. The single question that helps me decide whether someone is equipped to address the underlying problem, is asking if they understand the differences between good and bad social media. The difference between good and bad social media is based on the target audience and how potential dark patterns impleme…
I quibble with the notion that there is "good" and "bad" social media, at least as you implicitly defined.
Facebook was amazing when it first came out because it allowed people to keep in touch easier and share photos with each other. It also is arguably the progenitor of "bad" social media with tallied likes/reactions and algorithmic skinner boxing of posts.
Unfortunately, it boils down more to usage than whether or not a site is a "good/bad" social media. And even a good one can turn bad if it gets too popular and the culture dies (reddit)
I don't really know how to feel about it. To me, it feels like smartphones. I recognize the utility but at the same time know that the manufacturers/developers are intentionally designing psychologically addictive patterns to keep me engaged, and am inclined to utilize it less as a result. Which in turn limits the utility I get out of them!
Re: Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns
#80Earlier 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.
How are they isolated? If kids are involved in sports and extra curriculars they will have plenty of social interaction. Nothing on social media is good for young minds. Everything is a pitch trying to sell some sort of viewpoint. I'm the parent, I'll provide morals and insight into topics I think are important that aren't or shouldn't be covered in school. I don't need Jim.lottahoes78 teaching my kid anything.