Social media can be a ‘profound risk’ to youth, surgeon general warns • Hacker News Board

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

#401

Post by goodpoint » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:43 PM UTC

somethingreen wrote: post #275

zackmorris wrote: post #173

D.A.R.E. to Keep Kids Off Social Media Wages stagnated since 1980. Rents doubling every decade. Dead-end service jobs. Unpayable student loans. Social Security payments going to IOUs instead of retirements. Lying politicians and chief corporate officers making bank on the backs of the working poor. 30% credit card interest. Delaying childbirth to make rent until it's too late. GMO and processed foods poisoning giving…

The idea that any of these would normally worry an average young teen is hilarious to me. I grew up during cold war, USSR collapse, multiple wars in the region. At no point was I (or any of my peers to my knowledge) gravely concerned for our future. Because none of us yet had any idea what our normal future is supposed to look like. The only way these mild horrors get into children heads is, again, through social med…

> The only way these mild horrors get into children heads is, again, through social media.

I never heard a better justification for blissful ignorance and no, it's not a good thing.

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

#402

Post by 29athrowaway » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:43 PM UTC

zackmorris wrote: post #173

D.A.R.E. to Keep Kids Off Social Media Wages stagnated since 1980. Rents doubling every decade. Dead-end service jobs. Unpayable student loans. Social Security payments going to IOUs instead of retirements. Lying politicians and chief corporate officers making bank on the backs of the working poor. 30% credit card interest. Delaying childbirth to make rent until it's too late. GMO and processed foods poisoning giving…

And there is an explanation for all that, partner. It's called: carrying capacity.

Nobody wants to see it but it is there.

Things are hard because they need to be hard, otherwise we would multiply out of control and devour the planet in no time.

If you give every person a house, lifetime supply of food, free education, guaranteed job, a vehicle, you would see the population going to 30 billion in 20 years. Then we would all perish.

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

#403

Post by zamnos » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:43 PM UTC

nvarsj wrote: post #374

dundercoder wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked in tech for 20+ years and I have 4 young kids. We allow our teenager use of a locked down smartphone, with a clearly explained zero expectation of privacy. We don't allow any social media on the phone itself. YouTube and other sites can be used under supervision for agreed on lengths of time. Once or twice a week my wife or I will go through their text messages with them and ask questions about anything t…

I know you mean well. But I strongly urge you to reconsider your parenting here. You should not be going through your teenager's text messages... that is absolutely insane. My parents were kind of similar and I had a very negative experience growing up as a result. I still remember my mom throwing out all my NiN CDs I had bought after she read the lyrics. And all my DnD material because Satan was controlling my brain…

how do you teach them what the right choices are if you don't actually see their choices? if your teenager is texting on TikTok with a 40 year old man who's asking them to send them underwear pictures, how do you find out about that except by reading their text messages?

we don't know from the singular fact that they're reading through teenagers text messages how heavy handed that monitoring is. Maybe there's a recurrence of satanic panic, but we don't actually know that. That you had that experience with your parents is awful but it sounds like parents are more likely to be their kids DnD DM than anything else these days.

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

#404

Post by goodpoint » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:44 PM UTC

dr_orpheus wrote: post #272

ericmcer wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People aren’t generally affected by issues that are out of sight like those you list. A classmate saying something critical about an teenagers appearance will be 100x more impactful than the rainforests imminent disappearance.

Mark Zuckerburg's quote: "a squirrel dying in your front yard may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa"

That says a lot about Zuckerburg. Unsurprisingly.

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

#405

Post by 29athrowaway » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:45 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #328

thanatos519 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll be astounded if we make it to 2050.

What a ridiculous statement.

It makes more sense than you think.

Before 2050 you will know that the Santa Claus that keeps putting food on your table is not real.

Topsoil depletion, groundwater depletion, overfishing, pollinators and insects dying, etc. And best of all: methane permafrost melting.

In the best case scenario we will all end up eating soylent green.

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

#406

Post by tyjen » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:46 PM UTC

runarberg wrote: post #244

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A burning natural world set to end between 2050 and 2100 Eh, climate change is a really big problem but you can't go around saying "the world is set to end between 2050 and 2100", it's obviously untrue and demotivating.

Most recent IPCC report stated that we are very likely to hit 1.5° in the next five years. If all our current policies hold, and we don’t continue to increase our annual emissions we will likely be looking at 2.7° - 3.2° at the end of this century. At 3° the oceans die. I think it is safe to say that the world as we know it is very likely coming to an end between 2050 and 2100. We will be living in a far more inhospi…

Oceans will not die, their biological makeup will change and adapt to new conditions.

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

#407

Post by Jedd » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:47 PM UTC

tantalor wrote: post #350

anigbrowl wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in approximately the same period and grim possibilities, along with local economic problems to a lesser extent, were certainly a concern for me and my peers. Other risks existed as well, kids in my neighborhood school died of drug overdoses, accidents, and medical problems. Others had to deal with poverty, abusive parents, or a family member behind bars. Back then middle aged people blamed television your a…

> School shootings are such a regular feature of American life... No they're not. > ...that every school holds safety drills for the risk. They also hold drills for tornado, fire, etc. These aren't regular parts of life either; they are emergencies for which people can prepare for the extremely rare chance it actually happens. We could debate the utility or practical implementation of active shooter drills compared t…

> No they're not.

Yes, they are.

But rather than merely gainsay, I'll support that by observing:

a) here in Australia we regularly, consistently, have zero school shootings each year. Can recommend.

b) you are probably misunderstanding the meaning of regular, and conflating it with frequent.

Halley's Comet is regular - at once every ~76 years. But obviously not frequent.

(I'd argue, as per (a), that the USA has too high a frequency of school shootings as well. If your tolerance for slaughtered children is higher than mine you may disagree with that claim.)

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

#408

Post by dathinab » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:49 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #140

yamtaddle wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 f…

If your kid is never isolated, how can they possibly develop healthy behaviors around boredom and isolation?

I hope you understand and just decided to pretend not to that _social_ isolation is not about physical isolation or boredom or having free time with nothing to do.

While the "simplest" way to archive social isolation is to be physically isolated you can be social isolated while having people around you 24/7.

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

#409

Post by jlawson » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:50 PM UTC

lumb63 wrote: post #337

anigbrowl wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in approximately the same period and grim possibilities, along with local economic problems to a lesser extent, were certainly a concern for me and my peers. Other risks existed as well, kids in my neighborhood school died of drug overdoses, accidents, and medical problems. Others had to deal with poverty, abusive parents, or a family member behind bars. Back then middle aged people blamed television your a…

> School shootings are such a regular feature of American life […] Media certainly amplifies the awareness of problems Case in point: in 2022 there were 51 school shootings [1]. Certainly more than I’d like there to be, but in a nation with about 129,000 schools [2], I certainly wouldn’t call them a “regular feature”. If students are in school for 18 years, let’s say, to include pre-K, Kindergarten, and an undergrad…

People are getting confused by the number posted which is badly distorting the discussion. 51 is NOT the number of intentional massacres of students or staff. It is the number of shootings on school grounds of all types _including accidents_.

Here is a real example from the list: "A student was shot and injured when a sheriff’s deputy’s gun accidentally discharged in a classroom during a law enforcement vocational training."

Another: "A male student shot and injured an 18-year-old student. Police say the shooting appeared to have resulted from a dispute between the students."

Read down the list and most are accidents, or take place outside the school (e.g. in parking lots) between 2-3 people. These are accidents and individual beefs between students. They have nothing to do with mass murder. They don't involve anyone outside the students concerned. You could be a student at a school during one of these "school shootings" and not even be aware of it.

It's why the _total_ number of deaths is only 40 (!) from those 51 shootings. 8 of those were teachers so the total number of student deaths was only 32.

"School shootings" in the sense of intentional mass murders are nearly nonexistent. The overwhelming majority of damage related to these events is caused by the media and institutions irresponsibly generating fear that creates real psychological problems and distorts decision-making. The fact that so many here on all sides seem to think that intentional massacres could possibly be happening on a weekly basis in America is a testament to the distortionary power of the media. The reality is simply nothing like that.

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

#410

Post by carabiner » Tue, May 23, 2023, 9:51 PM UTC

rovolo wrote: post #391

trillic wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a young adult who was recently a teenager, I can't help but feel concerned about the potential dangers of having no expectation of privacy from our parents, especially when it comes to reading through our text messages. While I understand the intention behind it, this practice can easily lead to conflicts and strained relationships. Teenagers are at a stage in their lives where they are trying to establish their i…

My partner's mom read her diary at ~11 and then got mad at her for writing about her frustrations with her mom. She then grounded my 18yo nibbling a couple weeks ago for writing the same sort of frustrations on the notes app on their phone (she's the legal guardian). My partner became withdrawn from her mom and kept all of her social life to herself, hidden from her mom.

"If you punish honesty, expect to be lied to."