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

nytimes.com

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

#441

Post by lumb63 »

nullsense wrote: post #420
lumb63 wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Or, you know, compare the number of school shootings to literally any other country in the world? The fact that there are school shootings for the media to report on at all is so crazy to me.

Why do you care so much about school shootings specifically? Shouldn’t be the goal to reduce overall child mortality? In which case it doesn’t make sense to focus on school shootings. They’re a rounding error in child mortality. Compare actual death rates between first-world countries to see what I mean; the US lags behind its Western peers, but the presence of school shootings, which is generally referred to as a decidedly American problem, is not nearly large enough to make an appreciable difference [1].

[1]: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/youth-mortality-rate

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

#442

Post by hobo_in_library »

kredd wrote: post #380
lumb63 wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I understand. Do you not understand that every child in this country is acutely aware of the existence of school shootings, and for many of them it absolutely is a cause of significant anxiety, because the media has shown them school shootings, and has told them to be anxious about them? Look at death statistics for young people [1]. There are many causes of death which children are not scared of, despite them b…

You’re arguing 0.7% chance of being in a school shooting shouldn’t worry a teenager, for other commentators that’s just a mind-blowing percentage. I think that’s a cultural distinction, since if that was the case, most of people I know would do anything that’s possible to avoid their child to beat that statistic.

If 0.7% is accurate, then your kid's chances of dying in a car crash for any given year (1 in 93 = 1.07% [1]) is less than your chance of being in a school shooting during your entire childhood!

But the cultural framing (or lack thereof) makes the risk of driving in a car _feel_ like it's completely different

[1] https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable-death-o...

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

#443

Post by mixmastamyk »

yamazakiwi wrote: post #247
yumraj wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but giving teenagers zero privacy (to the extent of going through their personal messages) seems wild to me. Why? Teenagers are kids too, or have we forgotten that? They are actually worse than kids in some respect, still immature but with changing body and new hormones. It may seem weird to them at this time, but hopefully they’ll appreciate when they grow older - or even if not, at least one did what they could.

My Parents gave me no privacy when I was a teenager. Guess what I learned? I learned that it was easier to lie and hide who I was than to be honest. I got better at lying and deceiving because it was a necessity. It was easy to get around their rules eventually; after all, I was a child with unlimited time and desperation to live my way. None of the children in my family talk to my parents anymore and most left home…

No one is advocating the extremes you mention.

No on-device privacy is different than no privacy.

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

#444

Post by tjpnz »

Not taking any chances here. When mine are old enough I'm blocking all SNS in my home at the network level and applying parental controls to their mobile devices. Fuck Mark Zuckerberg and all of the charlatans who've followed in his footsteps.

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

#445

Post by mixmastamyk »

swader999 wrote: post #21
youreincorrect wrote: post #16

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.

That's what soccer leagues are for. Or chess club for the non-athletically inclined.

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

#446

Post by sundvor »

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…

If you wonder why the rest of the world looks at USA funny, here's a counter point:

There are 9614 schools in Australia, and since 1992 there's been a total of six shootings resulting in a sum of 3 deaths. The deaths were at universities, so strictly speaking no children were lost. There have been no more school shootings since 2012, a year that took no lives.

By US standards we could have 3-4 shootings per year and that would be "not regular"?

Christ.

As a parent in Australia, youth violence with knives as well as distracted drivers concern me. Guns? Not even on my radar.

(https://www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/could-a-mass-shoo...)

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

#447

Post by r00fus »

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…

All of those things impact family stability and happiness. That impacts kids' lives quite immensely.

Social media isn't the cure, but it sure as hell didn't cause all those other things.

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

#448

Post by r00fus »

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…

Every single school has an "active shooter" drill. Some boneheaded admins even have a fake instigator come onto campus.

It's extremely disruptive to a child's psyche even if they are never unlucky enough to be at one of the weekly school shootings (which is a horrifically dystopic line that I'd never considered possible 20 years ago).

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

#449

Post by dahwolf »

The warning is correct, I'm really quite sure that any sane individual readily observes that being chronically online isn't exactly good for you. They'll notice this in others but most also have the self-awareness to see the problem in themselves.

Providing "guidance" on adequate use sounds so naive though. It's like telling an overweight person that the guidance is to eat less. Trust me, they know this already.

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

#450

Post by clove »

theGnuMe wrote: post #429
nullsense wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, you know, compare the number of school shootings to literally any other country in the world? The fact that there are school shootings for the media to report on at all is so crazy to me.

American’s think guns keep them free. In fact they just hold them hostage.

"American is think guns keep them free. In fact Americans just hold guns hostage."

What a sentence.

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