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Big Tech as the New Big Tobacco

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Re: Big Tech as the New Big Tobacco

#121

Post by lr4444lr »

tomcam wrote: post #58
lr4444lr wrote: post #44

Gonna risk the downvotes and qualify that I am a parent who keeps social media away from my kids: what big tech is peddling is IMHO not on the level of addiction, carcinogenicity and all cause mortality as smoking. It's up to me to raise a mentally resilient kid, part of which is limiting their screen time, but it is not something I cut out altogether. It's not like I have some special parenting power to protect thei…

I made a terrible mistake with my children at the dawn of social media. I would love it if you contacted me because I think you’re generally on the right course.

I really have no insight as to how to get the horse back into the barn, and suggest looking for professional help for yoyr kids.

All I can tell you is that my kids do not ask for social media or even screens that much because I plan outings for them that are more interesting and exciting - and that isn't about spending a ton of money or going very far, just being creative about how to frame what we're doing. For example, when planning to go to the local pool, I make up a story about how at their age I was able to run across the pool in X seconds, and that if they can break my record 5 times, I'll take them out to a restaurant for dinner the next day. Then when we are there, I'll also break out some plastic water toys that I didn't tell them about.

I just make family time more fun in terms of anticipation and surprises than being online.

Re: Big Tech as the New Big Tobacco

#122

Post by tomcam »

lr4444lr wrote: post #121
tomcam wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made a terrible mistake with my children at the dawn of social media. I would love it if you contacted me because I think you’re generally on the right course.

I really have no insight as to how to get the horse back into the barn, and suggest looking for professional help for yoyr kids. All I can tell you is that my kids do not ask for social media or even screens that much because I plan outings for them that are more interesting and exciting - and that isn't about spending a ton of money or going very far, just being creative about how to frame what we're doing. For exam…

Too late for me. I just had some thoughts about how you might avoid some of the traps we didn’t.

Re: Big Tech as the New Big Tobacco

#123

Post by ksec »

paxys wrote: post #52
enumjorge wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of the companies you mentioned have non trivial investments in ads. I recently was surprised to find how big of an ad business Adobe has for example. Not sure that these companies would cease to exist if it weren’t for advertising but ads do influence these companies’ products.

Everyone has an investment in ads. Think news media, movies, TV, fashion, your local grocery store, a bus with a billboard on its side. That's just how the world runs. If you want to hold it against them then you are basically ranting against all of capitalism rather than anything specific to "big tech".

>If you want to hold it against them....

From 2018 to 2022, 95% of HN comments on the subject were against any form of Ads. Those who stood up for ads, were the absolute minority.

But then I guess you are right. Because those group of people are also the ones "ranting against all of capitalism".

Re: Big Tech as the New Big Tobacco

#124

Post by gumby »

paxys wrote: post #94
gumby wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That ship has sailed. “Tech” is simply a positioning or branding term. Meta and Amazon are businesses that depend on developing technology (so are true tech companies as much as NVIDIA or Apple) but nowadays “tech” merely means at best “online”. Most so-called “tech” companies don’t actually develop any technology at all, often being less technical than a non-“tech” company like, say, State Farm. The term has become…

It's a bit of both. "Tech" is any company that can rely on technology rather than manpower and raw materials to scale up. Everyone wants to position themselves as such, but the truth always shows up on the balance sheet.

Merely using technology is what all businesses do, from the inclined plane to the microprocessor these days.

An X business is one that differentiates itself on factor X. If they use it in a truly innovative way (which changes — what was innovative in the 90s is commodity today) or develop new technologies in house than you’re a tech business.

Re: Big Tech as the New Big Tobacco

#125

Post by eindiran »

ke88y wrote: post #89
eindiran wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I legitimately can't tell if this is satire or not. > [E]ven in LA most restaurants don't have no prayer zones yet No municipality in a region with a bill of rights providing freedom of religion is going to create no prayer zones. > It's hard to go to dinner without the prayer drifting over from other tables This makes me think this is satire...

> I legitimately can't tell if this is satire or not. I mean... really? It's clearly satire. And fairly well constructed prose imo. What the author's actual point is, though, I have absolutely no idea. Maybe there is no point, and it's just pretty prose.

> What the author's actual point is, though, I have absolutely no idea.

This is what makes me unsure its satire; what is it poking fun at exactly? What is the metaphor?

> It's clearly satire.

I don't think it's "clearly" satire, though I lean in the direction that it probably is satire; I have heard plenty of SF rationalist types say similar things before, so on HN the probability that it isn't satire is much higher than in the outside world.

> And fairly well constructed prose imo.

Agreed. It is fun and well-constructed prose, which definitely earns it several points in the "probably satire" column.

Re: Big Tech as the New Big Tobacco

#126

Post by forgetbook »

tomcam wrote: post #122
lr4444lr wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really have no insight as to how to get the horse back into the barn, and suggest looking for professional help for yoyr kids. All I can tell you is that my kids do not ask for social media or even screens that much because I plan outings for them that are more interesting and exciting - and that isn't about spending a ton of money or going very far, just being creative about how to frame what we're doing. For exam…

Too late for me. I just had some thoughts about how you might avoid some of the traps we didn’t.

Would you be willingto post them publicly/here?
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