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Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

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Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#291

Post by signaru »

raziel2p wrote: post #245
rgbrenner wrote: post #145

The author had it right in the first paragraph. In the 90s version of this hysteria, Congress passed a law that would have prevented access to education medical information, dirty curse words, and other filth from being published on the internet to protect the children. The federal government fought a case all the way to the Supreme Court to enforce it. If they had won that case, the internet would look very differen…

> if you don't like these products and feel they are negative, then don't use them It's really not that simple. The products have become so widespread and influential that they change the very culture of our society for the worse. It doesn't matter whether you abstain from using Instagram or not, some of your friends will still be more or less subtly influenced by its existence in your social interactions. There's a…

And then there are also those companies/institutions/orgs/news/shops that make you left behind from otherwise useful information or services by not being on social media platforms.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#292

Post by sambazi »

Capricorn2481 wrote: post #230
ImPleadThe5th wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While both paternalism. Requiring safety features on a saw does not restrict free speech. It's more akin to seatbelt laws. It's also made to protect everyone who uses a table saw and not just children. Imo, I do think social media needs to be reeled in by policy. But I can see why it makes people uncomfortable and why there is a difference with the saw.

How does not having social media restrict free speech? Do you think free speech didn't exist before social media? Arguably, the presence of social media homogenizes the speech we're allowed to have.

good point.

a lot of ppl got reeled into the narrative that social media can democratize (free) publication of conversations and ideas, thou it is dominated by monetary incentives that mandate propaganda/advertising and in turn moderation and censorship.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#293

Post by itronitron »

brailsafe wrote: post #47
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #9

I feel so bad for teenagers/kids who we essentially screwed over with this tech experience. That said, I don't feel great for the rest of us either! I feel like my phone has become a significant negative in my life. And in general, I'm quite scared because we have put things in place that we know are bad for mental health: 1. Even if we may not like it all the time, there is tons of data that show that personal inter…

Your points here are worth more emphasis. As a chronically unemployed software dev who's burnt out and crashed at least 3 times, I've spent a hell of a lot of time reflecting, and try my best to communicate these ideas to people who have the opposite problem; lots of work, but no new friends since highschool, and desperately single. People tend to rely far too heavily on the easiest way to convince themselves they're…

I agree with all of your points and would add that the metrification of social interactions degrades social connections as it fosters a bias towards competitiveness. Furthermore, the people that are put off by that reduce their participation so it becomes a market for lemons.

As a solution to teenager anxiety I would propose a compromise solution wherein all school communications, school groups, and extracurricular activities must not use any social media platforms for communication.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#294

Post by TacticalCoder »

lynx23 wrote: post #241
NoPicklez wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone has the ability to exercise personal accountability for how much they gamble, smoke, eat junk food, play video games, use social media etc. However, if these consumer products become so addictive, or are designed to be so engaging and as a result people are by and large struggling to exercise personal accountability and it is causing adverse health outcomes. Then the government should step in, either should…

So, why are alcohol (and nicotine) still legal then? Maybe there is a 100 year old lesson hidden somewhere...

> So, why are alcohol (and nicotine) still legal then?

I don't disagree with your answer but... Kids cannot buy alcohol and kids cannot buy cigarettes. It's kinda the whole point of TFA.

The conclusion of TFA aren't to outlaw social media: it's preventing kids from accessing these mediocre piece of shit websites/apps before 16.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#295

Post by tick_tock_tick »

Aurornis wrote: post #121
spxneo wrote: post #82

When we was teenagers we had unrestricted broadband access to the internet but what was missing was the constant comparison hellhole like Instagram that is causing mental illness. WaReZ, KaZaA, Ogrish, CD-Keys, drugs, weapon making tutorials, Mail-order-drugs. This was the wild west days of the internet. You could literally put up anything you could sell anything and everything. Classmates were downloading roms, porn…

> the constant comparison hellhole like Instagram that is causing mental illness. Anecdotally, Instagram ranks much lower than Reddit for causing problems among the young kids I’ve worked with. Reddit is an absolutely cesspool of misinformation, fake stories, propaganda, and rampant doomerism. Scrolling Instagram can’t hold a candle to the militant doomerism that seethes from sites like Reddit. I think it’s an uncomf…

Reddit now is not even vaguely close to the site it used to be. Doomerism is popular on Reddit because the power users are Reddit are basically everyone who failed life. Can't get a job, can't find a partner, no friend, and normally for reasons their own fault.

Those people used to be social shunned and live on the edge of town but now their voice gets amplified 1000x because they are willing to live online 24/7 and take control of discourse.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#296

Post by fungiblecog »

Social media just projects our toxic culture back at us. It a symptom not a cause. Until we address the reasons why our culture is toxic, mental health will continue to be a problem. Blaming social media, or any other easy target, just distracts from asking difficult questions and looking for real answers.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#297

Post by throwaway2037 »

concordDance wrote: post #155
oblio wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The brain has some flaws that are very hard to overcome. Addictions are some of them. There's a reason almost every country in the world regulates and restricts gambling.

Aside: The people who like prediction markets get quite annoyed at that.

"prediction markets" -- what a loaded term. Do you consider financial futures markets to also be "prediction markets"? As I understand from financial research, it has been shown time and time again that financial futures do not predict future performance. In my mind, "prediction markets" are nothing more than legalised gambling on an (election) outcome. To be fair, most retail (non-institutional) traders of highly leveraged financial products (futures & options) are the same: They are gambling on an outcome, not investing or hedging risk. Finally, I am not saying it should be outlawed, but there should be some very strong warnings before trading the product -- as there are for futures & options.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#298

Post by Teever »

rgbrenner wrote: post #145

The author had it right in the first paragraph. In the 90s version of this hysteria, Congress passed a law that would have prevented access to education medical information, dirty curse words, and other filth from being published on the internet to protect the children. The federal government fought a case all the way to the Supreme Court to enforce it. If they had won that case, the internet would look very differen…

> if you don't like these products and feel they are negative, then don't use them

What's the secret to doing that? No really. How do I unsubscribe from the tracking that these platforms do on the web and in my apps?

That's the rub! I can't not use (or be used) by these platforms -- no one can!

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#299

Post by lvoudour »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #239
lvoudour wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An excellent point. Abstention = social isolation, which for young people is far worse than exposure. Restricting your children's access is not an option (lets' be real, they'll find a way to circumvent your efforts anyway) and moving the burden of restriction from society to individuals is not fair. So as a society do we let unrestrained exposure or do we take collective action? I lean on the second option, but I'm…

> Abstention = social isolation, which for young people is far worse than exposure. Restricting your children's access is not an option... "Everybody else is doing it" has never been, and still is not, a valid reason for anything. If other parents choose to let their kids ingest mental poison, that does not mean that one should allow their children to do the same. Abstention is not only an option, it is something whi…

I'm not talking about kids, I'm talking about adolescents (as is the quoted paragraph). I strongly believe that an adolescent's well being is tightly coupled with social interactions. If a restriction is not protecting them from life threatening situations, then alienating them from their peers is probably worse.

Re: Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness

#300

Post by cnity »

Capricorn2481 wrote: post #230
ImPleadThe5th wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While both paternalism. Requiring safety features on a saw does not restrict free speech. It's more akin to seatbelt laws. It's also made to protect everyone who uses a table saw and not just children. Imo, I do think social media needs to be reeled in by policy. But I can see why it makes people uncomfortable and why there is a difference with the saw.

How does not having social media restrict free speech? Do you think free speech didn't exist before social media? Arguably, the presence of social media homogenizes the speech we're allowed to have.

How does banning an individual from printing books restrict free speech? Do you think free speech didn't exist before the printing press?
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