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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

#371

Post by firecall »

anhner wrote: post #352
raziel2p wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Teenagers are so judgy about the color of the text message bubbles they receive, imagine how judgy they would be if one didn't participate at all in some digital platform most of them use.

Not around these parts!

They all use Discord and/or Snapchat here in Australia. No one I've every asked about this cares about Android vs iPhone. No one.

No one apart from the Parents uses the built in messaging and SMS.

But then the Parent groups all use Facebook Messenger for most group comms.

The whole green / blue bubble thing is either over played by the Press or purley a US Phenomenon.

But given the marketshare of the iPhone with teenagers in the US, it seems it's possibly less of an issue its made out to be due to the fact that most people have iPhones anyway!

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

#372

Post by [deleted] »

skilled wrote: post #337

I'm no saint when it comes to addiction and being on my phone for more than I should be, but I have a sister who is in her mid 20s right now, and for the last couple of years she has slowly isolated herself from life and her family, she spends most of her time in her room on the phone and does weird things like get cosmetic surgeries, ordering cosmetics, etc. It's bizarre. She does this and all the while never leaves…

[deleted]

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

#373

Post by satvikpendem »

olibhel wrote: post #364
satvikpendem wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this example any different than what the parent has said? If people feel these platforms are negatively impacting them, they should stop using them. Or do you believe others or the government has a right to disallow what people want to watch via their own choices? You may call it brainwashing but others may disagree.

> do you believe others or the government has a right to disallow what people want to watch via their own choices Yes. As an extreme example: watching cheese pizza is not allowed by governments. We have collectively also come together to consider murder as socially and legally unacceptable. We can and should regulate social media if posts read as follows: - we should invade and bomb that country to bits - we should d…

Watching CP and murdering people is in no way comparable to any of those bullet points you made. Generally in the US at least, uniquely among many nations, the principle and constitutional right of the freedom of speech reigns supreme over many, many others, so there is no chance that any of those bullet points would (or should, given such a principle) be regulated.

One can and should be able to espouse those beliefs, regardless of whether they are true or not, because the alternative is much worse, where the rights of such exposition are severely curtailed. Hell, someone got arrested for taunting the Queen in the UK, something that legally cannot happen in the US had a similar person taunted a government official.

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

#374

Post by namaria »

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…

> But these are communications platforms. Restricting the right to free speech does have negative consequences...

I take issue with the argument that promoting these social media platforms is tantamount to fostering free speech and denouncing them amounts to eroding this right. No one should expect technology assisted broad cast abilities as part of a doctrine of governments and the State not restricting speech.

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

#375

Post by gambiting »

skilled wrote: post #337

I'm no saint when it comes to addiction and being on my phone for more than I should be, but I have a sister who is in her mid 20s right now, and for the last couple of years she has slowly isolated herself from life and her family, she spends most of her time in her room on the phone and does weird things like get cosmetic surgeries, ordering cosmetics, etc. It's bizarre. She does this and all the while never leaves…

>>But it's crazy that a person can get this lost in life and become completely devoid of purpose and meaning.

The thing is, I'm sure for her it doesn't feel that way. She probably feels a lot of purpose and meaning in following all these people online and participating in social activities around them. That's part of the addiction too - it can feel meaningful for a long time.

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

#376

Post by satvikpendem »

graemep wrote: post #320
satvikpendem wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this example any different than what the parent has said? If people feel these platforms are negatively impacting them, they should stop using them. Or do you believe others or the government has a right to disallow what people want to watch via their own choices? You may call it brainwashing but others may disagree.

> If people feel these platforms are negatively impacting them, they should stop using them. The problem is how to stop the mob attacking you from using them. An American equivalent might be if social media existed a 100 years ago and was being used to encourage lynchings. Yes, it really is that bad in some places. The problem is that FB does moderate things relevant to the US but ignores the rest of the world. They…

The solution is in the problem, network effects. If everyone stopped using them due to deleterious effects, the problem is would solve itself.

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

#377

Post by tossandthrow »

skilled wrote: post #337

I'm no saint when it comes to addiction and being on my phone for more than I should be, but I have a sister who is in her mid 20s right now, and for the last couple of years she has slowly isolated herself from life and her family, she spends most of her time in her room on the phone and does weird things like get cosmetic surgeries, ordering cosmetics, etc. It's bizarre. She does this and all the while never leaves…

Out of curiosity: What do you think she should do?

Is it that she does not go out with friends?

I think her situation is not at all bizarre – I actually think it is overly normal.

Going out with friends: Fair enough, you sit at the same bar talk about the same things, etc.

I think we are in a crisis of communities. Even if your sister wanted to engage there are no good places to do it.

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

#378

Post by suslik »

boxed wrote: post #286
kevingadd wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cigarettes aren't speech. I don't understand why anyone would argue otherwise.

No, but there the issue is bodily autonomy. Which arguably is much more important a right than free speech.

Is bodily autonomy a recognized right in any sense? Is there a society that actually respects the right to bodily autonomy legally or in practice - meaning, using any drugs at will, the right to suicide, to agree to being eaten by a friendly cannibal, and so on? I don't think there is, and nobody is pushing for it.

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

#379

Post by fransje26 »

stahorn wrote: post #199

I grew up in Sweden, where strong alcohol is only sold in a state owned company and the same for gambling, so this probably make me have another view of this than people from other countries. I do believe that there has to be some sort of laws around how social media, or really "endless scrolling of content" is done. It's seriously addictive, I feel it myself, and just letting people "be free and choose what to do" r…

> I grew up in Sweden, where strong alcohol is only sold in a state owned company

It worked so well, that alcoholism rates in Sweden are higher than in some countries where the sales of strong alcohol are not a state monopoly. A closer look shows that even the neighboring Scandinavian countries are doing better..

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/alcoholis...

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

#380

Post by yard2010 »

jascination wrote: post #331
raziel2p wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> 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 You could say the same thing about the Bible, or Harry Potter, or any number of things too

And you would say it as well about party/designer drugs
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