Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness • Hacker News Board

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

#381

Post by forgetfreeman » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:33 AM UTC

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…

Nah. They're advocating for an obvious and well-documented societal harm vector be regulated into a less harmful configuration. This is similar in concept to regulating pollution or disease vectors.

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

#382

Post by emmelaich » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:33 AM UTC

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…

As her brother you might be the only one capable of rescuing her from a shitlife.

No (wo)man is an island, entire unto itself.

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

#383

Post by apexalpha » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:33 AM UTC

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…

>It's her life so I leave her alone, not my place to tell her what to do, and the emotional upheaval from her isn't worth it either.

In my culture this is exactly what family should do.

"Soft doctors make stinking wounds".

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

#384

Post by satvikpendem » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:34 AM UTC

firecall wrote: post #371

anhner wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think you missed the entire point of the comment above. It's not about iOS vs Android but about not being included socially, regardless of the platform. Imagine in your example where one kid in a group didn't use Discord, they'd be effectively cut off.

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

#385

Post by moffkalast » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:35 AM UTC

0xEF wrote: post #327

thegrim000 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny .. earlier today there was a front page HN post about the federal government mandating safer circular saws. It seemed like the majority of users in the thread were in favor of the federal government mandating technology changes to prevent harm from being done to the population. Now for this issue, there's harm being done to children, and the majority of users in the thread seem to be against government int…

This is a silly comparison. The table saw was not designed to be addictive, turn its users into a highly lucrative commodity, or push algorithmically driven agendas. Social media was. The dangers being compared here are very different.

You mean to say, with a saw the intent is for it to be a useful tool and the danger is an unintended side effect, while for social media the danger is the intent and it being a useful tool is an unintended side effect.

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

#386

Post by davedx » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:35 AM UTC

signaru wrote: post #291

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…

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.

It really annoys me how many services - even sometimes public services like our local police - are Facebook first, with all other mediums as an afterthought.

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

#387

Post by protontypes » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:36 AM UTC

I use Feedblocker for all social media and have to say it is a real relief. I can still participate when I'm mentioned, but I can now focus on what I think is relevant to me instead of letting big companies decide what might be relevant to me or how best to capture my attention span. This is how I was able to finally finish my PhD.

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

#388

Post by GeoAtreides » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:36 AM UTC

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

Just don't smoke! Just don't drink alcohol! Just don't eat junk food! Just go to the gym!

> Restrict your children's access to these platforms

That's exactly what the article suggests should happen, plus some protections for children enshrined in law. You can find these suggestions at the end of the post, in the section "What now?"

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

#389

Post by janpot » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:38 AM UTC

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.

They are mostly advertisement platforms coupled to recommendation engines. The "communication platform" is just side business at this point. And it's being used to wave around as "free speech" when anyone dares to question the detrimental effect of the big mass mind control machine it actually is.

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

#390

Post by raziel2p » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 9:39 AM UTC

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…

I think it's a bit reductionist to say it's devoid of purpose and meaning. Have you asked her what she feels her purpose/meaning is? You can disagree with it (I would as well), but I wouldn't assume she doesn't find any purpose/meaning in it.

If she gets angry about it, then probably there is something deeper going on. Or, you're just asking the wrong way (if you come in assuming there's no meaning/purpose to her life, that could easily happen).

If there's something deeper going on, then social media just amplifies things. Specifically about cosmetics and the beauty industry - people have complained about the effects of supermodels on TV, movies, billboards, magazine ads etc. for more than 30 years, social media has just taken it to the next level.

I don't disagree with anything you said, but I do think it's important to add depth to the argument if we actually want to change the world for a better place.