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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

#631

Post by amerkhalid »

afavour wrote: post #602
Funes- wrote: post #590

Social media has ruined society, indeed, but only because the exploitability was always there to begin with. Just look at everyone in this thread opting for letting their kids cave in to peer pressure and dodging responsibility for their upbringing because "past a certain point" you can't do shit about it, and God forbid they try to develop themselves into a worthwhile adult without using any of those time-sinking, m…

I’m curious, are you a parent?

These type of comments almost always come from non-parents.

In a way, they are right. You can raise your kids without influence of social media but that is not easy or cheap. It would definitely require homeschooling. One of the parent will need to be stay at home parent. Probably need to avoid urban and suburban areas where kids can easily hangout with neighborhood kids. Avoid social gatherings where other kids will have access to social media. Basically, unrealistic for most of the people.

Or we as society can come together and regulate social media, just like how we do with alcohol, cigarettes, speed limits, etc. Yes, there is less freedom in this but living in societies always had some freedoms removed.

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

#632

Post by giraffe_lady »

gherkinnn wrote: post #162
giraffe_lady wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't she the one that wrote that anti-trans moral panic book based on interviews with parents of trans people, but not actually any trans people? Her other book was pure culture war opportunism, what's different about this one that makes it worth reading?

This might be more opportunism. There might also be a kernel of truth. As an example, the NHS has gotten a lot more restrictive on puberty blockers [0], something that would have been unthinkable in the 2020/2021 climate. 0 - https://www.bbc.com/news/health-68549091

That doesn't indicate that she was right just that the moral panic was effective.

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

#633

Post by carimura »

lemoncookiechip wrote: post #613
afavour wrote: post #602

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m curious, are you a parent?

Or a kid? The parent comment is either forgetting what it was like being a kid and doing things behind their parents back, not out of disrespect, but because they're young and it's what young people do, they are their own people as much as one might try to control them. Also, good luck ostracizing a child from their peers for their "benefit"? (I remember a time where not having the same brand of clothes would get you…

As a parent of young children, I'm trying hard not to be the "but this time is different" guy, but it sure feels like this time is different. Just look around any "real world" setting and almost every single person is staring at their little dopamine-releasing devices.

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

#634

Post by slothtrop »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #566
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…

Life is devoid of purpose and meaning. It has only what you choose to assign to it. You can't coerce someone into making that choice.

It is, but when people bemoan lack of meaning/purpose they're just talking about feelings. It's a sensory thing, the rationalizations are just an attempt to explain and make sense of it.

We're bad at predicting what makes us happy and even worse at making sound judgements through negative emotions. Those in the middle of such an experience don't want to believe that their habits are exacerbating or responsible for their problems, because change is uncomfortable. They want to continue to feed addiction.

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

#635

Post by fcantournet »

Your goal using a social media platform is to get the most usefulness out of it in the least amount of time.

Their goal (with very large $$$ incentive) is that you spend the maximum amount of time on the platform (so that they can show you the maximum amount of ads)

Those 2 goals are at odds, in a relationship where the balance of power is very much in favour of the platforms, who deploy adversarial methods to maximise "engagement".

At some point, something has to give. Namely our collective mental health.

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

#636

Post by jader201 »

lemoncookiechip wrote: post #613
afavour wrote: post #602

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m curious, are you a parent?

Or a kid? The parent comment is either forgetting what it was like being a kid and doing things behind their parents back, not out of disrespect, but because they're young and it's what young people do, they are their own people as much as one might try to control them. Also, good luck ostracizing a child from their peers for their "benefit"? (I remember a time where not having the same brand of clothes would get you…

> This argument that social media is destroying the youth is the same old tale as old as time. Everything has been destroying the youth and rotting their brains since before anyone on this page was born.

So therefore nothing will ever truly destroy our youth?

Obviously not literally, but I can see how social media can have a much more measured negative impact on youth vs. all the things above.

I don’t think any of the other things you mention have ever been blamed for also “destroying“ adults, but I’d argue there is evidence that social media is having a measured negative impact on all of society. But especially youth.

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

#637

Post by gdilla »

lemoncookiechip wrote: post #613
afavour wrote: post #602

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m curious, are you a parent?

Or a kid? The parent comment is either forgetting what it was like being a kid and doing things behind their parents back, not out of disrespect, but because they're young and it's what young people do, they are their own people as much as one might try to control them. Also, good luck ostracizing a child from their peers for their "benefit"? (I remember a time where not having the same brand of clothes would get you…

for real. enterprising kids had access to porn in the 80s - via dad's stash. i was there.

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

#638

Post by dylan604 »

hatenberg wrote: post #593
Funes- wrote: post #590

Social media has ruined society, indeed, but only because the exploitability was always there to begin with. Just look at everyone in this thread opting for letting their kids cave in to peer pressure and dodging responsibility for their upbringing because "past a certain point" you can't do shit about it, and God forbid they try to develop themselves into a worthwhile adult without using any of those time-sinking, m…

Guns kill people but that’s only because the vulnerability of the flesh has always been a problem. Like guns, we have a hard time coming to the right conclusions

It seems only Americans are struggling with the guns issue, so your conclusion falls very flat

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

#639

Post by 10xDev »

The recent Twitter drama over a use of a word is all you need to see how bad things are. It takes nothing to get a mob of mentally ill people on your case which can have a psychological toll on anyone especially teenagers. And if you try to reason with such people you just get sent down a rabbit hole.

We need to have limits on what we allow our brain to process the same way we do for our body with ultra-processed foods by avoiding fast food restaurants as nothing is totally erased and everything nudges your mood and beliefs whether you feel it or don't.

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

#640

Post by base698 »

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…

If TV turned everything into entertainment, including discourse, then social media has turned every discourse into being an influencer. I frequently see people at a coffeeshop set up cameras like they are filming a TV show to talk about their latte or muffin for Instagram. This happens everywhere in all walks of life. Any hobby, no matter how esoteric, will be molded into the shape of good for instagram.
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