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

#731

Post by uconnectlol » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:11 PM 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…

> 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.

this is not the average social media user. the problem is addiction, not doing surgery to yourself. if social media was banned or age gated you would have to ban wikipedia next as its also very easy to get addicted to doing a tree traversal of interesting articles starting at the single one article you intended to read. also stack exchange. pardon my tone deafness to your tragedy, but this is a political issue, and your post is being used for political purposes. this is also a waste of my tax money and proof that taxation is theft. if i was a parent i would just be a good parent like my parents and slap my kids if they get addicted to upvoting shit on social media just as i would slap them if they get addicted to watching tv, playing arcade games (since i would provide them with real games and not gacha shit, the former which still had the addiction problem and the exact same dumb discussions in the 90s)

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

#732

Post by bakuninsbart » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:11 PM UTC

Andrex wrote: post #530

whstl wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It doesn't matter whether you abstain from using Instagram or not Yep. The other problem is that not having social media and mobile devices can be alienating and ostracizing, especially for teenagers. Avoiding the problems of social media requires skills and restraint that even most adults don’t have. It is a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

> The other problem is that not having social media and mobile devices can be alienating and ostracizing, especially for teenagers. Sorry, I see this a lot but: oh well? They'll get over it. Social media on the other hand gets its hooks in deep. If every teenager were guzzling gallons of soda everyday and telling them to stop "alienated and ostracized" them, I'd still do it for the good of their health.

Eh, no they won't really get over it. I interact with plenty of people in their thirties and fourties who still have a chip on their shoulder because they were "losers" in highschool.

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

#733

Post by skywhopper » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:12 PM 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…

She gets cosmetic surgery without leaving the house?

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

#734

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:13 PM UTC

giacovecci wrote: post #595

genrilz wrote: post #571

This is a post in a debate between Jonathan Haidt and Candice Odgers. If you look at the meta-analysis cited by both, Haidt cites one which does seem to show a high effect size correlational link between screen time and depression. Odgers cites 4 meta analyses, one of which is actually a meta-meta analysis, which all claim that the effect size on depression and other measures of well-being are small. I'm not quite su…

Yeah, Haidt's is a compelling entry but sounds too good to be true. I haven't been following this discussion or the studies, but just a quick check of one of the two studies he uses as examples of evidence for harm caused by social media (and benefits of withdrawal) shows that a) he misquoted the protocol (daily usage reduction to 30 minutes instead of by 30 minutes a day) b) the study is hardly conclusive due to maj…

[deleted]

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

#735

Post by corytheboyd » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:14 PM UTC

rchaud wrote: post #572

silverquiet wrote: post #523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was the psychiatrist his idea or the parents'? I assume the parents, but if it was his then that's something. I heard something interesting on a podcast recently - Kara Swisher was interviewing her son who said that if you're Gen A, it's sort of hard not to be a nihilist. For me personally, I sort of look at how fast the world is heating up and do some basic math about life expectancy, and I'm sort of expecting to se…

The oldest Gen A person is 14yo, I was plenty nihilistic then too, and that was in the golden age of the 90s.

It is indeed, I know I was guilty of it.

The amplification of the idea through modern social media is a scary new vector. There is so much content about “they ruined the world, you’ll never own a house, why even try” that does not help. Like all half-truths, it’s… well, half true, but giving up can’t be the answer. Can’t change the bad things in the world, so the only viable option is to work around them.

I do feel for gen Z and A. It’s a hard world to exist in out there, and the online behemoth you’re pressured to be a part of is both a blessing and a curse. I’m just young-old man yelling at cloud to you, I know because that’s how I looked at other late 30 year olds at your age too.

Just don’t give up. Remember that online is all fake and the points don’t matter. The real people around you care about you, they truly do, even if you’re struggling to see it yourself.

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

#736

Post by lykahb » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:15 PM UTC

With the amount of data that the social networks syphon, they surely know the age. Banning the underage users does not need any more compromise of anonymity than what already exists.

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

#737

Post by 0ckpuppet » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:15 PM UTC

runamuck wrote: post #620

randomdata wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She doesn't share her actual thoughts That's where social media has been most damaging. You can't share your thoughts anymore. The 'Redditization' of the world means that sharing thoughts is met with hostility. No longer can you just throw something out there, no matter how stupid. These days you have carry an entire encyclopedia with you in order to back up every last thing you say and if you utter anything that i…

I have a good rule. I NEVER reply to someone who comments on my comment w/ hostile intent. For example: I made an innocent comment on a YouTube video, and someone completely misread the comment and posted a hostile reply. I wanted to explain to him that he misread my comment but I just let it go. You never need to defend yourself. If you want to post a comment, post it. If someone misunderstands or mocks you, let the…

This. "Don't feed the trolls." :)

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

#738

Post by skywhopper » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:16 PM UTC

Anotheroneagain wrote: post #717

amplex1337 wrote: post #646

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You certainly can just throw things out there, but if you are obsessed with making every single person satisfied with your thoughts, you are going to have a bad time. The world is full of people who disagree with you, but you need to learn more than ever to recognize and filter out what you don't care about. I don't even view replies to posts any longer, 98% of the time because I am not seeking validation sharing my…

The world is full of people who disagree with you, Don't you think it's worrisome that we can't agree on anything? And that includes things that are supposed to have objective answers. Why can't we find the truth? We now have instant global communication available almost 24/7, shouldn't it bring the period of unprecedented unity?

On the contrary, if everyone can see your opinion, then all the people who disagree have the opportunity to say so. There's always someone in the world who disagrees. Add to that the folks who say things they don't believe for fun, and the ones who are paid by businesses and governments to spread propaganda, and you have a real mess.

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

#739

Post by hackinthebochs » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:17 PM UTC

worldsayshi wrote: post #495

randomdata wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She doesn't share her actual thoughts That's where social media has been most damaging. You can't share your thoughts anymore. The 'Redditization' of the world means that sharing thoughts is met with hostility. No longer can you just throw something out there, no matter how stupid. These days you have carry an entire encyclopedia with you in order to back up every last thing you say and if you utter anything that i…

This is touching on something very important but I feel there's a lot more to it. There's a lot of mystery around this for me. Like why is social media inspiring us to such hostile nit picking on behaviour and ideals?

Social media created a perpetual church gossip culture where every action and statement is endlessly evaluated by the peanut gallery, while also creating a land rush for finding new moral angles to exploit for social status.

Why specifically social media? It's a function of communication efficiency. It's why church is associated with this sort of cattiness, everyone knows everyone and is brought together regularly to provide a venue to trade gossip. It also supplies the moral standard by which everyone is evaluated and one's social status is tied to how well one appears to meet this standard. The cattiness is just status games playing out given these constraints.

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

#740

Post by __turbobrew__ » Wed, Apr 10, 2024, 3:19 PM UTC

lm28469 wrote: post #475

yawboakye wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i find this to be, unfortunately, the current western stance on responsibility towards anyone: irresponsibility. for some reason, leaving people to go their way, wherever it may lead them, has been interpreted to be the good and the moral duty of anyone who understands what freedom (for intelligent beings) means. with all due respect, that’s cowardice and a neglect of duty. i explained to my sibling the other day tha…

> i find this to be, unfortunately, the current western stance on responsibility towards anyone: irresponsibility. The complete destruction of religions, then traditions and now families/education (lack of education, lack of authority, &c.) probably had something to do with it. You can't replace god/families/education with an iphone 15 and expect society to continue on the same path. And I'm saying that as a complete…

The lack of authority is something I hear about from teachers in my locale. Many kids do not grow up with authority figures in their lives whether it be their parents, teachers, coaches, or other family. One of the teachers I know got in hot water for firmly telling a kid to ‘sit down’. The child was so upset — most likely because they have never encountered authority in their life — that the parents complained to the school board.