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Seattle Public Schools sues TikTok, YouTube, Instagram over youth mental health

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Re: Seattle Public Schools sues TikTok, YouTube, Instagram over youth mental health

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lawsuit is going to be dismissed due to lack of standing.

TikTok offers their service to people they know to be teenagers, during school hours, when those teenagers are inside the school building (with TikTok's tracking of users, they surely know it.) I don't expect this lawsuit to succeed, but it's not entirely without merit and I do think the school district has some standing if for no other reason than because TikTok is serving videos to, and accepting uploads from, stud…

This is an interesting point. I agree with you that TikTok clearly knows what is going on and could disable accesss during school hours if they wanted to. Although not exactly a parallel, there are already laws protecting children from tobacco advertising near schools.

I wrote a similar comment below. This will still be a very difficult case to win. No one ever went after Nintendo even though they knew their devices were being used during class time. AT&T can also see teens texting in class but also do not have a legal responsibility to prevent this. Parents already have a tool-- parental controls-- to prevent social media use during school hours.

If the plaintiff can show that social media companies went out of their way to specifically target children during school hours (versus any other time of the day), there might be a stronger case. But ultimately the courts will not write new laws. This is the job of the legislature. Definitely write your congressperson.

Re: Seattle Public Schools sues TikTok, YouTube, Instagram over youth mental health

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is it you're hoping for? Prohibition, so people cannot use social media platforms because they're outlawed? I don't think that'll work, for the same reason prohibition doesn't work for anything that a large part of the population wants. And what even is social media in that sense. Aren't forums social media? HN has a score and you and other will be told how "the community" values your comments. Sure, it's not em…

I don’t know what I’m hoping for. I stated that in my original: “struggle with remedies.” HN can be addictive. So can playing with legos. So can honeycombs. But the highly mechanized addiction that occurs on some platforms is not just the baseline level addiction. It is highly engineered addiction for focused financial gain. I consider it akin to the tricks played by the tobacco industry over the years.

It's different from playing with legos though, isn't it? What makes social media so intense is the social aspect. You get validated by collecting likes, you can humiliate your opponents, you can bond with your tribe, you can fight the just war for whatever you believe in.

Sure, Facebook and friends will engineer it to make it streamlined, but I'd see it more like modern engineered food than tobacco. It's something (like eating) we do naturally and probably cannot live without (for the majority of people), they're just iterating over what we like best, but it's not artificially induced (like nicotine addiction). People play social games, and now they do it online, and you can play with millions of people instead of being limited to those who are in shouting distance.

Re: Seattle Public Schools sues TikTok, YouTube, Instagram over youth mental health

#163
post #79

I don’t doubt that some kids are negatively harmed by social media. However, I’m a photographer that does high school senior shoots. I follow some of my clients, and the amount of support every single teen I’ve looked at gets on everything they post is astounding. It doesn’t matter what they look like, if they post a picture they’ll have dozens or hundreds of comments telling them how gorgeous they are. Even the guys…

Hey I’m just going to throw it out there - it’s weird and kinda creepy for an adult to follow a non-relative teenager on social media for just about any reason.

I’m sure this attitude isn’t a reason at all for why kids have poor relationships with adults.

Re: Seattle Public Schools sues TikTok, YouTube, Instagram over youth mental health

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parents control if they get a phone till 18. Generally the more upper class the parent I know, the later they give their kids access. It’s not like kids are born with an iPhone glued to their hand.

Sort of. Kids in the US can get a job and buy their own phone as young as 14.

Maybe we need to treat addiction universally and ban kids under 21 from owning a smart phone.

Re: Seattle Public Schools sues TikTok, YouTube, Instagram over youth mental health

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parents control if they get a phone till 18. Generally the more upper class the parent I know, the later they give their kids access. It’s not like kids are born with an iPhone glued to their hand.

Sort of. Kids in the US can get a job and buy their own phone as young as 14.

A kid cannot get or hold a job without parental permission.

Re: Seattle Public Schools sues TikTok, YouTube, Instagram over youth mental health

#166
post #79

I don’t doubt that some kids are negatively harmed by social media. However, I’m a photographer that does high school senior shoots. I follow some of my clients, and the amount of support every single teen I’ve looked at gets on everything they post is astounding. It doesn’t matter what they look like, if they post a picture they’ll have dozens or hundreds of comments telling them how gorgeous they are. Even the guys…

Hey I’m just going to throw it out there - it’s weird and kinda creepy for an adult to follow a non-relative teenager on social media for just about any reason.

I always ask before I send an invite, and it's on my business account - not a personal account.

Plus every once in a while I have one where we get to know each other quite well and it's fun to see where their lives take them.

I know of women photographers that literally go on trips with their "senior models," so I think me following them on social media is pretty tame in comparison.

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