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Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

english.tau.ac.il

21–30 of 263 posts

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#21
post #13

I'd like to see similar study about the original gateway drug: "24-hour News Channels", which was followed by "24-hour Outrage-News Channels". Seems like we've been building toward this, the interactivity of the internet was the paradigm shift (to use a 90's term). EDIT: I realize it isn't news messing with youths' self-esteem (well, in some cases it is), but it is related in that the media is custom-made to drive en…

Engagement with broadcast TV vs with hyper-personalized apps is a specious comparison.

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#22
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use FB in that same way. Nearly all of my "friends" are muted and most of the content is from pages and groups I have chosen. But it does feel like I'm fighting the platform to make it work in a way that works for me. God forbid they should empower the user instead of perpetually trying to squeeze more blood from the stone.

>But it does feel like I'm fighting the platform I couldn't agree more.

Because we aren’t the user, advertisers are. We are the hypnotized consumers of the lights in the box.

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#23
Anecdotally, Facebook seems relatively tame these days compared to the firehose of doom & gloom, violent videos, outrage porn, and outright misinformation that fills Reddit and Twitter. Browsing Reddit’s default feeds or popular posts is a wild experience these days.

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#24
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most in-person social activity is good for your mental health. Studies show this includes church: https://www.npr.org/2019/11/05/776270553/hidden-brain-does-g... Facebook is singled out because they are the largest practitioner of surveillance capitalism. The entire idea of “optimizing for engagement,” where Facebook has been a pioneer and the largest player, is increasingly being shown to be a primary driver of poli…

Quoted post unavailable.

Depends on the church in question. I know gay people who are accepted by their congregation, and churches that don't have issues with gay people at all. The biggest LGBT youth group in my city is organized by and hosted in a Christian church.

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#25
post #21
post #13

I'd like to see similar study about the original gateway drug: "24-hour News Channels", which was followed by "24-hour Outrage-News Channels". Seems like we've been building toward this, the interactivity of the internet was the paradigm shift (to use a 90's term). EDIT: I realize it isn't news messing with youths' self-esteem (well, in some cases it is), but it is related in that the media is custom-made to drive en…

Engagement with broadcast TV vs with hyper-personalized apps is a specious comparison.

The psychological manipulation is based on the same principles, it's just the application is less refined.

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#26
post #21
post #13

I'd like to see similar study about the original gateway drug: "24-hour News Channels", which was followed by "24-hour Outrage-News Channels". Seems like we've been building toward this, the interactivity of the internet was the paradigm shift (to use a 90's term). EDIT: I realize it isn't news messing with youths' self-esteem (well, in some cases it is), but it is related in that the media is custom-made to drive en…

Engagement with broadcast TV vs with hyper-personalized apps is a specious comparison.

Do you care to elaborate? Why do you say it's specious?

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#27
post #5

Facebook was just the beginning. It feels crude almost in comparison to the new generation of designer drugs (TikTok et. al).

Sometimes when I'm scrolling Instagram I'm reminded of the sad era of "channel flipping" where we would just watch "whatever's on" while endless ads were blasted at our faces. At least now we have some control over our poison, though few seem to bother exercising that control.

Um... I installed Instagram recently for the first time. Every 5th post or so is an ad. That you have no choice over... And there are a lot of suggested content posts which you have no control over.

It's like the same as channel flipping and getting ads blasted at you but now the ads are smarter/more targeted.

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#28
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most in-person social activity is good for your mental health. Studies show this includes church: https://www.npr.org/2019/11/05/776270553/hidden-brain-does-g... Facebook is singled out because they are the largest practitioner of surveillance capitalism. The entire idea of “optimizing for engagement,” where Facebook has been a pioneer and the largest player, is increasingly being shown to be a primary driver of poli…

Quoted post unavailable.

I've broken plenty of rules in the Bible but still always welcomed in a church with open arms.

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#29
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engagement with broadcast TV vs with hyper-personalized apps is a specious comparison.

The psychological manipulation is based on the same principles, it's just the application is less refined.

It is and it isn't, but mostly, it isn't.

The relentless Skinner Boxing which Facebook and similar platforms engage in has no parallel in broadcast media, which can't be algorithmically tuned to harm the victim as much as possible.

Re: Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health

#30
I do not care for this trend of omitting the publication date from news articles. Temporal context is very relevant in news articles, especially to assess whether the information has been superseded.

(I know, one can often find the publication date in the HTML source, but that requires savvy, and should not be necessary.)

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