Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 228 posts

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#211

Post by [deleted] »

Aerbil313 wrote: post #202
dankwizard wrote: post #75

Not sure why poeple don't just put the phone down? We really are the most sheltered gentle generation. Oh no, this app is taking up my time, we need to BAN IT.

Congratulations! You have apparently won in life by successfully developing internal regulation during childhood and also won the genetic lottery by not having a disorder of the dopaminergic system like ADHD. Now please leave be the significant fraction of the population who don't have those privileges, thank you. I've missed critical final exams and flights literally scrolling Instagram. Mental health disorders exis…

[deleted]

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#212

Post by AppleBananaPie »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #73
AppleBananaPie wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal vice is junk food. I wish they banned junk food. I'm not sure how the law would work but it would be objectively better for me as a human if they did. (This is completely disregarding how practical such a ban would be)

A power law formula tax based on sugar/sat fat/total carbs per mass of food/drink should do the trick. Or give everyone cheap daily GLP-1 pills.

Sorry for the ignorance but does GLP-1 fix all the nutrition / hyper-processed components of the food or is the implication here someone's weight is (making up a number) 90% of the negative effects.

Thanks for the reply :)

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#213

Post by lotsofpulp »

AppleBananaPie wrote: post #212
lotsofpulp wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A power law formula tax based on sugar/sat fat/total carbs per mass of food/drink should do the trick. Or give everyone cheap daily GLP-1 pills.

Sorry for the ignorance but does GLP-1 fix all the nutrition / hyper-processed components of the food or is the implication here someone's weight is (making up a number) 90% of the negative effects. Thanks for the reply :)

Overconsumption is the root cause of the negative effects.

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#214

Post by radicalethics »

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #21

I 100% agree with the premise that TikTok is addictive and even dangerous to consume in large amounts (that's why I don't consume it at all). But I feel the exact same about cheeseburgers. Should I be able to sue McDonalds if I let my kid eat 100 of them in one sitting? Again, I get the danger here, and I don't like TikTok as a whole. I just don't really know where the line is between something that the parent is all…

A drug is a drug is a drug is a drug.

America has never been able to successfully thwart drug proliferation. Porn, Video Games, Social Media, all substance-less drugs. It's up to you to keep your kid off Heroin and it's also up to you to keep them off those other things at addictive levels.

The thing is, keeping your kid away from things like Heroin takes a village (especially if Heroin is pervasive in the environment). The same is true for those other things. Adults have to enter the room at some point.

We've been needing a trillion-dollar class action lawsuit against social media companies. Long overdue.

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#215

Post by ajam1507 »

eigencoder wrote: post #108
ajam1507 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet we're talking about a case against social media companies and not a case against casinos or distillers.

Yeah because casinos and distillers already have laws regulating their use

This isn't about regulation. This is about people bringing a lawsuit against social media companies for their addiction. Problem gamblers and alcoholics aren't suing the casinos and distilleries.

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#216

Post by ajam1507 »

spiderice wrote: post #106
ajam1507 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was legal to hand out cigarettes to children and the parents consented I don't see how the company could be held liable. The state should not be doing the job of parents, and the judicial branch should not being doing the job of the legislative branch.

That seems like circular logic. You're saying parental responsibility should govern because TikTok is legal, while cigarettes require state intervention because they're illegal. But they are only illegal because we made them illegal (for minors). And isn't that exactly what is being discussed here? For the sake of consistency, do you think cigarettes should be legal for minors if they have parental consent? If not, w…

What I am saying is that if you want to regulate social media companies, pass a law, don't punish companies for breaking a law that isn't on the books.

The harm from cigarette use is direct, and there is no level of cigarette use that can be considered safe and healthy. Additionally, it would be very difficult for parents to prevent their children from buying them if they could walk into any convenience store and buy them. On the other side, social media use can be harmful, but it is possible to use social media in a healthy way.

I'm curious where it ends when you start banning kids from things that are only potentially addictive or harmful. Should parents be able to let their children watch TV, play video games, or have a phone or tablet?

What's the distinction between those things and social media for you?

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#217

Post by publicdebates »

mattmaroon wrote: post #198
publicdebates wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

KDP usually cuts off high volume sales at a certain point, in order to give other books a fair amount of copies to print on demand. Usually it takes a few weeks of sales, but I sold so many copies that evening, from a single 10M view video that someone posted, so they cut it off that night for two or three weeks I think.

Since they make money on every sale I’m really confused by that. Why wouldn’t they just expand printing capacity? In any case congrats that’s awesome. What was the book, if you don’t mind sharing?

I don't know why they do that, but it's really the main (only?) drawback to KDP.

My guess is that they do expand, but only when genuinely needed for long-term. They probably keep a certain amount of blank books in stock, and ration them out to PoD books somewhat evenly, with established books getting higher priority.

This was the video that singlehandedly got me all those sales I mentioned earlier: https://www.tiktok.com/@alwayscandid/video/73180668430448755... ... honestly it's quite poetic how it all turned out. I did almost no work making a book, I made way more money than I ever deserved, I wasted all of it, and now I'm sleeping in my car. It's very fair, it's more than fair. It's generous.

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#218

Post by pibaker »

Liftyee wrote: post #123

Fundamentally, I think having a source of "free dopamine" on tap is not going to do any good. If I can get distracted from my real world tasks anytime, anywhere, the immediate incentives to work on real things disappear. Effectively, one can get stuck in a local minimum. I don't know how to solve it, but personally I've chosen to block as many feeds/algorithms as I can, so I have to make a conscious decision to searc…

Some people find themselves awake at 3am with twenty Wikipedia tabs open. Just sayin'.

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#219

Post by Liftyee »

d4v3 wrote: post #131
Liftyee wrote: post #123

Fundamentally, I think having a source of "free dopamine" on tap is not going to do any good. If I can get distracted from my real world tasks anytime, anywhere, the immediate incentives to work on real things disappear. Effectively, one can get stuck in a local minimum. I don't know how to solve it, but personally I've chosen to block as many feeds/algorithms as I can, so I have to make a conscious decision to searc…

> If I can get distracted from my real world tasks anytime, anywhere, the immediate incentives to work on real things disappear. Effectively, one can get stuck in a local minimum. > I don't know how to solve it, ... > but personally I've chosen to block as many feeds/algorithms as I can, ... I think you solved it :) (at least, for yourself) There are many things "out there" that are addictive and distracting and thus…

Thanks for your positive response. It's true, we all need to help each other in finding community and human connection again amidst the waterfall of "content".

It's taken a few years to get to this point, but seeing the effects and regrets from over consumption of feeds made me take action.

Re: TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin

#220

Post by Liftyee »

pibaker wrote: post #218
Liftyee wrote: post #123

Fundamentally, I think having a source of "free dopamine" on tap is not going to do any good. If I can get distracted from my real world tasks anytime, anywhere, the immediate incentives to work on real things disappear. Effectively, one can get stuck in a local minimum. I don't know how to solve it, but personally I've chosen to block as many feeds/algorithms as I can, so I have to make a conscious decision to searc…

Some people find themselves awake at 3am with twenty Wikipedia tabs open. Just sayin'.

I've done that before (like many others), and occasionally still do. My current experience is that Wikipedia is decidedly finite (as far as content that is interesting enough for me to stick to, despite it being 3am). The slower pace and the conscious decision to choose what link I'll open next also regularly poke my "decision-making engine" to decide when to stop - no algorithmic feed of infinite scroll.

Of course, YMMV

Post reply on HN