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EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

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Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#471

Post by soco »

palata wrote: post #51
soco wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must notice that every time, but really every time, EU moves a pinky finger against tech industry, a sizeable chunk of comments here will be like the one above. I wonder, is it about a general sentiment against EU? Or a general sentiment against restricting technology? Or a general sentiment against humans? Or what?

I think it's easier and safer to complain about everything than to actually have a nuanced and informed stance. Look at age verification: it's very easy and very safe to say "nobody sane would think that it is a good idea to force people to show their ID to every website they want to access, it will obviously leak the IDs, that is very bad!". While it is not wrong, it is manipulative: that is not the only way to impl…

But ironically exactly the people in the better place to influence that half-arsed implementation are those who comment here - instead of influencing said implementation. Somehow what we do ourselves at work is always good and nice and perfect (while what others do is brain-dead and pointless). Now okay you could say an engineer is too small to change politics, but how about 100 engineers? Thousands? If the whole practice would say loud "whoa this doesn't fly" I bet the decision makers would listen. But no, most of the techies will say "okay whatever let's do it" then (maybe) come online to complain.

Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#472

Post by kaboomshebang »

Why just focus on kids???? This is a massive problem for young and old. Every every day we collectively (and globally) waste so many hours on consuming posts which consists largely of unimportant content. News and opinions consists of polarized snippets of 20 sec. (You can argue: some content brings joy, or it helps brands sell products. But you can also call a friend, and the products will find us if we need them.)

(Just to clarify my point: it's not *all* bad of course, but a lot of precious time is wasted)

Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#473

Post by bcjdjsndon »

kaboomshebang wrote: post #472

Why just focus on kids???? This is a massive problem for young and old. Every every day we collectively (and globally) waste so many hours on consuming posts which consists largely of unimportant content. News and opinions consists of polarized snippets of 20 sec. (You can argue: some content brings joy, or it helps brands sell products. But you can also call a friend, and the products will find us if we need them.)…

> News and opinions consists of polarized snippets of 20 sec

I assume longer than 20sec and the content becomes harmless again?

Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#474

Post by bcjdjsndon »

criddell wrote: post #54
anzerarkin wrote: post #22

I don’t think this is only a kids issue. A lot of adults need this too. The addictive apps are very well designed, while most blockers are either too easy to ignore or too annoying to keep using. I built a small iOS blocker because I had the same problem. Making it strict enough to actually work without making people hate it is the main challenge.

On the radio I heard a reporter talking about things China does during school exams. Apparently all schools have exams at the same time and during that period, social media shuts down at night. I forget the exact hours (10pm - 6am maybe). I'm starting to think that would be a great policy in general for everybody. I think they also said AI companies go offline during exam hours, but I may have got that wrong.

> I'm starting to think that would be a great policy in general for everybody.

And what are these imagined ills you are curing?

Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#475

Post by bcjdjsndon »

zombot wrote: post #183
afavour wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it speaks to the complete lack of government regulation in the area that people see such extreme answers as positive. If any government had seen fit to engage in light regulation of what social media can do people might be happier.

Light regulation won't cut it any more for companies that are too big to jail.

If it's so dangerous, get off social media, and get your kids off it. It's literally that simple. We don't need a nanny state telling the rest of us how to live because some scared, hysterical parents need a villain

Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#476

Post by bcjdjsndon »

0dayz wrote: post #445
nomel wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I'm an adult, rather than a sheep for you to control, and I much prefer being shown things in my interest (via recommendation alg) rather than things in the general populations interest. In fact, I wish I could upload my own recommendation model to all the social media, to curate it better, and put some black holes near topics I want to avoid, with the option to fuzz it a bit for exploration.

And saving these locally doesn't work for you or something? And use "localized" social media for the rest?

> And use "localized" social media for the rest?

How would this work exactly? How do you speak to people offline?

Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#477

Post by bcjdjsndon »

palata wrote: post #39
Pesthuf wrote: post #23

Tell me: why are these algorithms suddenly okay when the victim turns 18? They are bad for everyone and if you’re willing to regulate them, make them illegal to be used on anyone.

Same as for the cigarette: it's a lot easier to regulate stuff for kids, because we as a society tend to agree that they need to be protected. Much harder to do with adults, because it is much less of a consensus.

> Much harder to do with adults, because it is much less of a consensus.

It's because humans are motivated primarily by fear, not logic.

The exact same moral panic was made about fuckin printed books. This is all hysteria, just like the TV is evil phase everyone went through. Proof of this is that nobody can even agree what social media is, let alone point to what's actually harmful about it

Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#478

Post by kaboomshebang »

bcjdjsndon wrote: post #473
kaboomshebang wrote: post #472

Why just focus on kids???? This is a massive problem for young and old. Every every day we collectively (and globally) waste so many hours on consuming posts which consists largely of unimportant content. News and opinions consists of polarized snippets of 20 sec. (You can argue: some content brings joy, or it helps brands sell products. But you can also call a friend, and the products will find us if we need them.)…

> News and opinions consists of polarized snippets of 20 sec I assume longer than 20sec and the content becomes harmless again?

hahah, not sure what the threshold is exactly ;)

Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#479

Post by 0dayz »

bcjdjsndon wrote: post #476
0dayz wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And saving these locally doesn't work for you or something? And use "localized" social media for the rest?

> And use "localized" social media for the rest? How would this work exactly? How do you speak to people offline?

Sms?

Signal and discord is more localized

Re: EU to crack down on TikTok, Instagram's 'addictive design' targeting kids

#480

Post by slumberlust »

wackget wrote: post #153
nekusar wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I do. Its just another way that cops can pull you over for bullshit charges and revenue enhancement. I remember in my state, it was initially only a citation that couldnt be pulled over on. Then they flipped that and started pulling over for it. Why? Pure fucking money grab. Me not wearing a seatbelt means I risk getting splattered. Not you, or anyone else.

This cannot be a genuine take from a real person.

[dead]
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