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Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

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Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#51

Post by javagram »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #44
javagram wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Partisan gerrymandering doesn’t affect senate or presidential elections (with the small exception of Nebraska and Maine’s electors) yet those elections have also become more partisan and polarized. Moreover, the growing rural/urban partisan polarization means even non gerrymandered districts that are created by nonpartisan panels or algorithms are frequently left or right polarized. Creating competitive districts wou…

Biden was the most centrist of the Democratic candidates, and is considered center right by many. It's hard to argue that presidential elections have become more partisan and polarized.

Biden is viewed unfavorably by a majority of Americans (as is Trump). As recently as 2008 both major party presidential candidates had net favorable ratings from the country.[0]

That’s not even getting into that the claim of Biden as “center right” is based on Overton window shifting. Biden repudiated many of his earlier more centrist positions on DEI (e.g. his anti-school busing activism in the 70s), immigration, abortion, etc to win the nomination. Compare Biden’s platform and positions to the Obama 2008 campaign platform and can you really see it as a “rightward” shift?

[0] edit - see for instance https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/03/19/about-1-i...

Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#52

Post by knallfrosch »

Very American to believe that small communities can solve this problem and to not even expect parliament to do anything.

Parliament not doing anything is obviously a self-fulfilling prophecy, and small, local solutions to a tragedy of the commons.. I don't believe it'll work.

Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#53

Post by EncomLab »

127 wrote: post #39
EncomLab wrote: post #8

While I agree with much of the article - the leap from "social media is making tween girls suicidal" to "adults should not be able to determine what information they choose to consume because then they might vote wrong" is a huge one.

If there was a way to mark people who are shills as shills, and bots and bots, the situation would be much more manageable. The fact is that there is intense hybrid war fought on peoples hearts and minds on every possible informational channel.

Agreed - most people don't even realize that what they get from Google is not what other people get from Google.

Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#54

Post by bryanlarsen »

javagram wrote: post #51
bryanlarsen wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biden was the most centrist of the Democratic candidates, and is considered center right by many. It's hard to argue that presidential elections have become more partisan and polarized.

Biden is viewed unfavorably by a majority of Americans (as is Trump). As recently as 2008 both major party presidential candidates had net favorable ratings from the country.[0] That’s not even getting into that the claim of Biden as “center right” is based on Overton window shifting. Biden repudiated many of his earlier more centrist positions on DEI (e.g. his anti-school busing activism in the 70s), immigration, ab…

Don't look at what he's said, look at what he's done. Lots of right-wing policies like anti-immigration, industrial support, tariffs, et cetera.

Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#55

Post by knallfrosch »

kminehart wrote: post #32

> You have smaller family sizes; people retreat inside because now they have air conditioning and TV and they’re not out in the front yard socializing as much. So, for a lot of reasons, we begin to lose trust in each other. I think that a bigger factor is the car-centric city and suburb design that started in the US after World War II. It was intended to give everyone what they wanted; a big house, a yard, consistenc…

+1 and also want to mention that kids under 16 – what Haidt talks about – can't drive a car at all. Riding a bike is more cumbersome and unsafer than necessary.

As a German, the typical US city and its suburbs really represent a kid-hating hellscape.

Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#56

Post by kminehart »

knallfrosch wrote: post #55
kminehart wrote: post #32

> You have smaller family sizes; people retreat inside because now they have air conditioning and TV and they’re not out in the front yard socializing as much. So, for a lot of reasons, we begin to lose trust in each other. I think that a bigger factor is the car-centric city and suburb design that started in the US after World War II. It was intended to give everyone what they wanted; a big house, a yard, consistenc…

+1 and also want to mention that kids under 16 – what Haidt talks about – can't drive a car at all. Riding a bike is more cumbersome and unsafer than necessary. As a German, the typical US city and its suburbs really represent a kid-hating hellscape.

Yep. And it's gotten a lot worse over the last 70 years. http://guide.saferoutesinfo.org/introduction/the_decline_of_...

Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#57

Post by relaxing »

whamlastxmas wrote: post #50
corimaith wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is purely anecdotal, but looking at my experiences in late-primary to middle school from 2008-2012 so, the exposure to the internet from early on can be pretty bad. 8 year olds swearing left and right, talking about porn and pedos or making all sorts of unpleasant statements that you seen on 4chan can have a pretty debilitating effect on a child's development, especially before puberty has even begun. A kind of…

I was born in the 80s and said all that same dumb crap as a kid too. I learned it from music.

Same. I learned it from the older kids who I assume heard it from their parents - the really noxious racism and sexism you wouldn’t even get in R movies. We still knew it.

Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#58

Post by relaxing »

javagram wrote: post #38
daft_pink wrote: post #15

My opinion is that it’s just partisan gerrymandering creating safe districts is pushing our politics towards the extremes as both parties run far left and far right candidates in their safe district primary. It gives us candidates out of touch with the overall electorate and unable to compromise.

Partisan gerrymandering doesn’t affect senate or presidential elections (with the small exception of Nebraska and Maine’s electors) yet those elections have also become more partisan and polarized. Moreover, the growing rural/urban partisan polarization means even non gerrymandered districts that are created by nonpartisan panels or algorithms are frequently left or right polarized. Creating competitive districts wou…

Partisan gerrymandering means you can push more heavily partisan messaging, pushing the overall constituency further out and making the more extreme candidate electable.

Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#59

Post by relaxing »

keiferski wrote: post #47
kalleboo wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Dealing with it" often just meant becoming an alcoholic, or a woman/child abuser, or other unhealthy outlets for your depression.

Definitely used to be more common, but it wasn’t as if everyone was one of those things. My point was more that people were a bit tougher then, as they had more difficult everyday lives.

You’re not tougher if you’re harming yourself or others to cope.

Re: Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable

#60

Post by keiferski »

relaxing wrote: post #59
keiferski wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely used to be more common, but it wasn’t as if everyone was one of those things. My point was more that people were a bit tougher then, as they had more difficult everyday lives.

You’re not tougher if you’re harming yourself or others to cope.

The idea that everyone prior to contemporary times was harming themselves or others to cope is nonsense.
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