81–90 of 118 posts
Here is a simple experiment. Spend the same amount of time on social media as your average teen for a month, and report your mental health before and after assuming you use it less. 'correlation does not imply causation' has become the most overused lazy argument to dismiss so many problems.
When I was a kid, it was video games that were ruining a generation, in my parents generation it was "the devils music" that was turning them into a bunch of degenerates. I wonder what the issues where when Galileo was a kid? They title says "epidemic of teenage mental illness", but do we not discriminate between mental illness and mental health? Where is that line? I'm not suggesting social media doesn't have it's c…
I always wonder when an "epidemic" gets reported if things really have changed or if we just recognize it better. When I grew up, we had a lot of kids (including myself) with problems like depression or not fitting in in other ways. Back then they were just labeled as "slow", "stupid" or "difficult". Nobody thought about mental illness or ways for addressing these issues.
Not fitting in is not a mental illness. And this attitude is behind the prevalence of many mental illnesses today. We've gone from a society that embraced difference to one that claims to embrace difference while mandating sameness. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc, are all toxic for this reason.
The problem with social media is it is a paralysis engine. It drives the most seemingly credible, brain-wormy and engagement-driving discourse to the top, promoting the most violent, exclusionary and aggressively undertoned rallying cries of trending angst-fueled ideologies. As a consequence, whatever your opinion, identity, or circumstances, you will surely encounter the echo chambers of people who want you dead or…
I'm guessing not just teenagers. Every day on Twitter, I see posts like [this]( https://twitter.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/17741956933237925... ) by accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers that are indistinguishable from schizophrenic ideation. These consist of extremely idiosyncratic delusions that, thanks purely to social media, find a community of believers who can reassure each other that no, they're not…
I see that post, on its own (I don't do twitter), and think it's just a clever satirical post. Something above the stage of "John Wilkes Booth drank water, and so did Joe Biden. Coincidence?"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The world had much bigger and more imminent problems in the past. People didn't dwell on them collectively in the same way.
I don't mean to be glib, but you are in denial. Nuclear war is more likely now than since the early cold war, China is ready to invade Taiwan, climate change is poised to weaken or complete disrupt the Gulf Stream, America is months away from electing an insurrectionist as president, buying a house is a pipe dream for most Americans... How could you see that as a young person and not feel at least a little hopeless?
Here is a simple experiment. Spend the same amount of time on social media as your average teen for a month, and report your mental health before and after assuming you use it less. 'correlation does not imply causation' has become the most overused lazy argument to dismiss so many problems.
I always see discussions on this topic online immediately start discussing how the content of social media is the driver of the mental health issues (comparison to others, everyone projecting their best selves etc). My own experiences with social media and phone addiction leads me to believe its not JUST the content, but also (equally, perhaps moreso) the fact that teenagers AND adults with social media and phone add…
Wikipedia helpfully selected a picture of somebody using an ebook reader as their illustration of what "screen time" means: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_time
I'm just flabbergasted with the level of smokescreen that goes on in this discussion. Pretty sure reading books on ebook readers is not what is driving teenage mental health problems.
For anyone who reads the comments before TFA: yes, it’s just more Haidt.
the book’s repeated suggestion that digital technologies are rewiring our children’s brains and causing an epidemic of mental illness is not supported by science.
Hundreds of researchers, myself included, have searched for the kind of large effects suggested by Haidt. Our efforts have produced a mix of no, small and mixed associations. Most data are correlative. When associations over time are found, they suggest not that social-media use predicts or causes depression, but that young people who already have mental-health problems use such platforms more often or in different ways from their healthy peers.The problem with social media is it is a paralysis engine. It drives the most seemingly credible, brain-wormy and engagement-driving discourse to the top, promoting the most violent, exclusionary and aggressively undertoned rallying cries of trending angst-fueled ideologies. As a consequence, whatever your opinion, identity, or circumstances, you will surely encounter the echo chambers of people who want you dead or…
I don't agree. As far as I remember somewhat extreme opinions were present in the public discourse (for instance far left positions on university campus, far right ones at the local pub). Moreover, people who want me dead or removed from society because of my political views are in my immediate social or professional circle, no need for social media to meet them.
This is not the norm