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Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

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Re: Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

#81

Post by FrojoS »

46493168 wrote: post #53
joenot443 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> kids doing the bare minimum on homework in order to get back on social media faster This was me for much of high school, but with Team Fortress 2 or Dota instead of social media. Comic books, video games, television, skateboarding, fidget spinning - the list of things kids would rather do than homework is endless. I think a kid spending 4h+ on one activity is unhealthy either way, and it really comes back to the pa…

Which items on the list have engineers dedicated to rapid A/B testing running 24-7 to amp up the engagement numbers?

That implies that the A/B testing will lead to a new version that is substantially more engaging. Maybe so, but it seems that the most successful social media platforms arrived at their optimal version more or less immediately. For instance, I (naively?) doubt that much A/B testing went into designing HN. Yet, no other site holds as much of a grip on me.

Re: Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

#82

Post by direwolf20 »

LoganDark wrote: post #80
direwolf20 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're conflating social networks with social media

Maybe? When I see people talking about social media, they say stuff like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc. It's not hard to extend that to say, Tumblr, which Cohost borrowed a lot from, for example. Though I will admit, I've never really heard of a Discord or Reddit "influencer"...

Social network: talk to friends

Social media: algorithmic feed

Re: Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

#83

Post by LoganDark »

direwolf20 wrote: post #82
LoganDark wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe? When I see people talking about social media, they say stuff like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc. It's not hard to extend that to say, Tumblr, which Cohost borrowed a lot from, for example. Though I will admit, I've never really heard of a Discord or Reddit "influencer"...

Social network: talk to friends Social media: algorithmic feed

So that would make Reddit social media, if I'm understanding correctly. I think not HN because everybody sees the same front page. I don't know if Discord is pushing personalized server suggestions yet.

Re: Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

#84

Post by direwolf20 »

LoganDark wrote: post #83
direwolf20 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social network: talk to friends Social media: algorithmic feed

So that would make Reddit social media, if I'm understanding correctly. I think not HN because everybody sees the same front page. I don't know if Discord is pushing personalized server suggestions yet.

HN is somewhere in the middle because the feed is shared instead of personalized, but it's still algorithmic and with global reach so I place it close to other social media.

Re: Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

#85

Post by 46493168 »

FrojoS wrote: post #81
46493168 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which items on the list have engineers dedicated to rapid A/B testing running 24-7 to amp up the engagement numbers?

That implies that the A/B testing will lead to a new version that is substantially more engaging. Maybe so, but it seems that the most successful social media platforms arrived at their optimal version more or less immediately. For instance, I (naively?) doubt that much A/B testing went into designing HN. Yet, no other site holds as much of a grip on me.

Facebook seems to think it will, since they employ A/B testing across pretty much much every facet of the company. Check out Airlock for just one example:

https://engineering.fb.com/2014/01/09/android/airlock-facebo...

Re: Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

#86

Post by cyanydeez »

mjburgess wrote: post #19

I think there's a non-trivial probability that concern over social media is a moral panic, and it's being used as a scapegoat for larger social forces. I wonder if much of what it does is surface our neuroses and issues into public, and thus here we are only shooting the messenger. This may prove out if after 5yr+ of it being banned or limited, nothing changes in the youth (et al.) -- that would be my prediction. I t…

Then there's the CSAM generating Twitter.

Re: Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

#88

Post by jancsika »

mjburgess wrote: post #42
jancsika wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This may prove out if after 5yr+ of it being banned or limited, nothing changes in the youth (et al.) -- that would be my prediction. You're speculation here could be a counterargument to Jonathan Haidt's meta studies on the effects of social media on teenage girls, if you can supplement your speculation with a better explanation for the increase in major depressive episodes in the time range he cites than the corr…

Granting to you for the moment that the issue is with technology -- if instagram is removed, what is it replaced with? Presumably youtube? Or more passive kinds of tech? Is the issue social media, or mass media? Who knows. If we don't grant that, then the rise of instagram correlates heavily with everything i've mentioned. I'd suppose if you look at the physical places of social interaction for teenagers, where they'…

A sibling comment with a bunch of ostensible counterarguments to Haidt appeared earlier, with at least seven annotated footnotes. I was about to dig into it, but they deleted it!

In an attempt to summon the comment back, I'll just close by saying the negative effects are significant and there is no good reason to doubt Haidt's research. :)

Re: Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

#89

Post by fmlpp »

tayo42 wrote: post #71
jatins wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is whether social media is closer to candy or cocaine. You are right that kids will chose anything other than homework but how do you explain adults spending 8 hours a day on short form platforms? Don't think TV had this kind of a hold on people. Some gamers did tend to develop obsessive tendencies over gaming but now that seems much more widespread with social media

> Don't think TV had this kind of a hold on people. Tvs in the bedroom, living rooms, kitchens, they're centerpieces of rooms. Sports on all day on weekends. They got put into cars. I get together with older family and they'll put the TV on and we sit around it. They only thing with TV is it wasn't convenient enough to be in our pockets all day.

Yes, but tv allow a coactivity. Most people absorted in their device cannot do anything else.

Re: Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety

#90

Post by brailsafe »

joenot443 wrote: post #52
midtake wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are probably at least 30 years old and you have forgotten how disruptive social media is for young people. We are not talking about a degradation of a high trust society here. With social media, we are talking about kids doing the bare minimum on homework in order to get back on social media faster. We are talking about large swaths of the population preferring to be entertained by social media then to engage in…

> kids doing the bare minimum on homework in order to get back on social media faster This was me for much of high school, but with Team Fortress 2 or Dota instead of social media. Comic books, video games, television, skateboarding, fidget spinning - the list of things kids would rather do than homework is endless. I think a kid spending 4h+ on one activity is unhealthy either way, and it really comes back to the pa…

> Speaking from experience, children (generally) aren't very good at predicting how best to spend their time, which is why involved parents are so important.

I don't disagree, but adults aren't either, they just have clearer incentives. Disconnect the incentives from the desired behaviour, or make the reward any more ambiguous than not being rained on, getting more currency, or preventing their kid from being deceased, and adults are just as lost much of the time.

Case in point, the tendency for people to consider skateboarding an unoptimal use of time, but (often) simultaneously be confused about why they're lonely and fat in midlife. Kids look to their parents as models for success, but haven't yet had their judgement manipulated, and can see right through all the bullshit while they watch them rot away commuting by car and sitting in front of the TV. There's no convincing argument these people have against social media, because they're telling their kids not to poison themselves with degenerate laziness and addiction while engaging in degenerate laziness and addiction, in addition to not being able to offer the incentives otherwise that they'd have had not to do that.

"Don't play videogames, you'll get bad grades"

"What do grades mean?"

"They'll let you get into a good school"

"What will a good school do for me?"

"It'll help you get a good job"

"What does it mean to get a good job?"

"Well, back in my day, you'd eventually get a house and maybe have some kids"

"Ya but what about now or 10 years from now?"

"I guess... you'll be able to rent more videogames.. run along then"

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