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Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

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Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#91

Post by mywaifuismeta »

Not surprising to me at all. I just have to look around me and it's super obvious that social media has ruined people's lives, especially teens who don't yet have the mental maturity to understand how their brains are being hijacked. As an adult you at least have the mental facilities to logically understand what's happening, and you are less exposed to peer pressure and not in need of acceptance from your tribe(s). But for teens there is literally not way out.

I'd happily take all the NFT scams if in turn we could shut down TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. They are the worst thing that has happened to humanity in the last decade.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#92

Post by armchairhacker »

recursivedoubts wrote: post #32

Our descendants will look back on us allowing children access to unadulterated social media the way we look back on smoking.

I don’t think limiting information is the solution at least among older teens/young adults.

I think people have a right to know the world’s ugly, harsh facts and crazy opinions. Not knowing something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

I think the solution is to remind them of all the good facts and reasonable opinions. Warn about particularly bad stuff like gore (and do block this content from children until they reach young adulthood). And most importantly, teach them how to better manage their thoughts and emotions (techniques from therapy), so they can learn about bad stuff without being hurt or biased from it.

Then again, this take is from my own ignorance and personality. Maybe I haven’t been exposed to the real ugly stuff, or maybe I’m better at not reacting to stuff emotionally than others. But the main issue with restricting harsh information is, not knowing something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#93

Post by FFRefresh »

twayt wrote: post #60

Is it really social media itself that's the major contributing factor? Or is it really that people are using social media as a distribution channel to propagate negative, defeatist beliefs en mass in response to the natural challenges teens face when growing up? I think it is the latter. One has but to open TikTok to quickly come across a video instilling negative beliefs about the opposite sex with tons of commenter…

I have a somewhat similar question. Don't get me wrong, I don't think moving more of teen social life onto the internet and less in the physical world is going to lead to happiness, so I agree on principle. But this obsession with social media in particular as the cause of all ills seems overblown.

I am a huge fan of Jonathan Haidt, and think he's done a great job in explaining some of the cultural shifts going on, and the changing of morality/psychology in our society.

But I feel like he is overselling social media's impact. He even mentions in his testimony, that the correlation between social media use and mental illness may be around r=0.10 . That is a fairly weak correlation. I also have not seen a study (note that this doesn't mean one doesn't exist) that has done a good job of controlling for the selection effects involved with the data, to attempt to understand if there is any causality involved and what direction it would go. My hypothesis is that those with mental illness would be more likely to use social media more in the first place.

Social media feels like a bit of a bogeyman in our society. There are 100% issues with it, and I don't necessarily think it's net-positive for humanity, but it's only one part of the ever-changing environment we as humans are now finding ourselves in. Blaming social media won't solve our issues, I feel like they run much deeper. Some of the deeper issues are around meaning, identity, belonging, status, decreasing tolerance for discomfort/inconvenience, increasing detachment from physical reality, etc. Our amorphous culture is guiding us down this path and it's really hard for us to grasp...

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#94

Post by zeruch »

foolfoolz wrote: post #85
germinalphrase wrote: post #22

My entirely anecdotal impression as a high school teacher is that media (in general, often but not always “social” media) is doing an exceptional job of sucking up teenagers’ every waking moment that is not actively demanded to be focused on something else. It’s pleasure without joy. Ennui without boredom. Their social skills (and social interest) appear markedly reduced even compared to even five years ago. So many…

“older generation thinks something different than younger generation”

Except in this case older generation(s) can make/map a realistic delta between past and current such that to make reasonable hypotheses.

Frankly, younger people can make the same hypothesis and test from the obverse...it's not that hard.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#95

Post by solenoidalslide »

toolz wrote: post #45
recursivedoubts wrote: post #32

Our descendants will look back on us allowing children access to unadulterated social media the way we look back on smoking.

Strongly disagree, when has society ever decided less access to information is ideal? Our descendants will create better platforms that can allow users to better filter for their emotional needs and they'll likely have better tools to understand their own emotions.

Swap "information" with "ML-optimized and personalized dopamine dispenser". At what age would it be appropriate to own such a device?

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#96

Post by stickfigure »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #37
MonaroVXR wrote: post #21

My family is kinda addicted, so addicted, we ended up not talking anymore because someone wanted a perfect shot off the eifel tower and it wasn't goid enough, even worse when there has to be made pictures of food and whatever.

> pictures of food and whatever I never understood the food photos. Do I just not love food enough? Do people really enjoy seeing photos of their friends’ meals?

I'm a foodie, I cook a lot. I enjoy food porn. Sometimes it inspires me to prepare something new or adopt a new technique. If the dish was prepared by a friend, their creation makes me happy just as if they had posted some sort of art or electronics project.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#97

Post by tempfs »

Everything in this country, in this life, is a competition. One big zero-sum game.

It starts in high school. Social status, academics, athletics, and now social media followers and likes.

I am very glad that when I was in high school, social media wasn't really a thing yet. I could leave it all at school. Just go home and read, play video games or go outside. Most of my mistakes were limited to the memories of those people who witnessed them first hand.

Kids today are under near constant competition with each other and it takes a toll.

At some point, I hope, without some massive existential crisis serving as the impetuous we can collectively come to the understanding that our technology has vastly outpaced our morality. I hope that the prevailing social norm becomes cooperation over competition and the desire to lift others up instead of stepping on them for your own personal gain.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#98

Post by AbrahamParangi »

paxys wrote: post #68

Social media definitely amplifies it, but consider the economic and social environment that teenagers have lived through their entire lives. Multiple major recessions, a global pandemic, rising inflation, housing and education getting more expensive by the day, prospect of a mountain of debt right after graduation, climate that will be unlivable in a few decades, political extremism becoming the norm, and massive gov…

Consider the possibility that this perspective might be less a reflection of reality and more a reflection of the media environment.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#99

Post by twayt »

FFRefresh wrote: post #93
twayt wrote: post #60

Is it really social media itself that's the major contributing factor? Or is it really that people are using social media as a distribution channel to propagate negative, defeatist beliefs en mass in response to the natural challenges teens face when growing up? I think it is the latter. One has but to open TikTok to quickly come across a video instilling negative beliefs about the opposite sex with tons of commenter…

I have a somewhat similar question. Don't get me wrong, I don't think moving more of teen social life onto the internet and less in the physical world is going to lead to happiness, so I agree on principle. But this obsession with social media in particular as the cause of all ills seems overblown. I am a huge fan of Jonathan Haidt, and think he's done a great job in explaining some of the cultural shifts going on, a…

I completely agree with you.

Not to mention the other obvious contributors to poor mental health (war, isolation, health, economic, etc.) that surround us that are being: 1. Ignored due to increased ability to distract one's self 2. Being constantly amplified via social media

In differing conditions, social media may not pose as much harm as it does today. I sure hope they factor this into account when legislating anything.

Re: Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

#100

Post by javajosh »

remarkEon wrote: post #59
toolz wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strongly disagree, when has society ever decided less access to information is ideal? Our descendants will create better platforms that can allow users to better filter for their emotional needs and they'll likely have better tools to understand their own emotions.

>Strongly disagree, when has society ever decided less access to information is ideal? The trick social media companies use is convincing people that all they're doing is giving people access to "information". They are not; they're just creating addiction machines. It should be self evident that wikipedia or a minimalist blog with a comment box is in an entirely different solar system from facebook's algorithm that k…

First, nice Neal Stephenson reference, second, you're right to challenge the notion that banning social media is equivalent to banning information. It's about time-scale. I figure my kids can and should read anything they want in book form. But they cannot and should not see anything they want from the internet. The time-scale of the internet is too short, the quality of information (particularly commentary) is very poor, the opportunity to "engage" is too distracting. I'm not convinced anyone is really able to handle the onslaught of the internet - I am certain that children are not.
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