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You’re undermining the well-being of your future children by doing so: you generate the start-up costs for your family by creating a world in which a company wi

You’re undermining the well-being of your future children by doing so: you generate the start-up costs for your family by creating a world in which a company will psychologically manipulate them from the age they’re starting to form their independent identity onwards. For that matter, it might actually even undermine your relationship with your partner — by constantly exposing them to lifestyle porn and fostering unhappiness. I hope that ends well for you. Sometimes, your means goals can undermine your top-priority goal. If you were really Machiavellian, you’d be a welder with a side project using pilfered IP — realizing that being “in the sewers” is much more productive if you’re not destabilizing the very society you’re going to later depend on.

aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago
My dad taught me critical thinking and to think about the motives of different actors around us (people, corporations, media, politicians). I’ll try to raise my children similarly. I’ll teach them about privacy, like my dad who insisted that each family member should have their own account on the family computer, even when we were small kids with my brother. The way I see it, if it weren’t for FB, there would be others trying to manipulate them, like other tech companies, advertisers in general, or simply scammers. So the need to raise your children to be conscious about these things is not a recent development, and not strictly due to FB. I know this doesn’t make me “innocent” though.
- FakeComments 8y ago
  “The world is already toxic, there’s nothing wrong with me manufacturing poison!” I get the logic, I just don’t agree — and I think it’s the kind of thinking that underlies “penny wise, pound foolish” or similar sayings. It’s also just outright untrue that anything like Facebook existed over 20 years ago — you’re contributing to something new, or at least a massive escalation in kind likely to bring about qualitative differences, not merely producing “more of the same”. Also, I think it’s naive to say kids with critical thinking skills are equipped to fend off hundreds of PhDs backed by thousands of programmers implementing their tools, coupled to all of their friends peer pressuring them. Or adults, or institutions, or.... I don’t want you to think I don’t respect your motivations or view, though — I just think you made some errors in assessing trade offs, in a way that hurts not only you, but everyone else. I think that’s worth pointing out. Have a good one, and sincerely, best luck starting a family!

aaaaaaaaaab 8y ago

My dad taught me critical thinking and to think about the motives of different actors around us (people, corporations, media, politicians). I’ll try to raise my children similarly. I’ll teach them about privacy, like my dad who insisted that each family member should have their own account on the family computer, even when we were small kids with my brother. The way I see it, if it weren’t for FB, there would be others trying to manipulate them, like other tech companies, advertisers in general, or simply scammers. So the need to raise your children to be conscious about these things is not a recent development, and not strictly due to FB. I know this doesn’t make me “innocent” though.

FakeComments 8y ago
“The world is already toxic, there’s nothing wrong with me manufacturing poison!” I get the logic, I just don’t agree — and I think it’s the kind of thinking that underlies “penny wise, pound foolish” or similar sayings. It’s also just outright untrue that anything like Facebook existed over 20 years ago — you’re contributing to something new, or at least a massive escalation in kind likely to bring about qualitative differences, not merely producing “more of the same”. Also, I think it’s naive to say kids with critical thinking skills are equipped to fend off hundreds of PhDs backed by thousands of programmers implementing their tools, coupled to all of their friends peer pressuring them. Or adults, or institutions, or.... I don’t want you to think I don’t respect your motivations or view, though — I just think you made some errors in assessing trade offs, in a way that hurts not only you, but everyone else. I think that’s worth pointing out. Have a good one, and sincerely, best luck starting a family!