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Not a valid comparison. Alcohol and Tech can fuck people's brains up by fiddling with its reward mechanisms - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/issue

by op03 5y ago

Not a valid comparison. Alcohol and Tech can fuck people's brains up by fiddling with its reward mechanisms - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/issue/september-2017 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/issue/september-... After the fiddling happens parents, bosses, teachers, friends etc are quite capable with good intentions and knowledge gaps of making things worse. Ask a family member or a friend of alcoholic or a gambler or a druggie what success they have had just "listening". What does work is keeping a close eye on the kid when they are most susceptible. Not giving them access to drugs and leaving the drugs with them in their room the whole night. Thats were parents fuck up.

koaluu 5y ago
"The tech was just where the kids were communicating. It was a lot like blaming the highway for a drunk driver's behavior." Seems like they were comparing the highway system, not alcohol.
indymike 5y ago
> Ask a family member or a friend of alcoholic or a gambler or a druggie what success they have had just "listening" Suicide and chemical addiction are not the same thing. Also, while someone going in a bender may get hurt, someone trying to kill themselves... is a much deeper risk. To say listening will not help is very much wrong. In a lot of cases someone who is suicidal (my kids both did and the person they told is why I still have five kids) will literally tell others what they are planning.
aspaceman 5y ago
Nah. Easy scapegoat for shitty rubberneckers. “They left him on the computer too long. We restrict johnnys computer use so that won’t happen.” Tech doesn’t create new social problems. It exacerbates existing ones in new ways. Teen mental health issues have been steadily increasing for decades.
kar5pt 5y ago
That article's not opening for me on mobile, but do realize that just because something "affects the reward mechanisms" doesn't make it an addiction. There are lots of things that affect the reward mechanism - learning new things, spending time with kids - that we wouldn't consider addictions. The junk science on this topic has really gotten out of hand.

by op03 5y ago

koaluu 5y ago

"The tech was just where the kids were communicating. It was a lot like blaming the highway for a drunk driver's behavior." Seems like they were comparing the highway system, not alcohol.

indymike 5y ago

> Ask a family member or a friend of alcoholic or a gambler or a druggie what success they have had just "listening" Suicide and chemical addiction are not the same thing. Also, while someone going in a bender may get hurt, someone trying to kill themselves... is a much deeper risk. To say listening will not help is very much wrong. In a lot of cases someone who is suicidal (my kids both did and the person they told is why I still have five kids) will literally tell others what they are planning.

aspaceman 5y ago

Nah. Easy scapegoat for shitty rubberneckers. “They left him on the computer too long. We restrict johnnys computer use so that won’t happen.” Tech doesn’t create new social problems. It exacerbates existing ones in new ways. Teen mental health issues have been steadily increasing for decades.

kar5pt 5y ago

That article's not opening for me on mobile, but do realize that just because something "affects the reward mechanisms" doesn't make it an addiction. There are lots of things that affect the reward mechanism - learning new things, spending time with kids - that we wouldn't consider addictions. The junk science on this topic has really gotten out of hand.