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Sure, it's the phones... not the non-stop barrage of psychological manipulation from the ad driven capitalist hellscape we have created that poison their underd

Sure, it's the phones... not the non-stop barrage of psychological manipulation from the ad driven capitalist hellscape we have created that poison their underdeveloped minds in everything they interact with from websites to games to TV to movies. Never mind they live in a constant state of alertness looking for which classmates going to waltz into school one day and start shooting. I'm sure though if they put the phone down and touch grass for 15 minutes that will all go away.

jeffwask 4y ago
To me this is a mirror to the problems, I have seen with my generations parents who grew up on "Fairness Doctrine" media. They were used to fair and balanced Walter Kronkite who by law was required to present untainted news. Many never adapted to news as infotainment and the new requirements around seeking multiple sources and such to understand the actual facts. Our children have similarly been presented a world where the laws protecting children from aggressive ads have been eroded, the psychology of ads has been ramped up, and ads have been hidden and added to products they never existed in. As an example, I recently saw a TikTok where a young woman was walking people through her 12 year old sister's skin care and makeup routines. She had hundreds of products just an obscene amount of chemicals and ungents. These products and the need for them is often not pushed through typical ads but testimonials from creators and influencers who may or may not indicate they are being paid to push these products. Even in the escapism of games, teens are bombarded with in game ads, micro transactions, content partnerships, etc. It used to be fire up Mario Bros and play. It's now fire up Fortnight and here's the store, did you buy a battle pass, how about some skins, you better not be using default skins because then you aren't cool. Buy more, pay more, be the cool kid in the latest skin. Entire teams paid to drive monetization by exploiting the psychology of children and adolescents. It's non-stop and how does a 12 year old have the critical eye to identify these manipulations when most of their parents don't even understand the worlds and communities they live in. A phone is just a screen and we have dozens of screens in our homes and every one blasts aggressive psychological manipulation at this vulnerable population who used to be protected.

jeffwask 4y ago

To me this is a mirror to the problems, I have seen with my generations parents who grew up on "Fairness Doctrine" media. They were used to fair and balanced Walter Kronkite who by law was required to present untainted news. Many never adapted to news as infotainment and the new requirements around seeking multiple sources and such to understand the actual facts. Our children have similarly been presented a world where the laws protecting children from aggressive ads have been eroded, the psychology of ads has been ramped up, and ads have been hidden and added to products they never existed in. As an example, I recently saw a TikTok where a young woman was walking people through her 12 year old sister's skin care and makeup routines. She had hundreds of products just an obscene amount of chemicals and ungents. These products and the need for them is often not pushed through typical ads but testimonials from creators and influencers who may or may not indicate they are being paid to push these products. Even in the escapism of games, teens are bombarded with in game ads, micro transactions, content partnerships, etc. It used to be fire up Mario Bros and play. It's now fire up Fortnight and here's the store, did you buy a battle pass, how about some skins, you better not be using default skins because then you aren't cool. Buy more, pay more, be the cool kid in the latest skin. Entire teams paid to drive monetization by exploiting the psychology of children and adolescents. It's non-stop and how does a 12 year old have the critical eye to identify these manipulations when most of their parents don't even understand the worlds and communities they live in. A phone is just a screen and we have dozens of screens in our homes and every one blasts aggressive psychological manipulation at this vulnerable population who used to be protected.