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> Maybe our parents were indeed right when they told us we are glued to our devices and should go touch grass. And yet, their generation seems to be the most a

> Maybe our parents were indeed right when they told us we are glued to our devices and should go touch grass. And yet, their generation seems to be the most addicted these days, and the most unhinged when it comes to following conspiracy theories.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
This is a good point. I suspect that one reason is that "digital natives" have been raised with the tech, so have sort of a "natural resistance," yet the oldtimers were hooked almost immediately. For myself, I have been using electronic communications, almost since they were invented (BBSes and UUNet, anyone?), so I have "more resistance" than most of my peers. Yet, I still have to stay off of Facebook. This is pretty much my only social media venue. The main reason I stay, is because people play [relatively] nice, hereabouts.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
jt2190 4y ago
I suspect that those who grow up as social media “natives” will have some social norms that protect them somewhat, whereas many of those who came of age pre-social media will not have learned the social norms that can protect them. We can see lots of useful examples of a protective social norms with alcohol. For example, it’s quite common for people to not drink any alcohol before a certain hour of the day. It’s not illegal to drink alcohol earlier, but it’s “just not done”. We can easily see the benefits of not drinking at the start of the workday. I’m not going to guess what kind of social media norms people are developing in general. For me I only follow boring, topic-focused people on Twitter, and I only use the “Following” feed. Nobody is making me do this.
- polygotdomain 4y ago
  >I suspect that those who grow up as social media “natives” will have some social norms that protect them somewhat, whereas many of those who came of age pre-social media will not have learned the social norms that can protect them. Agreed. A lot of older generations fall for a lot of satire and comment on things as if they're 1 on 1 with you instead of realizing that it's a public forum. However, a lot of younger generations are incredibly aware that everything they do and say could potentially be public or go viral. That brings a whole host of other problems and challenges with it. The ultimate problem is every incentive goes against a "healthy" social media. Companies don't want a "healthy" social media as they're focused on engagement, screen time, content, and advertisers. Most of the primitive portions of our brains don't want "healthy" social media either, as it craves the rush of more likes and followers. I don't think that the logical, self-aware portions of our psyche are going to change the direction of how things are going.
- jwestbury 4y ago
  > We can see lots of useful examples of a protective social norms with alcohol. For example, it’s quite common for people to not drink any alcohol before a certain hour of the day. It’s not illegal to drink alcohol earlier, but it’s “just not done”. I find this point quite interesting. I didn't drink alcohol until I was nearly 30. I skipped by most of the formative alcohol consumption experiences most people have. And, incidentally, I don't seem to follow the same norms about what time of day it's okay to drink: I'll happily have a beer well before noon.
- polishdude20 4y ago
  The non-native social media people have grown up fully on in-person relationships where trust is very important. They apply the same trust to people on social media that they do to their friends and family. The social media natives treat social media as different things.
1827162 4y ago
Likely because that generation was raised to believe everything they were told, starting from an early age with school, religion, then with television and newspapers, etc. The younger generation were raised with media that spread obvious untruths such as conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, etc. and they learned to think more critically about what they are reading.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- dexterdog 4y ago
  That is an awfully broad brush you are painting with there. It's also painfully obvious which of the two groups you are in.
  - 1827162 4y ago
    Yes, quite possibly overgeneralization there. Thinking on it....
- taeric 4y ago
  I'm probably over indexing on it, but the nocebo effect did not begin and end with a generation. People are remarkably influenced by what they are told. Even if they know it is unlikely or not true.
- zozbot234 4y ago
  > The younger generation were raised with media that spread obvious untruths such as conspiracy theories, pseudoscience Except that talk radio is way older than that, and it was the same kind of content.
  - 1827162 4y ago
    Yes, I'm likely wrong there.... As a side note, one important change in the modern times is the ability to cross check information from a wide range of sources easily.
taneq 4y ago
Well of course they are, they poor dears grew up in a world without it and while there are exceptions, most of them lack any natural immunity. Just look at people over 50 (present company excepted, of course) trying to use the web without an ad blocker.
oh_sigh 4y ago
Not according to this: Social media, gen z wins: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1314973/global-daily-time-spent-on-social-media-networks-generation/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1314973/global-daily-tim... Phones in general, millennials win: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/which-generation-is-most-dependent-on-smartphones-hint/360098#:~:text=Daily%20phone%20screen%20time%2C%20unsurprisingly,phones%3B%20boomers%20spend%2039%20days https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/which-generation-....

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

This is a good point. I suspect that one reason is that "digital natives" have been raised with the tech, so have sort of a "natural resistance," yet the oldtimers were hooked almost immediately. For myself, I have been using electronic communications, almost since they were invented (BBSes and UUNet, anyone?), so I have "more resistance" than most of my peers. Yet, I still have to stay off of Facebook. This is pretty much my only social media venue. The main reason I stay, is because people play [relatively] nice, hereabouts.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

jt2190 4y ago

I suspect that those who grow up as social media “natives” will have some social norms that protect them somewhat, whereas many of those who came of age pre-social media will not have learned the social norms that can protect them. We can see lots of useful examples of a protective social norms with alcohol. For example, it’s quite common for people to not drink any alcohol before a certain hour of the day. It’s not illegal to drink alcohol earlier, but it’s “just not done”. We can easily see the benefits of not drinking at the start of the workday. I’m not going to guess what kind of social media norms people are developing in general. For me I only follow boring, topic-focused people on Twitter, and I only use the “Following” feed. Nobody is making me do this.

polygotdomain 4y ago
>I suspect that those who grow up as social media “natives” will have some social norms that protect them somewhat, whereas many of those who came of age pre-social media will not have learned the social norms that can protect them. Agreed. A lot of older generations fall for a lot of satire and comment on things as if they're 1 on 1 with you instead of realizing that it's a public forum. However, a lot of younger generations are incredibly aware that everything they do and say could potentially be public or go viral. That brings a whole host of other problems and challenges with it. The ultimate problem is every incentive goes against a "healthy" social media. Companies don't want a "healthy" social media as they're focused on engagement, screen time, content, and advertisers. Most of the primitive portions of our brains don't want "healthy" social media either, as it craves the rush of more likes and followers. I don't think that the logical, self-aware portions of our psyche are going to change the direction of how things are going.
jwestbury 4y ago
> We can see lots of useful examples of a protective social norms with alcohol. For example, it’s quite common for people to not drink any alcohol before a certain hour of the day. It’s not illegal to drink alcohol earlier, but it’s “just not done”. I find this point quite interesting. I didn't drink alcohol until I was nearly 30. I skipped by most of the formative alcohol consumption experiences most people have. And, incidentally, I don't seem to follow the same norms about what time of day it's okay to drink: I'll happily have a beer well before noon.
polishdude20 4y ago
The non-native social media people have grown up fully on in-person relationships where trust is very important. They apply the same trust to people on social media that they do to their friends and family. The social media natives treat social media as different things.

1827162 4y ago

Likely because that generation was raised to believe everything they were told, starting from an early age with school, religion, then with television and newspapers, etc. The younger generation were raised with media that spread obvious untruths such as conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, etc. and they learned to think more critically about what they are reading.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
dexterdog 4y ago
That is an awfully broad brush you are painting with there. It's also painfully obvious which of the two groups you are in.
- 1827162 4y ago
  Yes, quite possibly overgeneralization there. Thinking on it....
taeric 4y ago
I'm probably over indexing on it, but the nocebo effect did not begin and end with a generation. People are remarkably influenced by what they are told. Even if they know it is unlikely or not true.
zozbot234 4y ago
> The younger generation were raised with media that spread obvious untruths such as conspiracy theories, pseudoscience Except that talk radio is way older than that, and it was the same kind of content.
- 1827162 4y ago
  Yes, I'm likely wrong there.... As a side note, one important change in the modern times is the ability to cross check information from a wide range of sources easily.

taneq 4y ago

Well of course they are, they poor dears grew up in a world without it and while there are exceptions, most of them lack any natural immunity. Just look at people over 50 (present company excepted, of course) trying to use the web without an ad blocker.

oh_sigh 4y ago

Not according to this: Social media, gen z wins: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1314973/global-daily-time-spent-on-social-media-networks-generation/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1314973/global-daily-tim... Phones in general, millennials win: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/which-generation-is-most-dependent-on-smartphones-hint/360098#:~:text=Daily%20phone%20screen%20time%2C%20unsurprisingly,phones%3B%20boomers%20spend%2039%20days https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/which-generation-....