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Gotta love the correlation is not causation crowd. Do they think Haidt and others haven't considered that? It's like the first thing that everyone considers. I

Gotta love the correlation is not causation crowd. Do they think Haidt and others haven't considered that? It's like the first thing that everyone considers. I personally think that HN dismisses these ideas because it would mean dire consequences for their high paying entrenched employers.

kergonath 4y ago
I think it’s a reflex because we care about this sort of devices. In the same way as gun enthusiasts are overall again any kind of gun control even in dangerous cases. “It cannot be dangerous because I like it”. We need some kind of cultural shift so that people who give their kids a smartphone are shunned like people who give their kids cigarettes or beers.
- sylens 4y ago
  But to that I ask - don't we all feel these same types of effects ourselves? Does anyone here feel happy about how much they look at their smartphone? And we're adults with fully developed brains - I cannot fathom the havoc it's wreaking on the adolescent (and younger) mind.
  - kergonath 4y ago
    I think so. Adults can get addicted very easily. It’s compounded by the fact that we don’t generally think of the dopamine hits provided by social media as something that can be addictive, so we are not very careful. But similarly as with alcohol and marijuana, the effects on a developing brain seem much more profound. (Caveat: I am not a specialist, but the limited reading I did from the literature and my limited experience point to that direction.)
  - 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
    This is my explanation as well. I look around and I see lots of addicted adults. Everyone I've asked says they want to use their phone less but they don't. They can't. It's a bad habit. What chance do children have?
hotpotamus 4y ago
> I personally think that HN dismisses these ideas because it would mean dire consequences for their high paying entrenched employers. I mean, the Sinclair quote about the difficulty of getting someone to understand something when their salary depends on not understanding it is a cliche at this point, right? I suppose no one has ever paid me enough to turn off my conscience, but it seems like I'd have a much easier go of life if that was possible.
caf 4y ago
Yeah, pretty clear they didn't read as far as "4. Limitations" which anticipates and discusses this point.

kergonath 4y ago

I think it’s a reflex because we care about this sort of devices. In the same way as gun enthusiasts are overall again any kind of gun control even in dangerous cases. “It cannot be dangerous because I like it”. We need some kind of cultural shift so that people who give their kids a smartphone are shunned like people who give their kids cigarettes or beers.

sylens 4y ago
But to that I ask - don't we all feel these same types of effects ourselves? Does anyone here feel happy about how much they look at their smartphone? And we're adults with fully developed brains - I cannot fathom the havoc it's wreaking on the adolescent (and younger) mind.
- kergonath 4y ago
  I think so. Adults can get addicted very easily. It’s compounded by the fact that we don’t generally think of the dopamine hits provided by social media as something that can be addictive, so we are not very careful. But similarly as with alcohol and marijuana, the effects on a developing brain seem much more profound. (Caveat: I am not a specialist, but the limited reading I did from the literature and my limited experience point to that direction.)
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
  This is my explanation as well. I look around and I see lots of addicted adults. Everyone I've asked says they want to use their phone less but they don't. They can't. It's a bad habit. What chance do children have?

hotpotamus 4y ago

> I personally think that HN dismisses these ideas because it would mean dire consequences for their high paying entrenched employers. I mean, the Sinclair quote about the difficulty of getting someone to understand something when their salary depends on not understanding it is a cliche at this point, right? I suppose no one has ever paid me enough to turn off my conscience, but it seems like I'd have a much easier go of life if that was possible.

caf 4y ago

Yeah, pretty clear they didn't read as far as "4. Limitations" which anticipates and discusses this point.