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U.S. Teens Spend Average of 4.8 Hours on Social Media per Day
- hunglee2 3y agoI wonder what governments will do to counter this, if indeed it is a problem to be solved. What do we think - should the US implement laws maximum hours per user per platform, according to age?
- doggerel 3y agoThe Chinese gov't has limited their equivalent of TikTok—which is purely educational content—to 40 min a day and zero access for kids between 10pm and 6am. That's not a bad start. Overexposure is literally giving users dementia, aka brain atrophy. eta: if anyone was spending 4.8 hours a day playing the slots, we'd call that a serious addiction, let alone kids whose brains are still forming.
- hunglee2 3y agodo we agree with this authoritarianism? I wonder whether we should just let the kids access to all information, we actually don't know whether this will lead to good or bad outcomes.
- doggerel 3y agoNo, children should not have access to "all information". The world is full of information and media that would traumatize them. For example, murder videos from a brand new war. Radicalization content would also go on my "not for children" list. There is plenty of material that children lack the tools to understand and digest without trauma or ideological absorption. Most adults lack those skills too, to be fair. There should actually be ways to choose for your children what kinds of content you would like them to have access to until they're mature enough to decide for themselves. If you want to limit it to educational content, that's up to you as a parent.
- bracketslash 3y agowho gets to decide how "radical" is defined and what is classified as "radical"? I certainly agree with leaving it up to the parent.
- lm28469 3y agoLike the parent of the dude who just cut the throat of that French teacher ? It's a family of radical islamists but who are we to say they're radical ? Maybe we just don't understand them ? maybe we are the problem ? Is antisemitism radical ? Are islamists radical ? Who knows right ? Such a tough question!
- master-lincoln 3y agoFor you the world seems to be black and white (assuming your comment was sarcasm). Radical means favoring extreme changes. So depending on where you live and in what part of society the things you mentioned above might not be seen as radical or they might be. I for example would have liked to not give children access to a bible too. That might be seen as radical in some christian societies...
- bracketslash 3y agoIs wearing a burqa radical? Are books that have inappropriate language radical? Are transgender rights radical? It’s a slippery slope. Banning access to information is dangerous.
- shoulin 3y ago[flagged]
- willvarfar 3y agoWas the recent John Oliver segment on home schooling hyperbole? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzsZP9o7SlI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzsZP9o7SlI
- 4gotunameagain 3y agoIs being alcohol consumption for minors authoritarianism? Is heroin being illegal authoritarianism? Crystal meth? It is clear by now that social media are terrible for the individual, and for society. And so much more for kids.
- lm28469 3y agoAh yes, let them access the hamas video I saw last week, surely it won't cause any harm. And porn too, porn is good for kids. > do we agree with this authoritarianism? Yes? Do you agree with your kids getting blasted/manipulated by foreign content coming from an app controlled by an authoritarian country ?
- sojournerc 3y agoParents can deal with that, not the government. Why do people want the government to solve all problems? Why do you want more authoritarians?
- master-lincoln 3y agoBecause parents often don't want to raise their kids anymore because they are too busy with making money or fulfilling individualism. Can you really not understand why some people favor authoritarian systems? Can you not imagine that some folks just don't want think critically themselves? Live is often dull but easy if you follow along in authoritarian systems. Some people prefer that
- sojournerc 3y agoOk, but do you think that's a good thing?
- lm28469 3y ago> Why do you want more authoritarians? Why do you want foreign apps made by authoritarian countries to have root access to your kids brains ? > Why do you want more authoritarians? > Why do people want the government to solve all problems? I know it's 2023 and people believe "laws = authoritarianism" but come on. We decided to live in organised and hierarchical societies for a reason, and the reason isn't "I want to do whatever I want whenever I went even if it's detrimental to myself and my community"
- hunglee2 3y ago
- notamy 3y ago> Overexposure is literally giving users dementia, aka brain atrophy. Genuine question: Are there any studies/etc showing this? If there are, why aren’t they the focus of articles like this?
- doggerel 3y agoTotally fair question. This is the first thing I could chase down. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7044619/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7044619/ My guess would be that the sample size here is small and therefore it's not a completely iron clad study. Maybe there are bigger studies out there, I don't know. This one would be easy to gainsay and/or maybe the publication doesn't think its readers respond to scientific research. I guess this is like the early days of research showing smoking was bad. Long way to go until everyone is convinced.
- hollerith 3y agoIf instead of "eta:" you'd written "added:" you probably wouldn't've had to write out an explanation.
- Ruthalas 3y agoWhat does "ETA" mean in this context? I've only seen it used for "estimated time of arrival", which doesn't make sense here.
- doggerel 3y agoHere it means "edited to add". It's a way to signal it wasn't part of my first post, and I think it's polite because if someone replies and then the OP edits but doesn't mark what they've added, it can make the reply look weird and out of joint. Which sometimes people do on purpose.
- Ruthalas 3y agoAh! That makes sense, thank you.
- Eumenes 3y agoGovernment? How about parents?
- waihtis 3y agoThe means of production.. I mean, the means of thinking belong to the government!
- lm28469 3y agoIt's too late for that, unless you live in the woods and put your kids in special school you're doomed. There is no soft way out of this
- Eumenes 3y agoFortunately, I do live in the woods and I do expect to homeschool ... but its quite defeatist to suggest parents must live with their kids being on social media 5 hrs per day, just cause everyone else lets their kids do it.
- InternetUser 3y agoOk, hit me with the hard way. Home-school my kids and allow no Internet usage?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- doggerel 3y agoSocial media addiction causes brain atrophy. And we thought football was hurting their brains.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- doggerel 3y agoTo clarify: my point is, social media is way more prevalent than football head injuries. And yet there isn't really the same public health scandal around social media. From a relevant study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7044619/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7044619/). GMV = Gray Matter Volume. Your brain, basically. "This study investigated fronto-cingulate gray matter abnormalities in problematic smartphone users, particularly those who spend time on social networking platforms. [...] Problematic smartphone users had significantly smaller GMV in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) than healthy controls, and there were significant negative correlations between GMV in the right lateral OFC and the Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (SAPS) score, including the SAPS tolerance subscale. [...] These results suggest that lateral orbitofrontal gray matter abnormalities are implicated in problematic smartphone use, especially in social networking platform overuse."
- h2odragon 3y ago30 years, teens spent about as much time watching TV. Is the problem that people enjoy passive entertainment? Young as well as old? Is the problem the source of the predigested pap that makes up the entertainment? It was all fine when it was only 4 sources and no interactivity?
- lm28469 3y agoWatching cartoons/tv shows vs watching 6 hours of 5 seconds content on tiktok/instagram isn't really comparable. It's like saying alcohol and heroin are the same because "drug"
- jncfhnb 3y agoOh please, they’re not even comparable?
- lm28469 3y agohm yes ? When I was a kid I had 5 tv channels and that's it. Nothing interesting to watch ? Well get out or find a comic book. Today: unlimited stream of shit coming from an unlimited number of sources, everything is 2-10s long which destroy your attention span. People competing to trigger your primal needs, everything slowly evolve into softcore porn, the rest is disguised advertising. Look at what's trending on tiktok and ig, it's scary
- jncfhnb 3y agoI had 100+ channels. Do you think my experience was fundamentally different?
- lm28469 3y agoYes, 100%. I went to my grandparents very often for the sole reason that they had 50+ channels to binge watch animes. There was always something available if you looked for it, complete different experience from my parent's place
- muzani 3y agoHeh stupid teens. upvotes article on hacker news
- lm28469 3y agoI doubt many people have that view here. We fabricated their addiction
- BoxFour 3y agoI've seen numerous active posters here criticize platforms like TikTok while engaging in all sorts of mental gymnastics about how HN is different. Someone’s doing it already in a sibling comment. And I'm not claiming superiority; I just don't feign to be above those who spend their time on TikTok.
- lr4444lr 3y agoWe didn't push it on children: that's an executive decision.
- lghh 3y agoWe write the code that does it.
- matthews2 3y agoWe were just following orders!
- master-lincoln 3y agoSo our managers and board members are at fault. These are also the biggest beneficiaries, so that checks out for me
- SturgeonsLaw 3y agoIt's a bit like someone working at an arms factory saying "I just built the bomb, I didn't drop it on anyone", and they're right, but they're also complicit in the overall process. Without their actions, there would be no bomb to drop.
- stetrain 3y agoHow does this compare to adults or seniors?
- kayodelycaon 3y agoThis is a bit misleading. It includes YouTube as social media, which accounts for 2 hours of the 4.8 hours. I’m pretty sure video games and TV used as much if not more prior to YouTube existing.
- yellow_lead 3y agoExactly, there are many courses on YouTube. For instance, I wouldn't consider this 8 hour Ableton course social media: https://youtu.be/0iuRsiKtObw https://youtu.be/0iuRsiKtObw
- LeonM 3y agoThis is an important detail. I don't use any 'social media', but I do enjoy watching YouTube. YouTube is the only/primary video streaming subscription I have. I don't have a traditional TV/cable subscription, instead I stream YT to my TV. So, I think I also average about 2 hours if YT viewing a day. But I don't agree that that should be counted as 'social media' use.
- lesuorac 3y ago> I don't have a traditional TV/cable subscription, instead I stream YT to my TV. That I think is the real distinction. But if you're in the comments section of YouTube then I think it should count as social media; so in your scenario I agree it doesn't.
- ClumsyPilot 3y agoI don't consider youtube social media
- ceejayoz 3y agoSome of it definitely shouldn't be; some of it definitely should.
- SirMaster 3y agoYeah, so if I was watching educational videos on YouTube that's seen as "bad social media"?
- sschueller 3y agoI recall these kinds of studies back in the 90's regarding kids watching TV or later kids playing video games.
- Retric 3y agoSure, but calling YouTube social media is a little misleading as someone watching Family Guy or whatever might as well be watching TV.
- josefresco 3y agoSounds about right. Not good but... accurate. My teens: 4-5 hours per day, mostly social media & tv/movies. My wife: 5 hours per day, 90% productivity. Me: 2 hours per day, 75% social media, streaming tv & news. The amazing part is my wife also clocks 6+ hours on her PC but still gets an amazing amount of work done on her tiny iPhone (SE!)
- fullstop 3y agoIf this includes Discord then it's not surprising at all. It's how (my) kids primarily communicate today.
- matthewfelgate 3y agoI get depressed when I think about how many books I could read with the time I waste on the internet.
- master-lincoln 3y agoYou could read those books on the internet too. Both are just a medium for distributing information. (I get what you mean, but I think it's an important distinction that is often left out)