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> Meta, along with Snap, TikTok, and Google, now face hundreds of lawsuits claiming they are to blame for adolescents and young adults suffering anxiety, depres

> Meta, along with Snap, TikTok, and Google, now face hundreds of lawsuits claiming they are to blame for adolescents and young adults suffering anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and sleeplessness as a result of their addiction to social media. The companies also face scores of complaints by public school districts on behalf of students alleging that the platforms have created a public nuisance. Oh I'm sure this particular lawsuit will be the one that solve these problems once and for all. Hint: it won't. This is performative politicking. Meta and co will continue to pay minuscule fines (not too much though, META is in alot of ETF and mutual funds), they'll continue to spread lobbying money around to both political parties, parents will point fingers (without taking any responsibility), young adults/teens will drone on about "mental health" because its fashionable (if social media is giving you an eating disorder or making you anxious, how about putting down the phone?), and nothing will change.

micromacrofoot 3y ago
Things are in fact starting to change, though I wish they happened sooner. The FTC is currently looking to hire child psychologists in an effort to further investigate this kind of claim.
- Eumenes 3y ago
  You don't need 'experts' to realize that social media is bad for young people. They are just going to suggest regulating content. I can see it now ... young girls cannot see content showcasing skinny or 'classically beautiful' women, because it gives them a skewed perspective of 'beauty' that may lead to eating disorders. The FTC pats themselves on the back, job well done, and nothing changes. Regulating the internet isn't going to change anything, the genie is out of the bottle. Change starts at home and at school. Put wifi and cell jamming technology in public schools. How many ads are kids shown on public school property? Kids are spending 5 hrs a day on social media. That is insanity. That time needs to be replaced doing productive things; reading books, playing sports, building things.
  - CamperBob2 3y ago
    Put wifi and cell jamming technology in public schools. Ah, yes, technical solutions to social problems. Those always work. Here's a better idea: raise your kids to value things that are real, and then teach them that nothing they see on a screen is real.
    - leghifla 3y ago
      And first, lead by example. If the parents cannot help looking at their phone every 5 minutes, how are the children supposed to act?
    - Eumenes 3y ago
      I agree about the parenting piece. But social media usage spiked for youths when children were given powerful computers in their pockets they have 24/7 access to. I'd argue it's a technical problem as much as a social one. Geofencing social media in public schools seems appropriate. My comment on wifi or cell jamming was hyperbolic.
    - anigbrowl 3y ago
      nothing they see on a screen is real This is just as irrational as believing anything on a screen is real.
      - CamperBob2 3y ago
        Read some Plato. Preferably with your kids, while they're at an impressionable age.
        anigbrowl 3y ago
        Stop posturing. You know perfectly well that screens present true as well as false information and media literacy is a matter of distinguishing between the two rather than making categorical assumptions. Frankly you come off a lot more like Diogenes than Plato.
  - micromacrofoot 3y ago
GlibMonkeyDeath 3y ago
I'm not as pessimistic as you. There is more and more evidence (https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/13-explanations-mental-health-crisis https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/13-explanations-mental-...) that social media companies have essentially engineered a harmful addictive drug - at some point they will be held accountable. I do think we are going through the tobacco company phase, where the CEO's will stand before Congress and solemnly state they think their product is not harmful, and even if it is, it is a matter of "freedom" or something. "Just put down the phone" is this generation's Nancy Reagan "Just say no" moment. It was a joke amongst my young peers back in the day. But the real war on drugs, the War on Tobacco, has been incredibly effective - smoking used to be ubiquitous in the US, now it is just about gone. Social media, with attention-engineered timelines, is tobacco.
KittenInABox 3y ago
> young adults/teens will drone on about "mental health" because its fashionable (if social media is giving you an eating disorder or making you anxious, how about putting down the phone?) To be fair, for many young adults and teens the parents are demanding the kids have their phones so that the parents can track their location and other surveillance shit. Additionally, we know for a fact that these social media companies are hiring tams of people with full doctorate degrees in keeping you online and responding. How is a 13 year old's underdeveloped brain supposed to compete with that when most adults can't even do it?
- LtWorf 3y ago
  For every parent demanding that, there's 100 kids asking for a device.
  - KittenInABox 3y ago
    See my second point: how is a young teen supposed to handle something designed by teams of psychologists to keep them engaged in? It's why we don't let children play slot machines or don't allow tobacco advertising to children... they're children. Literally don't have the kind of judgement capacity as adults.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

micromacrofoot 3y ago

Things are in fact starting to change, though I wish they happened sooner. The FTC is currently looking to hire child psychologists in an effort to further investigate this kind of claim.

Eumenes 3y ago
You don't need 'experts' to realize that social media is bad for young people. They are just going to suggest regulating content. I can see it now ... young girls cannot see content showcasing skinny or 'classically beautiful' women, because it gives them a skewed perspective of 'beauty' that may lead to eating disorders. The FTC pats themselves on the back, job well done, and nothing changes. Regulating the internet isn't going to change anything, the genie is out of the bottle. Change starts at home and at school. Put wifi and cell jamming technology in public schools. How many ads are kids shown on public school property? Kids are spending 5 hrs a day on social media. That is insanity. That time needs to be replaced doing productive things; reading books, playing sports, building things.
- CamperBob2 3y ago
  Put wifi and cell jamming technology in public schools. Ah, yes, technical solutions to social problems. Those always work. Here's a better idea: raise your kids to value things that are real, and then teach them that nothing they see on a screen is real.
  - leghifla 3y ago
    And first, lead by example. If the parents cannot help looking at their phone every 5 minutes, how are the children supposed to act?
  - Eumenes 3y ago
    I agree about the parenting piece. But social media usage spiked for youths when children were given powerful computers in their pockets they have 24/7 access to. I'd argue it's a technical problem as much as a social one. Geofencing social media in public schools seems appropriate. My comment on wifi or cell jamming was hyperbolic.
  - anigbrowl 3y ago
    nothing they see on a screen is real This is just as irrational as believing anything on a screen is real.
    - CamperBob2 3y ago
      Read some Plato. Preferably with your kids, while they're at an impressionable age.
      - anigbrowl 3y ago
        Stop posturing. You know perfectly well that screens present true as well as false information and media literacy is a matter of distinguishing between the two rather than making categorical assumptions. Frankly you come off a lot more like Diogenes than Plato.
- micromacrofoot 3y ago

GlibMonkeyDeath 3y ago

I'm not as pessimistic as you. There is more and more evidence (https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/13-explanations-mental-health-crisis https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/13-explanations-mental-...) that social media companies have essentially engineered a harmful addictive drug - at some point they will be held accountable. I do think we are going through the tobacco company phase, where the CEO's will stand before Congress and solemnly state they think their product is not harmful, and even if it is, it is a matter of "freedom" or something. "Just put down the phone" is this generation's Nancy Reagan "Just say no" moment. It was a joke amongst my young peers back in the day. But the real war on drugs, the War on Tobacco, has been incredibly effective - smoking used to be ubiquitous in the US, now it is just about gone. Social media, with attention-engineered timelines, is tobacco.

KittenInABox 3y ago

> young adults/teens will drone on about "mental health" because its fashionable (if social media is giving you an eating disorder or making you anxious, how about putting down the phone?) To be fair, for many young adults and teens the parents are demanding the kids have their phones so that the parents can track their location and other surveillance shit. Additionally, we know for a fact that these social media companies are hiring tams of people with full doctorate degrees in keeping you online and responding. How is a 13 year old's underdeveloped brain supposed to compete with that when most adults can't even do it?

LtWorf 3y ago
For every parent demanding that, there's 100 kids asking for a device.
- KittenInABox 3y ago
  See my second point: how is a young teen supposed to handle something designed by teams of psychologists to keep them engaged in? It's why we don't let children play slot machines or don't allow tobacco advertising to children... they're children. Literally don't have the kind of judgement capacity as adults.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]