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As someone who was bullied as a child, I think many of the "harms" of social media are the same as bullying, just often turned up a bit because the reach is to

As someone who was bullied as a child, I think many of the "harms" of social media are the same as bullying, just often turned up a bit because the reach is to much bigger. The problem isn't "social media", it's "people". But as we haven't figured out how to fix people yet, it'll probably be "social media" that gets the attention.

discopicante 2y ago
"Bullying" is part of human behavior. Trying to rid the world of this sounds utopian e.g. dangerous. Alternatively, children having reach and access to bully other children at any time and any place (more specifically, in their own home) is only made possible through technology. Social media absolutely deserves attention. Also: I was bullied as a child and I suspect this is a claim most adults of any generation can make.
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Me1000 2y ago
Many social media platforms exacerbate and amplify some of the worst qualities of humans. Bullying is taken to an extreme, people are often engaging with others in bad faith, and other times you're not even engaging with real people at all. People are much more likely to say mean things to another when they're behind a keyboard and talking to a screen name or avatar. And real life conversations are much harder to manipulate as compared to social media. Add to that that these platforms monetize by keeping your attention, so there is an addictive component to them. Quitting social media is often very hard, psychologically. You're correct that many of the problems with social media are not unique to the technology, but like a lot of technology it often times makes existing problems worse. There are strong correlations between certain kinds of social media content and the development of eating disorders and self harm, especially among young people. And we have the ability to start mitigating those problems today, but "fixing" human behavior is going to take a little longer.

discopicante 2y ago

"Bullying" is part of human behavior. Trying to rid the world of this sounds utopian e.g. dangerous. Alternatively, children having reach and access to bully other children at any time and any place (more specifically, in their own home) is only made possible through technology. Social media absolutely deserves attention. Also: I was bullied as a child and I suspect this is a claim most adults of any generation can make.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

Me1000 2y ago

Many social media platforms exacerbate and amplify some of the worst qualities of humans. Bullying is taken to an extreme, people are often engaging with others in bad faith, and other times you're not even engaging with real people at all. People are much more likely to say mean things to another when they're behind a keyboard and talking to a screen name or avatar. And real life conversations are much harder to manipulate as compared to social media. Add to that that these platforms monetize by keeping your attention, so there is an addictive component to them. Quitting social media is often very hard, psychologically. You're correct that many of the problems with social media are not unique to the technology, but like a lot of technology it often times makes existing problems worse. There are strong correlations between certain kinds of social media content and the development of eating disorders and self harm, especially among young people. And we have the ability to start mitigating those problems today, but "fixing" human behavior is going to take a little longer.