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> As an elder millennial I can remember everyone being absolutely glued to MSN Messenger in secondary school. This was back in the dialup days so it was stoppin
by alephnerd 1y ago
> As an elder millennial I can remember everyone being absolutely glued to MSN Messenger in secondary school. This was back in the dialup days so it was stopping your parents making phone calls!
Computers were nowhere near as accessible (physically or UX wise) in the 1990s or 2000s compared to smartphones today.
A $70 Android smartphone today would have been the equivalent of buying a top-of-the-line workstation in the 2000s for $40, so it is much easier to access a computer device at a much earlier age.
On top of that, UX research has enhanced massively since the 2000s with an enhanced understanding into user reward mechanisms and psychology, and this kind of reward mechanism is being added in every kind of application (from enterprise B2B to social media)
We shouldn't be Luddites, but limiting access to high sensitivity media (be it TV or smartphones) for those who are pre-adolescence should be an important part of parenting.
- martinald 1y agoMy point was more despite all the limitations people were spending 8+ hours a day on MSN messenger after school. I'd agree that (younger) children should have limits on social media - that's obvious for many reasons. But why smartphones in general? If they're reading a book or similar on it, what's the harm in that? My main point is it's not really the medium, it's the content.
- bonoboTP 1y agoI think you can also get addicted to constantly refreshing the news, the live coverage of the current big thing (it's the Iran thing right now). I think it's the constantly available Internet in your pocket. If you have a smartphone without internet and put 10 ebooks on it, that won't cause this kind of thing. Though there are also much more addictive mobile games now, compared to grays ale snake we grew up with. The visual flashes and dings...