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> kids doing the bare minimum on homework in order to get back on social media faster This was me for much of high school, but with Team Fortress 2 or Dota ins

> kids doing the bare minimum on homework in order to get back on social media faster This was me for much of high school, but with Team Fortress 2 or Dota instead of social media. Comic books, video games, television, skateboarding, fidget spinning - the list of things kids would rather do than homework is endless. I think a kid spending 4h+ on one activity is unhealthy either way, and it really comes back to the parents to be the arbiters. Speaking from experience, children (generally) aren't very good at predicting how best to spend their time, which is why involved parents are so important.

46493168 9mo ago
Which items on the list have engineers dedicated to rapid A/B testing running 24-7 to amp up the engagement numbers?
- FrojoS 9mo ago
  That implies that the A/B testing will lead to a new version that is substantially more engaging. Maybe so, but it seems that the most successful social media platforms arrived at their optimal version more or less immediately. For instance, I (naively?) doubt that much A/B testing went into designing HN. Yet, no other site holds as much of a grip on me.
  - 46493168 9mo ago
    Facebook seems to think it will, since they employ A/B testing across pretty much much every facet of the company. Check out Airlock for just one example: https://engineering.fb.com/2014/01/09/android/airlock-facebook-s-mobile-a-b-testing-framework/ https://engineering.fb.com/2014/01/09/android/airlock-facebo...
dtdynasty 9mo ago
I was also one who spent their time playing dota in high school. In my experience one can learn more from playing dota than the average social media experience. Understanding team dynamics and emotional regulation to negative experiences outside your control. If you take the game seriously even prioritization and deliberate practice. Of course not everyone learns from playing dota but at least it's a focused experience that doesn't steal focus away like short form videos.
jatins 9mo ago
The question is whether social media is closer to candy or cocaine. You are right that kids will chose anything other than homework but how do you explain adults spending 8 hours a day on short form platforms? Don't think TV had this kind of a hold on people. Some gamers did tend to develop obsessive tendencies over gaming but now that seems much more widespread with social media
- tayo42 9mo ago
  > Don't think TV had this kind of a hold on people. Tvs in the bedroom, living rooms, kitchens, they're centerpieces of rooms. Sports on all day on weekends. They got put into cars. I get together with older family and they'll put the TV on and we sit around it. They only thing with TV is it wasn't convenient enough to be in our pockets all day.
  - fmlpp 9mo ago
    Yes, but tv allow a coactivity. Most people absorted in their device cannot do anything else.
brailsafe 9mo ago
> Speaking from experience, children (generally) aren't very good at predicting how best to spend their time, which is why involved parents are so important. I don't disagree, but adults aren't either, they just have clearer incentives. Disconnect the incentives from the desired behaviour, or make the reward any more ambiguous than not being rained on, getting more currency, or preventing their kid from being deceased, and adults are just as lost much of the time. Case in point, the tendency for people to consider skateboarding an unoptimal use of time, but (often) simultaneously be confused about why they're lonely and fat in midlife. Kids look to their parents as models for success, but haven't yet had their judgement manipulated, and can see right through all the bullshit while they watch them rot away commuting by car and sitting in front of the TV. There's no convincing argument these people have against social media, because they're telling their kids not to poison themselves with degenerate laziness and addiction while engaging in degenerate laziness and addiction, in addition to not being able to offer the incentives otherwise that they'd have had not to do that. "Don't play videogames, you'll get bad grades" "What do grades mean?" "They'll let you get into a good school" "What will a good school do for me?" "It'll help you get a good job" "What does it mean to get a good job?" "Well, back in my day, you'd eventually get a house and maybe have some kids" "Ya but what about now or 10 years from now?" "I guess... you'll be able to rent more videogames.. run along then"

46493168 9mo ago

Which items on the list have engineers dedicated to rapid A/B testing running 24-7 to amp up the engagement numbers?

FrojoS 9mo ago
That implies that the A/B testing will lead to a new version that is substantially more engaging. Maybe so, but it seems that the most successful social media platforms arrived at their optimal version more or less immediately. For instance, I (naively?) doubt that much A/B testing went into designing HN. Yet, no other site holds as much of a grip on me.
- 46493168 9mo ago
  Facebook seems to think it will, since they employ A/B testing across pretty much much every facet of the company. Check out Airlock for just one example: https://engineering.fb.com/2014/01/09/android/airlock-facebook-s-mobile-a-b-testing-framework/ https://engineering.fb.com/2014/01/09/android/airlock-facebo...

dtdynasty 9mo ago

I was also one who spent their time playing dota in high school. In my experience one can learn more from playing dota than the average social media experience. Understanding team dynamics and emotional regulation to negative experiences outside your control. If you take the game seriously even prioritization and deliberate practice. Of course not everyone learns from playing dota but at least it's a focused experience that doesn't steal focus away like short form videos.

jatins 9mo ago

The question is whether social media is closer to candy or cocaine. You are right that kids will chose anything other than homework but how do you explain adults spending 8 hours a day on short form platforms? Don't think TV had this kind of a hold on people. Some gamers did tend to develop obsessive tendencies over gaming but now that seems much more widespread with social media

tayo42 9mo ago
> Don't think TV had this kind of a hold on people. Tvs in the bedroom, living rooms, kitchens, they're centerpieces of rooms. Sports on all day on weekends. They got put into cars. I get together with older family and they'll put the TV on and we sit around it. They only thing with TV is it wasn't convenient enough to be in our pockets all day.
- fmlpp 9mo ago
  Yes, but tv allow a coactivity. Most people absorted in their device cannot do anything else.

brailsafe 9mo ago

> Speaking from experience, children (generally) aren't very good at predicting how best to spend their time, which is why involved parents are so important. I don't disagree, but adults aren't either, they just have clearer incentives. Disconnect the incentives from the desired behaviour, or make the reward any more ambiguous than not being rained on, getting more currency, or preventing their kid from being deceased, and adults are just as lost much of the time. Case in point, the tendency for people to consider skateboarding an unoptimal use of time, but (often) simultaneously be confused about why they're lonely and fat in midlife. Kids look to their parents as models for success, but haven't yet had their judgement manipulated, and can see right through all the bullshit while they watch them rot away commuting by car and sitting in front of the TV. There's no convincing argument these people have against social media, because they're telling their kids not to poison themselves with degenerate laziness and addiction while engaging in degenerate laziness and addiction, in addition to not being able to offer the incentives otherwise that they'd have had not to do that. "Don't play videogames, you'll get bad grades" "What do grades mean?" "They'll let you get into a good school" "What will a good school do for me?" "It'll help you get a good job" "What does it mean to get a good job?" "Well, back in my day, you'd eventually get a house and maybe have some kids" "Ya but what about now or 10 years from now?" "I guess... you'll be able to rent more videogames.. run along then"