CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord, and X testified at hearing on child safety.
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Zuckerberg says sorry for Meta harming kids—but rejects payments to families
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Worth some citations so your observation doesn’t get buried in a deluge. As the last of these notes - it’s complicated.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar... average,media use and adolescent depression.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2023/apr/social-media-unlikely-cause-mental-health-problems-adolescents
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/f...-young-peoples-mental-health-its-complicated/
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Digital_Dreamer
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Although I agree that these companies should bear some responsibility, it is the parents of these children that have the obligation and responsibility to set guidelines and limits for social media. After all, that’s what parents are for. If a form of entertainment is harmful and detrimental to one’s wellbeing, the solution should be self evident — stop using it.
Unfortunately, I’m not holding my breath for real changes here, as it appears no one wants to take responsibility for anything anymore, but just point fingers.
Unfortunately, I’m not holding my breath for real changes here, as it appears no one wants to take responsibility for anything anymore, but just point fingers.
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methinkgud
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
In the cover picture, he looks like a sweaty disheveled mess, but still somehow like a mannequin. It's genuinely impressive.
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Children shouldn't have unfettered access to the internet in general.
Allowing your young children to be on social media is unwise.
As a parent, you should want to protect your children from unnecessary hurt and pain, and young kids are ruthless behind a keyboard. It's better to let them get on social media when they've learned a little empathy for their fellow man, and they can handle the heat.
Allowing your young children to be on social media is unwise.
As a parent, you should want to protect your children from unnecessary hurt and pain, and young kids are ruthless behind a keyboard. It's better to let them get on social media when they've learned a little empathy for their fellow man, and they can handle the heat.
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Ahh yes, the simple, but worthless answer.
When you take devices off kids (we did this), then the kids are given a device from their friends. All that has happened is that kids hide stuff from you, and lie to you.
The majority of parents are clueless when it comes to locking down their wifi networks using MAC addresses so just having the password is worthless, however devices are now using random MAC addresses to hide devices from snooping wifi tracking in Malls etc.
They will also sit on someone else's computer before/after school.
A solution is to force advertisers OFF social media and having all users pay a minimum of $10 a month for access. Yep there will still be (a much lower) number of kids using the systems, but the majority will be off it, as will a massive number of adults who figure it not with the cost.
Heck we even get some semblance of privacy back when adverts go away.
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How do you do this ?
Short of searching your kids and their bags every day they will just get a loaner from friends. The will simply learn to hide things from you, and lie about them.
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I feel compelled to note that he has enough money to support a Hawaiian ranch worthy of a Bond villain where he’s making macadamia nut waygu beef, so it seems like he could afford to pay for his company’s damages.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91008309/mark-zuckerberg-hawaii-wagyu-cattle-macadamia-nuts
https://www.fastcompany.com/91008309/mark-zuckerberg-hawaii-wagyu-cattle-macadamia-nuts
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The hearing of TikTok CEO is disgraceful and full of racism
View: https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1752747934125359168
View: https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1752747934125359168
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Pew Research: The wide majority of teens using Instagram find it helpful rather than harmful
American Psychological Association: No link found between social ,=media and harms to teens
US Surgeon General - Social Media and Youth Mental Health report: No causal limk between social media use and teen mental health
Oxford University: Study of over a million people across 72 countries finds no evidence of social ,edia causing psychologival harm
Study publisjed in the Journal of Pediatrics: Correlation between social media use and youth mental health ranges from statistically insignificant to negative. Strong positive correlation found between decline in youth mental health and decline in childrens' opportunities to have unstructured, unsupervised play where they can freely be themselves. Correlations suggest teens social media use is influenced by their mental state - not the other way around
Oxford University: Child's screen time has no impact on brain development.
edit: And on the opposite side, we have "studies" like this one, where the authhor cherry-picks and massages their data as hard as any antivaxxer to claim support for the book they're sellimg.
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The republicans are all in on “improving child safety,” by which they mean gutting section 230, preventing kids from being exposed to deviants (gays), and imposing liability on platforms who moderate nazis.
That’s the thing about the bipartisan agreement in the need for increased internet regulations—they agree on the title of the bill, only. On the substance, the GOP is specifically trying to muzzle the trans community by calling them all groomers. They’re not quiet about this!! But the people who wink at bomb threats for clinics that provide hormones is sacred free speech. And some gullible dems might be along for the ride.
And it’s getting depressing how this is gaining some momentum in the tech community, if the problem is framed a certain way. I’m specifically thinking of the platforms-bad setup of the recent story about instagram’s policy changes that touched on KOSA and the Utah internet “safety” bill. Yes, the platforms suck and aren’t interested in safety. But this is basic Tipper Gore stuff that you all used to deride as “think of the children” panic mongering. Now it’s too common that we get “think of the children” (earnest), with zero analysis on the actual proposals.
That’s the thing about the bipartisan agreement in the need for increased internet regulations—they agree on the title of the bill, only. On the substance, the GOP is specifically trying to muzzle the trans community by calling them all groomers. They’re not quiet about this!! But the people who wink at bomb threats for clinics that provide hormones is sacred free speech. And some gullible dems might be along for the ride.
And it’s getting depressing how this is gaining some momentum in the tech community, if the problem is framed a certain way. I’m specifically thinking of the platforms-bad setup of the recent story about instagram’s policy changes that touched on KOSA and the Utah internet “safety” bill. Yes, the platforms suck and aren’t interested in safety. But this is basic Tipper Gore stuff that you all used to deride as “think of the children” panic mongering. Now it’s too common that we get “think of the children” (earnest), with zero analysis on the actual proposals.
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Red states would like to have a word with you regarding unChristian content on the .kids web. Remember: sex ed is for pedos, family planning is for baby murder, LGBT content is turning the frogs gay, anything that makes Nazis uncomfortable is woke, and the first rule of censored Internet club is you don't talk about what caused the civil war. And don't get us started on Devin Nunes' cow.
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I'm somewhat certain that the timeline for those ambiguous, nonspecific and unverifiable efforts will be sometime in the future
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fellow human
Ars Praefectus
On the one hand I agree with comments saying this is probably mostly a political play by the GOP and don’t hold much stock in them having any true social interest.
But on the other I see parallels between social platforms and capitalism: they both need to have free markets and innovation but also require regulation to manage the fact that they are motivated primarily by financial interests.
As a parent I feel it’s my job to educate my kid about how to safely navigate the internet and to monitor her usage to ensure she’s only doing - and only exposed to - appropriate things. I don’t need politicians or committees to decide what that is, I just need parental controls and monitoring tools to allow me to do it. I’d be happy to have that mandated.
But on the other I see parallels between social platforms and capitalism: they both need to have free markets and innovation but also require regulation to manage the fact that they are motivated primarily by financial interests.
As a parent I feel it’s my job to educate my kid about how to safely navigate the internet and to monitor her usage to ensure she’s only doing - and only exposed to - appropriate things. I don’t need politicians or committees to decide what that is, I just need parental controls and monitoring tools to allow me to do it. I’d be happy to have that mandated.
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Oof, Cotton even pulls out, verbatim, "worldly and cosmopolitan". Subtle my dude.
Edit: got my ghouls mixed up, that's not Hawley!
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It's plausible that not having social media these days does more harm than good, since you end up effectively isolated. It doesn't mean that social media isn't bad for kids.
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Yeah, but does he really mean it? Somehow, I doubt that Zuck is capable of feeling empathetic about any of the "dumb *ucks" that inhabit his online playgrounds.
And if you are confused about the quoted reference, I suggest you look it up with his name next to it.
And if you are confused about the quoted reference, I suggest you look it up with his name next to it.
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Politiciams: "Sorry, but getting political clout among the ignorant masses is more important than you or your kids."
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OK? They can put up the money and expertise to make a .fundie then, there wouldn't be anything wrong with that. Or rather than more domains, the role of government could be in a purely content neutral authentication area, where there are set requirements and every site must have a cryptographically signed and programatically accessible tagging what content they have and at what level. Then parents could just have simple checklists in the browser or even OS, so they can have more fine-grained control. Someone could allow more nudity and less violence or vice versa, filter religion/politics, there isn't any inherent limit and there are decent models for all this.
But again, the point here is that the government doesn't actually get to say what people see, but just help create a space so that if people actively don't wish to see certain stuff they won't to a very high degree, all without interfering with anyone else.
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Off topic, but imagine if everyone looked like that every day of your life. That's pretty much what us autistics see.
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fellow human
Ars Praefectus
Those are about phycological harm. There are other harms like bullying, social pressure, grooming, CSAM related etc.
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He's not sorry. He just had to say something that didn't make him out to sound like more of a Lor clone than he looks.
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I'd say the current paradigm of social media as it's designed is bad for everybody, but kids are more susceptible for that reason. It's easier for adults to find other social outlets compared to kids. The entire concept of social "media" is marred by advertising and all that, so if the paradigm were to be changed to something more psychologically healthy then I think it would help a lot, but maybe it wouldn't be considered social media anymore either.
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I mean....It's Tom Cotton. He IS disgraceful and full of racism. Believe me, many people from Arkansas would love to be represented by someone with an actual soul and humanity.
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What a set up. Hawley's a joke, and Mark doesn't even know his company just laid off swaths of people based on their roles. for example, all technical project managers at Instagram were laid off a couple of weeks ago. Not the poor performers or the bad examples. All technical project managers. Every single one, based on their job role.
One of those roles was Instagram TPM handling their abuse/feedback loop and mitigations. Guess we just let the engineers build that on their own.
Mark is a liar. He should stick to feeing his cows macadamia nut shells and polluting Hawai'i.
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Here's a thought: don't allow children on social media. Generations of kids managed to get to adulthood without social media.
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Cool. Now do guns the same way, maybe? Or don't we care that much about the children?
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Every CEO there has profited greatly at the expense of children’s mental and/or physical health. It is insane social media is still a thing. As a parent of a 12 year old girl who recently got her first cell phone, there is a blanket restriction on all social media including YouTube, as well as the glut of casino games for children. It is crazy what protecting and defending your children means in society today.
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So Zuck wants age verification to be the problem of the multiple and proliferating App Stores Europe has decided need to exist.
Facebook isn't responsible for anything.
Facebook isn't responsible for anything.
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I notice how those of us on the side of facts keep getting challenged to show our studies, while those on the side of "well everyone just knows social media is bad" feelings get a free pass to spew.
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Perfect, require a credit card to create a fb, or other meta account. Problem solved.
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Social science studies like the ones you're pointing at are notoriously difficult to control for variables. I'm not an expert, but I'd be pretty shocked if there weren't any studies that showed the opposite of what was posted above. Or that the funding for the ones you posted were from credible sources like Facebook.
There's a lot of evidence that this current crop of kids are having massive problems in math and reading. Is that because of social media or the pandemic or both? it's impossible to know for certain. It's probably more just that modern handheld computing devices are so effective at creating a dopamine loop that kids can't turn it off.
I've known kids who were cyber bullied and it's awful. Is social media worse for those kids? Yes.
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The problem you are referring to is bullying and I would suggest that kids that do it digitally will also do it in real life. Is that really the purview of social media to solve and how or do you think that maybe the problem there is with the kids and their parents?
We could make all social media off limits to anyone under 18, though, thats fine with me too but I do wonder if that does solve the problem of bullying, from the stories I hear from people who are older and got bullied in school before the days of social media I have to say I suspect that the problem with that issue isnt social media. As you say, you've known kids who were cyber bullied and I know adults who were bullied real life, I'm pretty sure it was awful for them too.
Its fine to ask for sources, btw, but you dont provide any for your statements so I find that a little disingenious and sounds like cherry picking. Just an observation.
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Because parents wouldnt dream of letting a child use their credit card to create an account, right? Come on, you cant be serious, that so does not solve the problem. Well, it might keep poor kids off social media.
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So long as we permit the advertising industry to churn billions annually by deceiving, manipulating, and harming both individuals, the public good, and the species, we'll have no legal or moral high ground from which to prosecute social media.
Zuckerberg and all his ilk are incidental to the problem. Scapegoating individuals for the behaviors not only permitted but guaranteed by a system we all support is hypocrisy by proxy.
Zuckerberg is a vile human being, but attacking him for his obvious neuro divergence is no better than Donald Trump belittling a handicapped journalist for his stunted arms. You should be ashamed of yourselves, particularly given the disproportionately high number of people in tech who fall somewhere on the autism spectrum.
Zuckerberg and all his ilk are incidental to the problem. Scapegoating individuals for the behaviors not only permitted but guaranteed by a system we all support is hypocrisy by proxy.
Zuckerberg is a vile human being, but attacking him for his obvious neuro divergence is no better than Donald Trump belittling a handicapped journalist for his stunted arms. You should be ashamed of yourselves, particularly given the disproportionately high number of people in tech who fall somewhere on the autism spectrum.
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