Guybrush

I deactivated my fb account a little while back after the Frances Haugen whistleblower case.

Of course I already knew social media with fb in particular helps the spread of misinformation which is undermining democracy, our intelligence and kinda tearing the world apart, but the fb papers also showed how fb to a very large extent knows all this and are happy with the revenue it generates. They know content on fb is used to supercharge conflicts like in Myanmar or violence against minorities. They know Instagram puts various negative pressures on young people that in turn increases the risk of things like suicide or eating disorders.

People engage more with content that make them angry or that they unhealthily obsess about, so using algorithms that serve people that kind of content is what fb (or meta) does.

Here, there was recently a study that showed teenagers are less happy now than they were 10 years ago. I'm sure social media plays a large part in that.

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Something Completely Different

SGR

This this and this. Plus the Cambridge Analytica scandal is what convinced me to delete my Facebook around 2016 or 2017. The algorithm is very unethical, by my standards at least. Facebook continues to violate the trust of its users and they're, as you pointed out in different ways, definitely not an agent of benevolence of positivity in the world. It's about nothing but $$$.

It's absolutely ridiculous that so many young teenagers are all over these apps these days. I swear, parents these days gives their kids a cellphone before they've gone through puberty. Used responsibly, these platforms/apps like most things probably aren't all that bad. It all comes down to how they're used. But many young teenagers today definitely don't have a healthy relationship with these things.

The Batlord

Hey you know how you think a middle ground between socialism and capitalism is the best option? Here you can see that capitalism doesn't give a **** about your middle ground and middle ground capitalism just sweeps this **** under the rug so nobody cares and it can operate unimpeded.

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The Batlord

Blaming it on parents is dumb as ****. People are how people are and unless you're proposing we use eugenics or social conditioning to fix how people interact with social media then blaming it on parents is actively ignoring the issue of the companies in charge of this media cause you don't want to deal with a much more basic problem of capitalism and it's unfettered control of our lives.

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SGR

It's not that difficult to stop your children from getting on those apps or sites, within your household. A lot of parents just don't take those sort of precautions or measures.

Even if you deal with the issues you're talking about, parents are still the first line of defense for their children - in this case, parents would have to prevent their children from watching communist porn, where hammers and sickles are going up some bougie chick's ass.

Mindy

Can't believe that **** legal

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Guybrush

Tbh I don't know exactly why social media and/or algorithms aren't more heavily regulated in terms of what they're allowed to do or not.

I thought maybe it's because many or most legislators are simply clueless about how to tackle the issue, but I don't know. It looks to me like it should be less about party politics and more about keeping society from going ape****.

At least it gives me a little comfort to know that facebook/meta stocks' value recently plunged. Seems user growth has stagnated for fb.

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Something Completely Different

SGR

There's some saying or idiom about how long it takes regulators to keep up with technological change, but it's not coming to me right now. Recent examples being e-cigarettes, autonomous vehicles and of course, social media and data collection. I'd like to see federal regulation like the GDPR passed here in the United States - that'd be a great win for Biden's administration. Some states have enacted similar laws - like the California Consumer Privacy Act.

Isn't Facebook called Meta now? Kinda weird. I know they're doubling down on virtual reality and the metaverse - but I don't know how successful it will be. Good VR headsets are still not a cheap thing for average consumers, I'd say. But perhaps FB/Meta will change that.

The Batlord

Bro do you not remember people saying that parents should make sure kids don't watch too much tv or play too many video games? The simple truth is that the human race does not function in such a way as to limit exposure to media. It simply doesn't and no amount of handwringing will change that. This is simply how we function psychologically when presented with these stimuli.

If you want this to change you have to go up the ladder. Stop being the absolute embodiment of the concept "it's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism".

Because it makes money, smart guy. They care more about money than your wellbeing in case you hadn't noticed. American chattel slavery and the Belgian Congo should have been a couple hints.

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SGR

But....but.....what about Amish people?!