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submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I think its not just kids anymore, it's adults too. Everyone is glued to their screens these days. But kids are more vulnerable to influences from "social" media and don't have any defences to the psychological warfare going on. Of course they feel like shit.

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[-] [email protected] 96 points 1 month ago

she bought

Asshole move, regardless of intentions

[-] sugar_in_your_tea 55 points 1 month ago

I kind of agree. That's why I don't let my kids buy stuff like that. My kid said he wanted to buy a phone, and when I told him it would be subject to our same computer policy (<2hrs/day, they earn time by reading, etc), he suddenly wasn't as interested.

But yes, if you create a bunch of new rules after they buy something, you're a dick. Let them know what the rules will be before they save up for it.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

Read the article. Her mom agreed to it, and they set rules. It's after that that it went bad.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

The child from the article got the phone in sixth grade. If she bought a large bag of candy with her own money is it right to let her eat as much as she wants without boundaries?

Setting healthy boundaries and discipline at a young age is a good move. From how she was behaving with the phone I would have done the same.

[-] pastermil 42 points 1 month ago

a better person

More like a better liar.

[-] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago

How to make frustrated and untrusting children 101. I am sick of this authoritative parenting bullshit

[-] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago

I feel sorry for all the kids who grow up their entire lives under the influence of social media. There has to be a stronger effort to shield children from these platforms and it definitely starts from the parents. Especially with these "iPad" kids--just glued to their screens all day! What would the attention spans of this generation in the future be like?

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

People don't even take it seriously it seems.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I feel like a better approach would be to work on making social media a better place. It doesn't have to be an attention span hell, and it can be a nice toolfor socializing.

[-] [email protected] -4 points 1 month ago
[-] best_username_ever 3 points 1 month ago

~~social media~~

An anonymous forum without any shitty algorithm.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

without any shitty engagement algorithm.

There, fixed it for you—the extra word is important. Algorithms are evil only if used for the wrong purposes.

[-] MrScottyTay 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Technically lemmy has lots of algorithms. It wouldn't work without any

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Lemmy is far from anonymous.

[-] [email protected] -4 points 1 month ago

What do you think an algorithm is?

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Tbf they did say shitty, none of the ones built into Lemmy exist to feed you advertisements in the most efficient manner, as far as I know.

[-] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago

I also wonder how many parents take phones from their kids but also turn around and post their whole lives on facebook.

[-] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago

It’s our generation’s cigarettes.

“I don’t know, everyone was just doing it” is what we’ll say and what prior generations have said about smoking everywhere all of the time.

The stimulation from and addiction to nicotine or social dopamine … it’s the same shit. The weird marketing, branding and business capture big tech has now could look just like the marketing and wealth of cigarettes in the past.

[-] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago

It's worth noting that cigarettes are physically addictive and cause cancer.

So no. phones =/= cigarettes. It's embarrassing that I have to say this.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

Gambling is not physically addictive, but for its worst addicts it's as ruinous as cigarettes.

Social media is similar in that the dependence is psychological, and the harm caused can vary from basically none, to tremendous psychological and material damage (up to and including suicide as a result of self-esteem, bullying or body issues).

I would agree that it's our generation's cigarettes simply because it's ubiquitous and the impact on both health and society is unquestioned by the masses. It simply is. We don't smoke on a plane anymore because we don't want to give everyone cancer, but we don't take the same precautions to protect unconsenting individuals, like children, from becoming mush-brained iPad babies manipulated by the TikTok and YouTube algorithms.

Let's not forget that social media, Facebook to be specific, is blamed for fanning the flames of multiple ethnic conflicts in Asia and Africa that have ended in genocide. It's likely that cigarettes do more harm to the individual user, but social media does more harm to society. This is something we will have to reckon with in the future, and once we establish sensible controls and norms we'll wonder how we lived like this for so long.

[-] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago

This smells like one of those fake clickbait stories...

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

More like ragebait.

[-] [email protected] -4 points 1 month ago

Don't think so. Havent you met kids feeling shit because of social media? It's everywhere.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Maybe people feel like shit cause the planet is being destroyed by a bunch of rich assholes?

I don't think banning this knowledge from kids is going to help.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Kids are not looking for that knowledge, I think you know that. Planet is being destroyed, yes, but nothing you can do about it by using your phone.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Meanwhile my kids and all their classmates seem friendlier and more mentally healthier than I remember school age being. It's all anecdotal. I'm always surprised at certain ages how some of these kids don't allow bullying, and aren't concerned with stupid relationship shit that I remember 20-30 years ago. It's interesting.

I also know shitloads of adults depressed from Doom scrolling all day.

Your gross generalizations aren't reality.

[-] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago

I've only seen kids feeling like shit because of social media, myself

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

So set fucking limits on the phone? Is 'all or nothing' somehow the only option? It's not hard to set time limits, restrict apps, and generally be involved in your kids lives to help them understand and learn moderation and healthy recognition of bad habits forming. Simply taking shit away also doesn't help cause there's no opportunity to make mistakes and learn. Where's the fucking middle ground?

Also...

Everyone is glued to their screens these days.

What a boomer comment.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

It's not a simple story of just taking away the phone.

I discovered she'd circumvented the screen limits and had been using social media into the wee hours of the morning.

And later, after she did take the phone away, she found her daughter had kept all old phone that was supposedly sold.

It does seem to be a pretty extreme case, but there was lots going on here.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

the first generation of 10-to-14-year-olds active on social media. For these girls, suicide rates have risen 151%, self-harm 182%.

Citations needed. Even if there's a legit study (unlikely), correlation =/= causation.

I recently met a woman who seized her 11-year-old son’s phone when she discovered he was sexting

Why give a phone to an 11 year old in the first place? These people are solving problems that they themselves created, then blaming phones.

[-] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago

ITT: people without kids projecting their childhood trauma

[-] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago

Lwmmy, in a nutshell

this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2024
21 points (57.9% liked)

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