Social media intently addictive? Can't be
 

Interesting interview with one of the creators of Facebook

https://www.axios.com/sean-parker-un...508036343.html

any stimulus in life can be addictive, even food.

i don't doubt there's direct physiological effects with staring at a screen all-day...but still laugh when people compare the likes of Zuckerberg to tobacco company with subliminal messages targeting youth

it's like the dumbasses that blame accessibility of fast food for being a walking tub of lard

I'd rather lick the toilet plunger in a public washroom than be on Facebook.

Made worse by the fact the creators knew their shit would hurt people but who cares because 'muh billions'.

As addictive as drugs, alcohol, tobacco yet no regulation.

Abuse anything and it can become bad. Use Facebook "properly" and I've only seen benefits from it. So many times I've been able to send a massive outreach event or message using Facebook. Sure, maybe I can do that by making a big whatsapp group chat. Except if I want to include acquaintances, I probably don't have their number (anymore). I'm in several massive FB car groups specific to the car I drive, so when I run into an issue on my car, I can fire off a question and get instant responses within minutes. How is that not awesome? I needed some snow tires, obviously someone that's parting out the same car will have something that's a direct fit for my car too. Easy Buy & Sell. How is that not efficient?

No one's asking people to be an idiot using Facebook for hours and hours at a time, doing miscellaneous things... But I'm not going to judge. Hey, if you're going around liking all your friend's posts and commenting on things they share to brighten up their days, who's to say that's not actually being productive. But then again, if someone sits on the couch binge watching Game of Thrones or something, that's considered socially acceptable and good use of time?

And about the dopamine hit, Oh my bad. I get dopamine hit every time I share a dashcam video of some idiot I catch on the road in the Dangerous Driver thread. And Then I get thanks, and people share their dashcam videos, and I thank them..... Guess we're all hooked on RevScene too. We should delete our accounts and go lick plungers instead. :badpokerface:

It doesn't make much sense to monitor physiological effects of a psychological addiction.
There are no direct physiological effects of gambling, yet it's an addiction that can destroy lives.

Assessing damage caused by a physical addiction is fairly straight forward; Eating, drinking, smoking. Because they cause physical damage. So they can't really be equated, But I think there still is room for debate.

At 2.5b users worldwide, it's a platform that shapes society. It can have the adverse effect of harvesting narcissism, envy, social and empathetic disconnect. Especially amongst young users where there has been a sharp increase in depression and anxiety.

I guess I just find it kind of crazy that it's completely socially acceptable and unregulated.
Mind you, I still remember the days when I could have a cigarette with my morning coffee at McDonald's next to the children's playpen and nobody so much as batted an eye.

Yes, absolutely. The biggest difference between something like smoking and social media (aside from mortality rate lol) is that there are benefits to offset the negatives.

Technology. The double edged sword.
Depression in Amish communities is virtually unheard of.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7991004

MWR : Bipolar disorder more common among the Amish

world of warcraft was way more addictive than facebook Kappa

Don't use Twitter, only IG occasionally, and Facebook hasn't seen an update from me in months. I'll still randomly go through the last two for a couple minutes every two or three weeks but it's nice not having to know every little thing going on in my friends lives. If they really cared to let me know, they'll call/text me.

Living in china I'm quite use to no having fb on 24/7 (i do whore out fb when i have stable network for my vpn but its only after midnight)

I refresh RS more then fb to be honest

RS is like a drug bro, wheres the regulation on that lol

double post

I don't doubt there's a widespread 'crisis'

but to even bring alcohol/tobacco into the comparison seems quite the stretch

it's being regulated through the appropriate channels...just like banning junk food at schools, a few local school districts are also banning social media

I don't mind the workplace restricting phone usage when you're not on break to address distractions but no I probably don't want the government involved...are they gonna tax snapchat usage by the hour?

the one government intervention I don't mind is treating those who cross the street with headphones in and looking down at their phone, as jaywalking (without due care)

using a tablet/phone does not directly affect those around you...secondhand smoking does
gambling has wiped too many family savings...I guess the internet has erroded too many social interactions :okay:

you also avoid Whatsapp, ig, and whatever else is owned by Facebook?

never had WhatsApp as I don't want more than 2 messaging apps on my phone. I'm addicted to ig but I'm trying to cut back on social media

I’ve never had Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc etc. The closest thing I have to social media is Revscene, and more recently Snapchat

Edit

I completely disagree. Ever seen a modern relationship? Or modern family dinner scene? Shit it plagued with people staring at their phones, and yeah I’m guilty. Go look at a restaurant and see how many tables of friends aren’t even looking st each other. It’s a fucking joke and something I should even address in my own life

I'll agree, clinical depression, manic depression and bipolar, which are genetic disorders sometimes triggered by environment are likely more prevalent. Possibly due to a smaller gene pool/community.
But from what I've read, Amish communities report higher levels of happiness than those in the general population.
Which shouldn't really come as a surprise. That technology and rapid access to information can have detrimental effects.

Here's a brief article suggesting why Amish children may be happier. Not much data, but some sensible logic nonetheless.
Why Amish Kids are Happier than Yours | Time

Here's a fairly detailed article with a decent amount of data and case study explaining correlation between social media and issues stemming in today's teens

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ration/534198/

And just to be clear, I didn't post this thread to try and argue right from wrong. Like I said, there are positive and negative effects. But I think the negative effects get overshadowed by the positive too often.
Especially when the whole premise of the idea was to "connect people". But now we're seeing that possibly, like many things profit oriented, it was really just a guise.
The profit part doesn't bother me. It's really just a sound business model if you think about it. It's the lie. The lack of research and understanding to what this widespread phenomenon may be doing to society.

Like I said, apples to oranges. Physical to psychological.
The fact is owners of both businesses will do everything in their power to continue to profit to the maximum extent. Regardless of the consequences to their users.

Touched on briefly at the end of the article. Only a matter of time before not only is the usage profitable, but the data of it's users.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/604307/is-facebook-
When I say regulation, I'm talking more about children. I mean, you have parents giving their fourth grade kids a smart phone with unlimited access to whatever.
We can chalk it up to bad parenting, but the fact is it's pretty well socially acceptable. I'm just saying I think that's an issue and maybe their should be more exposure to the effects of this. Not really talking about restricting anyone's freedoms

Ethical and responsible use of technology along with media awareness. A course that should be taught at schools - at all levels.

Also, what the hell happened to the golden rule?

Oh, right, when parents are as slimy and dirty as they come, there really isn't hope and the point is moot.


god bless.............

shift in culture

the thing is every generation the last 50+ years has had to deal with changes in the way we consume content...for the boomers, their parents were worried about too much TV consumption...for us it was too much ICQ/RS/WoW etc...and now it's hyperconnectivity through snaps/ig


I recall a similar discussion on another forum

it's easy to criticize only the negatives of these world-dominating corporations that are chaired by, on average, 30-something year olds. But with so much resources they have also made contributions on a large scale. Zuckerberg supported Internet.org in developing communities. We'll see if Musk's self-driving automobiles will gain widespread adoption. Bezos is a bit older but is on track to give us e-grocery shopping.

I use FB maybe 15 to 20misn a day. I only use twitter when I feel there is a skytrain issue(when I see of people waiting or I notice the skytrain have not come for awhile) IG I never posted anything lol. Just randomly go look at people pics.

I do use youtube a lot though. Like 1 to 2 hours a day since I watch a ton of drama on it (I guess is a replacement for TV).

Is that addictive?

Sure, but no other generation has seen the increase in depression amongst youth that this latest one has.
Personally, I think it's gonna get worse before it gets better. But it will get better. Things tend to move in cycles. Even religion, particularly Christianity, seems to have been making a comeback with youth in the past few years.


It is debatable whether these are actually positive contributions.
Will internet.org be censored like what's being done with Facebook?
Facebook will fact-check, label fake news in News Feed - Business Insider
Imagine the possible repercussions of a censored internet.

Remember the days when you'd go to the video store to rent a movie? Man I miss those days. Perusing the aisles, reading the plots of old and new movies. Now everything's "convenient". It kinda sucks. I think it's definitely spoiling people. Too much of a good thing..
People don't need to learn how to do anything anymore. Chances are there's a device that will do it for you. Seems debilitating to me

When you say things like that, it just sounds like you're emotionally invested in nostalgia. How does "Convenience" kind of suck? The definition of convenience is to make things easier, and for the most part, it is for the greater good. Perhaps it's "spoiled", but that's how it's meant to be. It's supposed to get easier as human civilization progresses. That's like some one from the 1990's saying we're spoiled now because we have something called a cellphone and we don't have to run home or use a pay phone every time we need to make a call. It's like, do kids even know how to use rotary phones now?? Probably not, but in all honesty, who cares? People of next generation are learning other things that are important that can be applicable to modern culture. It's silly to say we don't need to learn anything anymore. We learn a lot of things. It would be nice if people in their 60-70s would learn how to use the internet to keep up.

If you want to read plots of old and new movies, you can use the internet and go on imdb.com. And the best part is, you'll be able to browse through more plots quicker because you're not wasting time walking through aisles trying to look for titles when you can just type it in and find it.

"technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal"-Albert Einstein
Would you say he was silly to say that?

Says the guy who helped build the nuclear bomb.

I'm glad I don't have to gather firewood just to keep warm or die because I broke my leg.

the only involvement he had was discovering that e=mc2. And that was decades prior.
He didn't "help build the nuclear bomb"

Which further solidifies his statement