[Leofric]

You hadda ask....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juuHgzaeSZM

There is an expression  used around here - 'that beats hen racing '. Is that just a Yorkshire saying ?

[AzCal Retred]

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness ; by Jonathan Haidt

https://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/0593655036

"Jon Haidt is a brilliant NYU Stern social psychologist who is relentless in his scientific pursuit of the truth. The "Anxious Generation" is a must-read for every parent, educator, administrator and politician, because it documents the enormous and quantifiable "negative externalities" spawned by social media usage. The trends documented are especially deleterious for teenage girls. Haidt marshals evidence of depression, anxiety, self-harm and even suicide and concludes: "Social media use does not just correlate with mental illness; it causes it."

An apt analogy to smoking is drawn, given social media apps are - by design - addicting and marketed to minors. Modern societal norms don't allow pre-teens to buy tobacco, alcohol or enter casinos so why are we allowing them access to "digital fentanyl"? Unfortunately, in a world of "move fast and break things" techno-optimism, what has been broken is teenage mental health. Haidt correctly assesses that this is a collective action problem and offers four foundation recommendations:

1) More unsupervised play and childhood independence;
2) No smartphones before high school;
3) No social media before 16;
4) Phone free schools;

Regulatory frameworks and societal norms often lag Silicon Valley's bleeding-edge speed of development, but the damage being wrought here - and painstakingly documented by Haidt - is becoming visible enough that this book could catalyze real, positive and lasting change. Gift a copy to anyone with younger children or local educators - spread the word and help solve the collective action problem."

[Richard230]

That would be the end of civilization as we know it.....

[tooseevee]

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness ; by Jonathan Haidt

https://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/0593655036

      Watched an interview with Haidt & discussion of his work & book on After Words (PBS) just a couple days ago. I've watched all this happen in detail & with great interest over the past 20 years (They all fall there so perfectly, It all seems so well timed). Three perfect examples of how this whole thing has effected kids from kindergarten on (peer pressure, indoctrination in schools, etc., etc., etc..), are my daughter & her twin daughters of 23 years. They are all 3 fucked up, each in a different way & I will say no more except that they were victims of society's (& public school's) pliers & everything Haidt talks about. 

       We were warned by many; Orwell, McLuhan, Tofler, Asimov, Hawking.

       Oh, mama, can this really be the end?......

[him a layin]

every new communication medium raises this issue as society learns to deal with it. painting on the cave wall, writing, formal religion, printing press, film, tv, internet... all convey culture, all increasingly available to the masses and increasingly influential. some of us might call it freedom, is it possible to be too free? we'll adapt. or we won't. so many questions...

[AzCal Retred]

The only possible upside here is generally people are smart enough (after awhile...) to look around and adopt behaviours that work and discard those that don't. Sadly you mostly can't fix "behavour related" issues for people. Even Prohibition died an ignoble death. However the offspring of the binge drinking 1890-1920 parents seem to notch it back a bit in their own lives.

[GlennF]

The interesting thing about Musk who champions free speech on twitter is he sues everyone that criticises him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XWV5S9Z_Ps

[him a layin]

The interesting thing about Musk who champions free speech on twitter is he sues everyone that criticises him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XWV5S9Z_Ps

that's not free speech, that's the privilege of wealth, to be able to hire an endless stream of lawyers to suppress others' free speech.

no love for muskrat lost here.