https://www.reddit.com/r/ichbin14unddasisttief/comments/1hcew6y/alleköhner/
I was just on Reddit and came across this post. It’s not really about this post, it’s just an example. But what are your thoughts on the impact of social media on kids and teenagers and their development? There are several studies that link social media to loneliness, depression, jealousy and anxiety. Will this whole social experiment be the downfall of humanity?
For me it’s just the accessability that is a problem with social media/the amount of information that is easily on hand.
Fake news spead 1000x faster
You don’t compare yourself with other school kids (as I did growing up) but with the whole
world
Stuff like the picture on Reddit already existed when I was growing up but was maybe shared among friends or class but not public for the whole internet
Depends on how “smart” the kid or teenager is about handling the information and how much the parents close the gap for the stuff the kid or teenager just can’t know because of missing life experience or intellectual capacity.
Personally:
This list is just out of the top of my head thinking about this for five minutes.
I also don’t want to limit the internet as I’m opposing any kind of censorship so the only option is to educate.
I don’t think it’s an experiment, don’t forget it evolved from basically rating the fuckability of other students, to marketing…anything…but I do think it’s harmful for both humanity (reduction in attention span, psychological issues you mentioned) and democracy (manipulated algorithms just playing what whoever programs them wants etc).
I don’t think it’ll be the downfall of humanity and even more personally I don’t care because I don’t believe in a higher purpose, intelligent design, or grand plan. I just care for the “common good” and people achieving a pursuit of happiness with no expense to others’ happiness or freedom, and more than anything care about my kids, family and friends. We’re just a species that succeeded more than any other, eventually we’ll die out or evolve into something else, like any other species. There are many other things I consider far worse poisons than social media, like religion. If the monetization of data gets regulated in some way I’ll be less worried about it, but ultimately don’t really care. I’ll ride my motorcycle, Elon Musk can’t turn that off like he can the Teslas of his followers.
Food for thought/question: can a Tesla owner fully operate the vehicle manually (override all internal controls) in any way or is everything electronic and connected to the internet. And if not, do you REALLY own the vehicle? Thinking about vehicles: you used to pay your money and get a vehicle and a key, after that you’re on your own, can modify it (and the vehicle doesn’t know, and can’t tell anybody), can start and stop and unlock and lock it whenever you want, and nobody else can. Basically it was your property to do so as you wish, and had no say on it, or external control. I remember reading Ramzan Kadyrov’s gifted Cybertruck being switched off and thought “Haha, idiot” and a split second later “So this can probably happen on any Tesla?” (if this story is even true).
Has there been any legal thinking or any assurances preventing someone (e.g., people who don’t like democracy cough Trump cough Musk) to hack a Tesla and make it lock you in and drive you to somewhere they want, or stop working, or firing up errors requiring servicing or basically preventing YOU to use your PROPERTY as you wish? How about the possibility of a social credit system in which an external party hacks your phone, your home, your car, your news, your friends, your whole digital reality? It’s really not science fiction at this point in time and I am not a conspiracy theorist at all. I think strong regulation needs to be developed to protect basic human rights and prevent the weaponization of our data against us, I think FAR clearer explanation is needed of what the cost of data to look at food, tits and assess on instagram is. When I buy a loaf of bread I pay my CHF3.95 in Coop and that’s it, I pay no more over time. With our data it’s one click and it’s sold, and will be used, and reused, and reused ad nauseum while not providing me with more of what I clicked originally. Many questions, I’m not capable to give the answers, just to live my life and help my loved ones as best as I can.
Ultimately, sooner or later LLMs will incorporate the whole human knowledge which has ever been digitized in any way, and possibly we really won’t know what’s true or not according to what our computers tell us, other than the smell our shit in the morning.
Immanuel Kant wrote about reality and perception, to the extent I can understand him I’m aligned.
I consider such effects as a pendulum, swinging back and forth. People tend to move from one extreme to the other.
And this article is 6 years old.
Next news will be youngsters lost to the virtual world of gaming, where they have full control over the environment and the immersion is total. Take it one step further, you have San Junipero, an episode from Black Mirror. And then the pendulum will swing back to real physical world experiences.
I sometimes say for fun that we have lost one generation to social media. More and more I believe there is some truth in it. By this I am refering to all this kids now in their 20ies. They are victims of the quick and gorund breaking change in information technologies, Both, social medias and smartphones.
In my opinion, the caretakers (parents, teachers and educational institutions) did not know how to deal with this technologies as well and for that reason they werent able to provide the protection and education the should have. Otherwise fully agree @logitacher
Today we see schools banning smartphones, in switzerland but also some early-digital-in-education-mover like sweden.
Even some of the kids say that they prefere it that way, that they can more enjoy themselfes, talk, play, do stupid things in real life.
I have a <2jear daughter, second child on the way. I honestly hope there is no such change in the next 15 years
(yes, I exaggerate, but for some part I really mean it)
In my opinion, social media has increasingly become a waste of time and an unnecessary source of noise in our lives. It fosters frustration and artificial desires while distorting benchmarks, especially for young people who are still building their identities. While social comparison already existed with magazines, the amplifying and viral nature of social media operates on an entirely different scale.
What concerns me even more is its impact on our long-term ability to focus and our critical thinking skills. Algorithms, by deciding what they want to highlight, subtly shape our opinions and behaviors. This raises profound questions about free will and mass manipulation.
Of course, social media isn’t entirely negative. It helps us stay connected, access vast amounts of information, and sometimes provides spaces for expression. But at what cost? I hope we can find ways to rethink our use of these platforms, prioritizing authentic moments, reflection, and the simple joys of life. It’s time to relearn how to live fully without being distracted by the superficial.
The negative and harmful influence on children and teenagers in their development has been proven by studies, as you said.
IMHO it all starts with the parents’ upbringing and what role models the parents are. If it’s normal for children to see adults with a smartphone all the time, then that’s what they’ll want too. And unfortunately it’s the case that many parents prefer their device to their child (I see it every day on playgrounds, on trains, etc.). Therefore, it’s reasonable to suspect that it won’t be any different at home.
I’m curious to know how you plan to implement this, since most of your children’s friends will not have this education and thus have an influence on them.
How old are your kids? My eldest is only 6 but for sure, I don’t plan on giving him unfettered access to the internet.
It’s too late! The humanity was already destroyed by smartphones, internet, rap, home video, rock-and-roll, tango, cinema theaters, and many other things before.
Yes, and now all of those things are on social media 
I understood that it was a reference to old vs young problem which was there for ages but on a serious note I think it is hard to find research pointing out harm of tango, rock-an-roll, cinema, etc.
I can see that social media can be compared to some extent to TV, which at the time most likely was also perceived negatively by some and now is declining or you can say transforming into streaming platforms
one aspect which I haven’t seen a lot of research or publication about is what is the potential impact of social media, smartphone/internet in a form of increased amount of information, distraction and context switching on the cognitive abilities of people in the later phase of their life, basically people who are in their 70-80s now were not exposed to it significantly and it will take another 10-20 years or even more to see if there is some effect…
You can’t influence others is my realistic answer. Either your kid is getting bullied because he’s not on the same page as the others or for being a smartass. So my advice to kids is to stay quite and observe the situation and don’t get involved in any arguments or drama, even if they know they are right. There is no point in arguing with dumb people as you will never be able to convince them.
Time will truly show who was right so the kids need to have faith in themselves and you also have to push them to get a healthy amount of self confidence (especially with girls), to be able to deal with some of those psychological tough situations (while still being humble and not arrogant of course).
I despise protectionism propably as much as censorship 
. It’s not realistic, and also not my philosophy, to protect them from life, adulthood and human dumbness but to educate them on how to handle as many situations as best as possible. I’m also trying to be really attentive to be able to take correcting measures while still giving them as much freedom as possible so each can gain his/her own experience.
I also had to experience some situations as a kid to be able to learn and get better, which you probably did too. For example arguments at the football club, we as kids sorted the issues out, maybe had a fight but afterwards everyone shook each others hand and on the next training session we were all friends again. What would have happened if my protectionism parents stepped in? I probably would have never talked to the others again because my parents wouldn’t have allowed me to.