Slashdot Mirror
Facebook and Twitter 'Harm Young People's Mental Health' (theguardian.com)
Instagram and Snapchat are really bad for young people's mental health, according to research by two health organisations. Virtually all major social media platforms have a negative impact on the well-being of 14-24-year-olds, the study adds. Instagram was the worst -- followed by Snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter. From a report on The Guardian: Instagram has the most negative impact on young people's mental wellbeing, a survey of almost 1,500 14- to 24-year-olds found, and the health groups accused it of deepening young people's feelings of inadequacy and anxiety. The survey, published on Friday, concluded that Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter are also harmful. Among the five only YouTube was judged to have a positive impact. The four platforms have a negative effect because they can exacerbate children's and young people's body image worries, and worsen bullying, sleep problems and feelings of anxiety, depression and loneliness, the participants said.
Has anyone found the actual survey data? I'm curious how the survey was worded.
..b-b-but all my friends!
THEY'RE NOT REAL. GO OUTSIDE, meet REAL people, make REAL friends.
..b-b-but how will I keep in touch with people?
How did you do it before so-called 'social media'? DO IT THAT WAY AGAIN, FOOL!
..b-b-but Facebook brings people together!
LOL, no, it doesn't, it gives them a reason to STAY APART. Knock that shit off!
..b-b-but my boss requires me to have Facebook!
BULLSHIT.
..b-b-but where will I find out what's going on in the world?
YOU IDIOT! Get your news from a REAL NEWS SOURCE, NOT SOCIAL MEDIA, YOU FUCKTARD!
Seriously, isn't it time to abandon this running troll/meme/joke called 'social media'? Or are you STUPID?
In school I never understood or tolerated bullying and I was bullied quite a bit. General strategy was to verbally goad the bully into throwing the first punch. I was tall for my age and obese, I usually mopped the floor with them. Fat guy strength is a thing. That generally brought a solid end to the bullying; at least for a good while and never again from the same source. I graduated a few years before MySpace. So when I went home, the whole horrible drama of high-school ended and I could just dial my friends' pagers and play Diablo 2. It was such a relief sometimes to get home. I dreaded going to school but I had a sanctuary at the end of each day. These days it's zero tolerance. Moves I made to thwart bullying would get me expelled in today's schools. It doesn't stop people from being assholes. For these kids the day to day pressure of dealing with social clicks, bullying, being judged, being different, feeling awkward, not fitting in, measuring up... it never ends. They leave the school then go to their screens and it just keeps. on. going. I guess it always did, but at least I didn't have to watch it play out in slow motion on the Internet. How can we get people to just follow Bill & Ted's advice?
One of the two groups, http://www.yhm.org.uk/ Young Health Movement, appears to be a subgroup of https://www.rsph.org.uk/ Royal Society for Public Health.
Looks like a single politically motivated activist group. It is also involved with campaigns to stop smoking, to label alcoholic beverages with calorie information, and the "Health on the High Street" campaign, whose mission is described as to "...ensure that local authorities have the powers they need to curtail business practices which may undermine the public’s health."
In other words, their aim seems to be to increase government intervention—in this case, within the realm of social interaction amongst the proles.
I would interpret this as a thinly veiled attempt to justify some kind of policy to further police language on these platforms to protect those who might be triggered or otherwise require a safe space. It is also kind of a stretch to include YouTube with "social platforms," because that is much more oriented toward pulling desirable content than it is toward open discussion.
Reruns of Batman and Three Stooges 'Harm Young People's Mental Health'
I heard that back in the early 1970's when I in kindergarten and the early grades. Teachers didn't like kids using their jackets as capes, jumping off high surfaces and screaming "BATMAN!" at the top of their voice, or trying to poke out each other's eyes like the Three Stooges. Fun times.