“Multiple juries are in. They’re all reaching the same conclusion,” says Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and professor at New York University Stern School of Business. “When social media or high-speed internet came in, [studies] all find the same story, which is mental health plummets, especially for girls.”
https://www.ft.com/content/77d06d3e-2b9f-4d46-814f-da2646fea60c
So one way to tackle this issue would be to teach kids about what social media / internet / technolgy does to them mentally and importantly how to take / stay in control of their lives.
So perhaps discuss about centralised vs decentralised. I find I can be here every day or take a break for a week without anyone really noticing or even caring, I am not going to be made to feel guilty for having a week off from fedi.
@zleap I agree. Education is always a good option, but it cant really compete with the onslaught of technology designed to promote addiction, because that does not operate via rational decision making.
For your second point, I also take breaks and have some mental health checkpoints that work for me like no social media on my phone. I don't want to assume anything about you - but from my own point of view it's probably helped by the fact that I am older and social media was not part of my childhood and adolescence. A focus of the FT piece that the quote was taken from was the dangerous effect on the developing brain.
@cyrilpedia
We are in the same boat on the 2nd point, I too am older, I was brought up with no 24 hour news, 8 bit computers and no internet.
But kids back then felt safe to go out, we played with toys and games that were not connected to anything, so we had a simplier life and didn't really worry too much about the world, I sort of remember the live aid concert, but may not have fully appreciated why, but we were aware of the famine in Africa (Ethiopia) at the time.
News for most kids was probably from BBC Newsround with John Craven, that was it, presented in a more child friendly way.
Given the menta health crisis with kids, constantly seeing reports conconcluding there IS a problem, we need to get these boffins together to actually help find a solution.