CategorySocial Media
How One Woman’s Campaign Nearly Destroyed Pornhub
In 2020 it was the 10th most visited website on the internet, now just a shell of its former daysHow Censorship Has Changed and Why That Matters So Much
The way censorship works now, you don’t even know about it. So it is much more difficult to protest.Philosopher Tweets on Consciousness — and Gets Feedback
Tulane U’s Kevin Morris tweeted that “the brain/ nervous system IS consciousness,” and started a broad discussion with many views representedFacebook and Instagram Allegedly Hook Youngsters with Dopamine Triggering Tactics
“Social media use can negatively affect teens, distracting them, disrupting their sleep, and exposing them to bullying, rumor spreading, unrealistic views of other people’s lives and peer pressure,” according to the Mayo Clinic. Teens and younger children accessing social media repeatedly or for long periods face heightened risks of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, social isolation, negative body image, decreased learning ability, even serious thoughts of suicide. Social media that lures kids into excessive use must come from somewhere. Top on the list is the 800-billion-dollar multinational conglomerate, Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”), owner and operator of the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. To hold Meta accountable for social media’s damaging effects, 33 American states’ attorneys general (“Plaintiffs”) are Read More ›
Andrew McDiarmid on Teens and Smartphones
We can mitigate the mental health crisis, but we have to act now.Discovery Institute’s podcasting director and Mind Matters contributor Andrew McDiarmid recently appeared on the Michael Medved Show, a podcast on “pop culture and politics.” Medved and McDiarmid discussed the mental health crisis among teens and adolescents due in large part, per the research, to the explosion of social media apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. McDiarmid has written on this issue before at length, and strongly believes that if we care about the next generation, we would do well to heed what’s going on with the youths and their smartphones and do something about it. “It all started around 2010,” McDiarmid told Medved, going on to say: Facebook was kicking things into high gear, Twitter was on the scene and Read More ›
The Atlantic Warns of Smartphones in Schools. But Is Anyone Listening?
While word is getting out, there's still a long ways to go.This week, we ran a post covering a new public policy brief from the Institute for Family Studies and the Ethics and Public Policy Center. The brief conclusively demonstrated the tangible harms involved in exposing kids to the online world before they’re ready. The researchers concluded, in addition, that parents should not give their children digital devices. The stakes are too high, from increased risk of mental health disorders to learning impairments. Such warnings have been increasing over the past few years, thanks in large part to the in-depth research of people like Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge. The Atlantic published an article today on how smartphones are hurting kids’ cognitive and learning capacities. Derek Thompson writes, Researchers such as Read More ›
Hossenfelder vs Goff: Debate About Electrons Sparks Social Media!
The public has not suddenly become interested in whether electrons exist. Rather, more people are using new media for an increasingly broad array of purposes.It says a lot about how media are changing that panpsychist philosophy professor Philip Goff and theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder were in a bit of a verbal tussle at X (formerly Twitter) recently on whether electrons really exist. That sort of debate once inhabited historic lecture rooms, exalted think tanks, and the better science magazines. Now, the public has not suddenly become interested in whether electrons exist. Rather, more people are using new media for an increasingly broad array of purposes. X is no longer just a place where a poorly thought out remark on a sensitive subject can ruin a career. The discussion was definitely not a Twitter troll flame war. It was more like this: We can't observe Read More ›
Is This a Moral Reckoning? 41 States Sue Meta for Knowingly Addicting Young Users
The lawsuit claims that Meta's platforms are harming its young users. The data backs it up.Social Media Dissolve Borders for Orphans
Sometimes it can create awareness of seemingly insurmountable problems, old and new — child sacrifice and organ harvestingHomogeneity via Instagram and the Internet
Spending too much time online shapes our personality and outlook perhaps more than we'd like to admit.Trying to Solve Social Media’s Problems Through…More Social Media
Alternative social media apps still have to figure out ways to keep you scrolling.Last month a friend invited me to download a new photography app called “Lapse.” Perhaps you’ve already heard of it and downloaded it yourself. I decided to try it and see what all the fuss was about. The app’s opening screen was dramatic, with captions about the failures of previous social media apps to truly “capture” the present moment. The business model of social media apps, the Lapsers rightly contend, revolves around “likes” and gaining “friends.” What happened to taking pictures of real, human moments without minding the social reward they might reap? Photo-taking was about holding on to moments that mattered. It wasn’t about filters, validation, or identity. Lapse promises to be different. It’s a disposable camera on your Read More ›
The Great Trust Heist
When social media companies are mining data, trust is naturally undermined.Five Key Ways Media Have Changed in the Last 35 Years
Major media no longer really represent a vast number of average audience membersThe Benefits of Ditching Social Media
Tech writer Cal Newport explains why boredom is actually a good thingCal Newport ascended into the limelight upon his viral Ted Talk in which he called people to ditch social media. In this video from last year, Newport rehashes some of the main benefits of not having social media. Boredom is on the list, interestingly; Newport notes that most people no longer have moments of boredom, and as a consequence, don’t have any space in their lives to reflect, think, and work through their emotions. Andrew McDiarmid, a contributor at Mind Matters, has written on this in the past. He notes, Mind wandering, or stream of consciousness thought, gives us several mental gains, including the ability to consider obstacles to future goals, generate novel, creative thoughts, and place our experiences in meaningful Read More ›
Is the “Threads” App a Bust?
The app originally attracted around 100 million users but has tapered off dramatically.Within the first week of its existence, “Threads,” the new Twitter-like app from the tech company Meta, saw a colossal decline in usage. The app originally attracted around 100 million users but has tapered off dramatically. Jody Cerrano reports, Zuckerberg’s statements about returning users coincide with estimates from third-party traffic analysts that reported the big dip in Threads users last week. At that time, Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm, said that Threads’ daily active users on iOS and Android were down by 20%. The company added that traffic was not the only thing affected. Time spent on the app per user also fell, according to Sensor Tower, by 50% — from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. On Monday, the analyst Similarweb reported an Read More ›
Really, a Cage Match?
Rumor has it that Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg are going to fight each other (physically, not figuratively) in a cage match.Rumor has it that Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg are going to fight each other (physically, not figuratively) in a cage match. Yes, you heard that right. After an online squabble, the two are purportedly interested in an actual fight. Today, the news broke that Musk has agreed to train with UFC legend Georges St-Pierre. St-Pierre offered his services to Musk in a tweet, to which Musk replied, “Okay, let’s do it.” No one really knows if this fight will actually happen, but it could. It’s ludicrous that men of such stature should be entertaining the notion of a cage match. Nonetheless, Zuckerberg is apparently trained in martial arts, and seemed open to the idea given Read More ›
Twitter’s Copycat Rival is Coming to You via Meta. Will It Survive?
Meta will again co-opt the ideas of its competitors and hope for the bestMeta is reportedly trying to compete with Twitter by introducing a similar app called Threads. The app will be connected to Instagram and will allow a cross-over of followers, etc. Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, some have complained about loosened constraints regarding speech and expression. A number of formerly suspended accounts, such as those belonging to psychologist Jordan Peterson, the Christian satire site The Babylon Bee, and a number of other (mostly conservative) voices, were reestablished following Musk’s “takeover.” Now Meta is trying to capitalize. If they’re going to launch Threads, now is probably the best time to do it. Apart from the overarching complaints against Twitter and Musk, the platform is now limiting how many tweets a user Read More ›
Social Media’s Mimetic Desire Complex
The reason it makes us so miserableFrank is friends with Bob. Both Frank and Bob know Sue. Frank likes Sue. Therefore, Bob likes Sue. Conflict ensues. Frank and Bob are no longer friends. Take this situation and amplify it by a million (whatever that metric looks like) and you’ve got something like the social media world we inhabit today. This quick video, posted below, discusses “mimetic desire,” or what happens when certain ideals or images are pursued, not because they’re intrinsically good, but because it’s the current zeitgeist to want them. The problem with mimetic desire is that it eclipses legitimate desires and wants, or confuses us about what we really need in order to be happy. Watch the video for a better summary of this Read More ›
The Dark Side of Instagram
An investigative report shows that Instagram algorithm promotes pedophilia networksIt’s an unfortunate fact that sex trafficking and pedophilia rings have benefitted from the invention of the internet. Even worse, Meta‘s Instagram is amplifying the problem – not because Meta wants to, of course, but because the algorithm promotes the activity. The Wall Street Journal did an investigative report in partnership with a team from Stanford University on Instagram’s promotion of pedophilia rings, with Jeff Horwitz and Katherine Blunt writing, Pedophiles have long used the internet, but unlike the forums and file-transfer services that cater to people who have interest in illicit content, Instagram doesn’t merely host these activities. Its algorithms promote them. Instagram connects pedophiles and guides them to content sellers via recommendation systems that excel at linking those Read More ›