1y ago

US surgeon general calls for cigarette-style warnings on social media platforms

www.theguardian.com

Health - Resources and discussion for everything health-related @lemmy.world

MicroWave @lemmy.world

1y ago

US surgeon general calls for cigarette-style warnings on social media platforms

www.theguardian.com /us-news/article/2024/jun/17/surgeon-general-warning-social-media

Mental Health @lemmy.world

return2ozma @lemmy.world

1y ago

US surgeon general calls for cigarette-style warnings on social media platforms

www.theguardian.com /us-news/article/2024/jun/17/surgeon-general-warning-social-media

36 comments

I'm glad that the government is trying to address the issue of social media, but obviously adding warnings isn't going to do anything.
I think the only way to actually solve the problem would be to regulate the recommendation algorithms to make them less addictive and less harmful.
- It seems like an awareness campaign is a good start. People on this platform are generally very social media savvy, but the harms of social media are far from common knowledge.
  One of the most important things that Lemmy has done is to introduce a transparent ranking algorithm. It turns out that people do like algorithms in our social media, as long as we can see and control them. There's nothing sinister about an algorithm when you can easily see what is getting boosted and why (and switch it off at will)
  Other federated media are developing personalized algorithms that will be well suited to other platforms.
I like this idea. Unhealthy, addictive and combative environments should be labeled.
- So, #MAGA should be labelled as such?
  
  Only issue it's those attracted to Maga would love being labeled that
  
  Yeah. They can still buy all their ironically unpatriotic clothing, but the tag has to have a little warning about the wearer's instability
A lot of people don't understand how anything like this could help, but keep in mind that policy shapes society as much as the opposite. Yeah most social media users are going to roll their eyes and ignore warning messages, but we're out to help people, not necessarily today's people.
When you grow up around the normalization of something like, the "officially sanctioned" knowledge that social media can be dangerous, it gives you something for your brain to connect with when you realize you've been ruminating for hours or days about what someone thinks about you on the internet. It really does help the brain when you can more easily identify a threat.
And more than anything, this would set a powerful precedent in the social view of mental health. Again, when you grow up seeing a thing is normal, you are more readily able to identify the source of the problem when a bad thing is happening to you.
People who think this doesn't or won't do anything are completely overlooking the advertising revenue impact. If social media must carry these warning labels, that devalues the ad space they sell. Does coca cola, Ford, etc. really want their ads to show up on content with these warning labels? Will they be getting a discount on ad space because it's better to deliver ads to users on platforms that don't have this warning?
America is so contrarian they might up their social media intake even more tbh
- In Canada the cigarette warning labels had horrible pictures of the damage smoking can cause, and all my friends that smoked liked collecting them like baseball cards.
  
  They were already addicted. The warnings are not made for them.
  
  actually sounds like a fun hobby
I can’t tell if this dude is 23 years old or 53 years old.
- Young face old hair
- Dall-E lookin' ass
(Platform) may cause birth defects, lung cancer, death
How Money Changes the Way You Think and Feel
Money is clearly harmful. Let's put a warning label on every bill and coin: "Addictive"?
I started smoking as a teenager after those warnings were put on cigarettes. I did it despite knowing it was addictive and it was bad for me.
Kids don't give a shit. They think they're immortal.
But sure, waste your time.
- Those warnings had a statistically significant effect on smoking rates. Just because it doesn't work on everyone doesn't mean it doesn't work.
  
  Please let me see these statistics.
- Can't wait to have to sign in with your driver's license to get on Facebook think of the children.
  
  Already true for porn sites in some states. The inevitable data leak will not be pretty.
- The idea of a warning is not because anyone thinks you're going to read it and get scared and stop doing the thing you're hooked on.
  The idea of a warning label is so your ice-age brain, the brain that loves to make up stories to explain things, has something to connect with when you start having a negative experience on something like social media, or something to help you realize that the thing, whatever it may be, is addictive and the reason you're having problems is because of that addictive quality. We greatly overestimate our brains and our capacity to properly identify threats and tell ourselves the correct story to escape the threat.
- Same. How many teens currently vape? Wait, did they not know these substances are harmful?
I don't particularly feel like there needs to be a government campaign to get rid of Lemmy/kbin/mbin, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- Did you read the article?
  
  Yes.

36 comments