Facebook and instagram shutting down might be the greatest thing to happen to society in the last 20 years
Yes,
and there have been replacements. WhatsApp, Twitter, BlueSky, even Mastodon should probably die. And that waste of goddamn space Pinterest, whose only purpose is to hold someone else’s image in a lower resolution and sometimes have any information or source. It’s just a dead end for research.
I’d WhatsApp could be broken back off of them then that would be great.
Not surprised at all. You guys keep using Instagram and Facebook like you always did.
Corporations make an addictive and dangerous substance so it is obviously the fault of addicted individuals
Don’t you go throwing accusations around like that.
Good. Break them up. Criminally charge their leadership.
I’m not optimistic. Sure there have been (and will be more) settlements, but substantive policy change at the federal level is desperately needed.
If you know someone who teaches young people, go talk to them about how kids are in the classroom now. The teachers I know tell stories of kids who can’t focus for more than 60 seconds, or answer a question when the answer is literally written on the board in front of them. They can’t function without AI, and even worse, challenge teachers to explain to them why they need to learn something when AI models can do it for them. And administrators pressure teachers to just move these kids along despite their deficiencies. This is all on top of the well-documented mental health problems experienced (and likely caused by) social media use.
This is, in my view, already a crisis and I have the sinking feeling it won’t be addressed in any meaningful way until the widespread social consequences are undeniable.
If we could focus our schools on one single thing, it would be Critical Thinking Skills. It’s how humans are supposed to think, but it has to be taught, and it has to be practiced. Everything else can be looked up on Google, but Critical Thinking Skills require active intervention to learn. Critical Thinking Skills allow us to immediately recognize and reject nonsense like propaganda and scams, and make proper decision based on facts, not vibes.
Those who don’t have Critical Thinking Skills adopt other chaotic methods of thinking, like Faith-Based Thinking, where you choose to believe anything an accepted authority tells you, no matter how outlandish. Or they embrace conspiracy theories, or fall prey to cults, like Scientology, Mormons, or MAGA.
Conservatives are actively fighting the teaching of Critical Thinking Skills, claiming it encourages children to challenge/ defy authority figures, which is a healthy thing in a healthy society. The real reason is that it teaches people how to recognize their insidious propaganda, which is so vitally important to MAGA success. If people start seeing that propaganda for what it really is, Conservatism is doomed.
Everything else can be looked up on Google
I think that there actually is value to rote and memorization. Adding more knowledge to your head expands the possibilities for what thoughts you’re able to have in a way that outsourcing to Google never could. My best example is GPS navigation vs mental mapping. A while ago, I stopped using GPS during my drives, instead spending some time to look over the map and memorize the directions before I set out. Since I started doing this, I have a much clearer mental map of the places I drive through. I can use my mental map to plan efficient outings, since I have a good idea of what places are close together and when/how to take alternate routes to avoid traffic.
The other problem with leaving things to Google is that it makes you less self-reliant and diminishes your ability to unplug from the internet and think and act in the real world. Sure you can use Google Translate, but actually learning a foreign language allows you to participate in conversations, appreciate jokes, and see the world through the lens of the relationships baked into another language (e.g. you see sparks and fireworks as “fire-flowers” because you know the words hibana and hanabi).
Also, analogies and examples form an important underpinning for critical thinking. And the best way to seed a student’s mind with examples is to make them read a lot.
If we teach kids to think critically it will undermine all the zero tolerance policies
Won’t happen, but it would be really nice
could
But won’t
They’ll just get end up getting subsidies if they have to even pay anything
Subsidies for what? Those fines are like 3/4 of their market cap, there’s zero way to pay that and remain an existing company.
** The banking industry, hiding in the corner looking sheepish **
That would be an egregiously stupid loan to make for any bank. These fines are from only 3 states. If they actually succeed, more states are going to line up to collect their pound of flesh. Giving the company a lifeline would only allow more debt to pile up, with zero expectation of return
I meant the banking industry over leveraging themselves into extinction and then walking it off because if subsidies and bailouts
Anyone remember why they became Meta in the first place? I don’t exactly but there was huge news at the time that they were burying. I think it was a whistle blower that was exposing this exact story or something like it.
Meta scandals are almost as frequent as Palestinian genocides.
Here’s hoping…
👌👍🤣
