Jonathan Haidt blames teenage depression, anxiety on smartphones, social media

Re:Jonathan Haidt blames teenage depression, anxiety on smar... by beepbooptheory on Sunday April 21, 2024 @11:19AM (#40106426)

If the economy is so strong, why does the media need to resort to such desperate measures for attention? Like, shouldn't they also be reaping profits and such from the healthy economy, and as such not have to be forced into this grubby practice of manufacturing dissatisfaction?

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Re:Jonathan Haidt blames teenage depression, anxiety on smar... by fincycaden on Sunday April 21, 2024 @09:32PM (#40110756)

What a strange argument. No matter the economical situation, companies will still want to maximize profits. In the case of the media, drawing the most attention, which results in depressing doomsaying, regardless of reality

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Re:Jonathan Haidt blames teenage depression, anxiety on smar... by beepbooptheory on Monday April 22, 2024 @03:12AM (#40112043)

So are you saying that, no matter what, the media will always have this tendency? Like we are doomed as humanity to be forever ill informed and drawn towards pessimism?

If that is so, then why even complain or feel bad about this stuff? Like all this discourse feels pretty futile if you don't even believe a different state of affairs is possible...

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Re:Jonathan Haidt blames teenage depression, anxiety on smar... by wccrawford on Monday April 22, 2024 @06:59AM (#40113128)

It will have that tendency, unless something else corrects for that behavior, such as people constantly calling them out on it.

Crime will always exist, too, but we don't stop fighting that, either. It's part of life that we fight against bad things, even if we can't possibly eliminate that bad thing permanently.

On the brighter side of things, the internet has provided people to more information than ever before, and cell phones have put that information in their pocket. People can and do look up things all the time and inform themselves.

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Re:Jonathan Haidt blames teenage depression, anxiety on smar... by beepbooptheory on Monday April 22, 2024 @08:49AM (#40113860)

If you truly believe this is the situation, I just don't understand how you can also think that constantly calling them out does anything at all. Its not doing much right now at least.

All you end up doing from this point of view is reinforce the very pessimism you are arguing against by posing this entire aspect of our society as forever broken

Also, is it not "the media" anymore when I inform myself on the internet? Where is the line there?

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