[shevy-java]

I understand the comparison, and if it were up to me, Facebook (aka Meta) and so forth should be disbanded and chopped up at once. But ...

> Recent research shows that social media design features like infinite scroll and algorithmic feeds may encourage compulsive use and contribute to anxiety, depression, and social comparison.

So their design is addictive; not disagreeing. I think most of us know that, even as adults, how infinite scrolling on youtube for shorts, lead to a "just one more video" effect. But even with those shenanigans in mind, I simply do not see this anywhere on the same level as smoking. The health data with regards to smoking is all there, people lose about 10 years when smoking for a long time - at the least. You can find similar data points elsewhere, e. g. sumo wrestlers in Japan dying about 15 years earlier than the rest of the population. Those data points are absolutely significant. There is no way to deny that. But comparing this to the addictive scrolling or what not ... we don't have anywhere near similar data points.

That does not mean one should look at addictive design as anything but "innocent" or "harmless", but the comparison to smoking is simply not on a factual level. If anything Facebook should be eliminated for lobbying and bribes - we witness this right now when so many states push for age sniffing of everyone using the internet while concomitantly attacking VPNs. This is not accidental - this is deliberate. And the common lie is "but but but think anyone of the kids!!!".

[weltensturm]

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-05-23-many-mental-illnesses-r...

[haritha-j]

To be fair, if I doomscroll an hour a day for 50 years, I'd literally lose 2 years of my life. (1hr/day * 50 years)/24hrs = 2.1 years.

[jaapz]

That's only fair when you think doomscrolling is the same as being literally dead.

[actionfromafar]

Not resting in peace, that’s for sure.

[red-iron-pine]

this assumes that 1) you're not learning stuff while scrolling -- which may be true -- and 2) that you're not enjoying it or getting a benefit from it

"if I spent 1 hour a day meditating/working out/playing baseball/walking my dog for 50 years I'd waste 2 years of my life"

[DauntingPear7]

Perhaps it’s not about the length of life but instead the quality of life. Gambling addiction is bad but doesn’t necessarily reduce lifespan in a way comparable to smoking, for example.

[pasquinelli]

i sort of want to defend the article because it isn't comparing the health effects of the tobacco industry and social media, but rather their pr strategies... but that being said the article is very weak, so i don't want to defend it.

[wiseowise]

Social networks in the current form are, what, 10 years old? We already see collapse of attention and mental effects on people of different ages, full impact will be seen only in 20-30 years when current generation grows up.

> And the common lie is "but but but think anyone of the kids!!!".

I’m the first one to call out “think about the kids” bullshit, but this is directly applicable here.

[lelanthran]

> Social networks in the current form are, what, 10 years old? We already see collapse of attention and mental effects on people of different ages, full impact will be seen only in 20-30 years when current generation grows up.

Any doomscrolling effect on mental faculties in 20-30 years would be completely dwarfed by the effect of AI. It won't even be a rounding error.

I just posted on another thread where someone was proudly showing off a piece of software that they vibed. Even a single minute of googling would have shown them that their goal was already achievable on current linux distros without any extra software, but now we have someone who could have learned something instead remain completely ignorant.

Doomscrolling has nothing on the +ignorance that all-in AI users are experiencing, especially since they can't tell that they're getting objectively dumber.

[wiseowise]

> I just posted on another thread where someone was proudly showing off a piece of software that they vibes. Even a single minute of googling would have shown them that their goal was already achievable on current linux distros without any extra software, but now we have someone who could have learned something instead remain completely ignorant.

What makes you think they’re ignorant instead of just not giving a shit? There’s no money to make in “achievable on current Linux distros without any extra software”. The hustle culture that permeates this is another consequence of social networks.

[lelanthran]

> What makes you think they’re ignorant instead of just not giving a shit?

They said so. They didn't know how to do this, and they said so.