"Heartbreaking, Devastating, Apalling Impact" GOP Senator Blackburn on The Negative Impact Social Media Has On Children & Teens in Senate floor speech

[basquebromance]

it's a great time for Silicon Valley, but not a great time for our kids. kids who are users of social media sleep on a average 1 hour less than their non-social media counterparts. and the teen suicide rate has increased 60 percent in the last few years. it is the 2nd leading cause of death behind unintentional deaths from car accidents. they're robbing children from their childhood

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

it's a great time for Silicon Valley, but not a great time for our kids. kids who are users of social media sleep on a average 1 hour less than their non-social media counterparts. and the teen suicide rate has increased 60 percent in the last few years. it is the 2nd leading cause of death behind unintentional deaths from car accidents. they're robbing children from their childhood

A Molested Generation Loses the Will to Survive

 

[Moonglow]

Ain't capitalism great!?

 

[basquebromance]

Today’s Americans should be the least lonely in our nation’s history: More of us than ever before live in densely populated parts of the country, and technology offers us more ways than ever before to connect to folks with similar interests.

But evidence from psychology and sociology show rising levels of aloneness (having fewer social contacts) in recent decades, and high levels of loneliness (feelings of isolation) as well, with disturbing spikes in the last few years during COVID-19.

Connection is everywhere, and yet loneliness persists—and in certain subsets of the population grows worse, leading some observers to call the problem an “epidemic.” They are right to do so: It is an epidemic. The true cost of American loneliness is both hidden and insidious, and it’s time policymakers started taking this problem seriously.

for all the promise of technology to more seamlessly connect us to peers and new friends, it has in fact left many Americans—especially young people—feeling more alone than ever. Put simply, we have learned that digital communication cannot replace the value of in-person experience. Evidence from psychology, including brain scans, shows that we respond differently to in-person encounters than we do to those that are online. Staying in touch with friends and relatives electronically is better than losing touch altogether, but when interactions on Facebook replace in-person experiences with neighbors and local friends, it can actually drive up feelings of loneliness.

Further, the use of social media, which once seemed to promise an antidote to loneliness, can create resentments that further breed feelings of isolation. Scrolling through endless pictures that have been curated to embellish other people’s lives leaves many users—especially those with developing brains—feeling inadequate and wanting. The effect of this type of “connection” is often feelings of isolation and envy, particularly for young people—more anxiety than fulfillment. My son explained to me that the greatest source of unhappiness for one of his friends who is transgender is TikTok, where the friend scrolls for hours late at night through images of body types he wished were his.

The second important factor driving the loneliness epidemic is the erosion of local community. Connection sometimes happens randomly. But mostly, it happens through local institutions—churches, sports teams, civic clubs, labor unions, and business organizations. Personal meaning often comes from the groupings we create or join, and connection through institutions helps us construct an identity and sense of purpose. It’s both the connection and the meaning derived from group identity that matters. But many large trends have badly weakened local institutions. Among them is globalization, which has drained local economies and diminished the local cultures that facilitate connection, identity, and meaning. This is a challenge that neoliberalism with its blind faith in an integrated global market, did not anticipate and cannot solve.

Today, local businesses and vibrant downtowns that helped provide Americans meaning and connection have been replaced by the Walmart/Amazon economy. The local grocer is gone, replaced by superstores or food-delivery drivers. And our local institutions are also disappearing. Adults are forced to maintain two or three jobs, just to match the income of a single job that could sustain a family a few decades ago, leaving no time to devote to churches or civic clubs. Overall youth sports participation has plummeted over the last two decades, as overextended parents are too busy to shuttle their kids to games and practices and children become more interested in online gaming. Globalization and technology have helped hollow out institutions and weaken local identity, contributing to feelings of isolation.

The newly isolated become supple targets for demagogues who offer up scapegoats to blame for the decay of these traditional sources of meaning. America was shocked in 2017 when a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville drew thousands, but this should have been no surprise. Loneliness is driving people to dark, dangerous places, and those young, white men carrying tiki torches are only the tip of a giant iceberg of isolated, angry people whose search for meaning might lead them to a seething racist mob.

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None of this must be our destiny. Yes, loneliness and its negative byproducts are on the rise. But there are levers the government can push and pull to decrease American isolation, and this project must become a priority for both Republicans and Democrats.

There are a few places to start. First, why not acknowledge that the consequences of technology’s unstinting advance are not value-neutral, and steer technology companies toward products that breed happiness, not anxiety and loneliness? I know this sounds like a herculean task, but there are already efforts underway to better protect children from the dangers of online addiction by increasing the minimum age of children that technology companies can target with their products.

A second starting point would be to purposefully advance policies aimed at restoring the health of our local communities and institutions. The erasure of local businesses, local social clubs, and local news has dried up traditional sources of connection to friends and peers as well as traditional means of non-political, non-ideological identity. A new strategy of economic nationalism—working to bring key industries with good paying jobs back to the United States—is a good place to begin.

Ensuring that one full-time job provides an adequate living wage would, in and of itself, help these institutions by freeing up more time for Americans to participate in non-work activities. In his campaign for the Senate, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan’s stump speech ended with a recitation of all the local institutions his grandfather helped build and support because his good paying, 40-hour-a-week union job allowed him the time and peace of mind to commit himself to endeavors beyond economic survival. But we need to do more than just create additional free time. Federal, state, and local government should consider more direct subsidies for community institutions, civic groups, and local newspapers, in addition to reining in the neo-monopolies that put so many local grocery stores, booksellers, and the like out of business. Antitrust policy can make for good anti-loneliness policy.

Everyone, at some point in their life, feels alone. There are few more paralyzing, destabilizing human emotions. And isolation has a habit of spiraling downward, often leading to irreparable dangerous behaviors and choices. Loneliness will always be a part of the human experience, and policymakers cannot erase it from American life. But today, social isolation threatens devastating consequences for the social fabric of our nation. It will be some time before we understand all causes of, and treatments for, this growing catastrophe. But talking frankly about the crisis, its consequences, and potential solutions, is a vital first step

 

[basquebromance]