Death Of Doom Scrolling? EU Moves To Kill Infinite Scrolling On Social Media

[Economy 52,844]

Look, brain rot is real. Everyone I work with under the age of 25 to 28 with maybe a couple exeptions literally cant focus on any task, makes constant errors and forgets everything u tell them. And they seem to have constant random brain farts where the make very odd obvious oversights on something they know how to do very well, which is totally to be expected occasionally cuz no one is perfect but for some of them its with an alarming frequency

 

My youngest sibling is the same way and she can not whatch tv anymore because it requires too much focus. Iys insane. Shes also always doing things like heating up tea, forgetting about it, letting it get cold, so she makes another cup, forgets about it again and then has 3 cups of tea on counter going cold and untouched

 

This has to stop and something needs to be done about it

 

I get that ppl with a natural struggle for attention (attention deficit disorders) have always existed but the scale now is u precedented. Im sure most are not biological conditions. Most are environmentally triggered

Edited February 16 by Economy

[PartySick 172,486]

10 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Ngl I will never understand people justifying this level of paternalism lol

This. It's embarrassing.

"Yes, government 😍 please limit how long I can entertain myself online 😍 and please demand that I dox myself to every p*rn site and chat app I use "

[Economy 52,844]

17 minutes ago, PartySick said:

This. It's embarrassing.

"Yes, government 😍 please limit how long I can entertain myself online 😍 and please demand that I dox myself to every p*rn site and chat app I use "

We have regulations to try to limit harmful physical substances. 

 

I dont see why trying to do the same for something on a mental aspect that so many studies are showing does impact peoples cognitive fuctions is so wrong

 

Companiea purposely make social media addictive and were seeing negative effects beyond just the addiction itself. So imo it matters

[Ladle Ghoulash 52,680]

3 minutes ago, Economy said:

We have regulations to try to limit harmful physical substances. 

 

I dont see why trying to do the same for something on a mental aspect that so many studies are showing does impact peoples cognitive fuctions is so wrong

 

Companiea purposely make social media addictive and were seeing negative effects beyond just the addiction itself. So imo it matters

Yeah, it definitely matters but both as a matter of principle and practicality, going after the algorithms themselves and the way that they’re designed is a *much* better and less invasive form of regulation as opposed to going both for the symptom (social media overindulgence) while still allowing people the freedom to use apps in the way they want.
 

As @timdrakesaid earlier: the way many countries go after unhealthiness in food is through going after purposefully addictive ingredients as opposed to limiting the *amount* people can eat and I think that approach is also the best approach for social media re: algorithms vs. allotted access time.

[PartySick 172,486]

24 minutes ago, Economy said:

We have regulations to try to limit harmful physical substances. 

 

I dont see why trying to do the same for something on a mental aspect that so many studies are showing does impact peoples cognitive fuctions is so wrong

 

Companiea purposely make social media addictive and were seeing negative effects beyond just the addiction itself. So imo it matters

I'm generally against prohibition and invasive regulation.

[Sepsami 20,955]

16 hours ago, tylerjs said:

Unfortunately most people in the world need it. People are addicted to scrolling, and the government has always regulated things people have high addiction tendencies for. The people will not self-regulate when given the option.

Because they can't, it is designed to be addicting, it's just predatory companies caring about nothing but profit. Tale as old as time unfortunately. 

[gagzus 23,039]

11 hours ago, Economy said:

Look, brain rot is real. Everyone I work with under the age of 25 to 28 with maybe a couple exeptions literally cant focus on any task, makes constant errors and forgets everything u tell them. And they seem to have constant random brain farts where the make very odd obvious oversights on something they know how to do very well, which is totally to be expected occasionally cuz no one is perfect but for some of them its with an alarming frequency

 

My youngest sibling is the same way and she can not whatch tv anymore because it requires too much focus. Iys insane. Shes also always doing things like heating up tea, forgetting about it, letting it get cold, so she makes another cup, forgets about it again and then has 3 cups of tea on counter going cold and untouched

 

This has to stop and something needs to be done about it

 

I get that ppl with a natural struggle for attention (attention deficit disorders) have always existed but the scale now is u precedented. Im sure most are not biological conditions. Most are environmentally triggered

I’ve noticed this, I’ve also noticed that people under the age of 25 have whole conversations where every response or line is a meme reference? I’ve asked entire questions and genuinely got the “well YES” meme as an irl response with the same cadence and everything. Once is funny but almost EVERY conversation I’ve had with young coworkers feels like I’m having a conversation with a meme generator or tumblr feed.

i also HATE how people now self diagnose because of the internet, people legit go to the doctors and tell them to “look again” or bring up an answer like “I googled and it’s this” like or let the doctor do their job???

Edited February 17 by gagzus

[littlepotter 76,610]

15 hours ago, Concertaholic said:

I’ve tried installing these apps and I always delete them like after a day, I hate to admit it but I’m so addicted to my phone 

What sort of things do you occupy your time with once you get the prompt to stop scrolling?

I mean I have a LOT of shit going on in my life (work + master's) so I guess it's easier for me to stop because i know im procrastinating something i should be doing instead, it's probably harder if i have nothing else to do

[Economy 52,844]

13 hours ago, PartySick said:

I'm generally against prohibition and invasive regulation.

 

13 hours ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

Yeah, it definitely matters but both as a matter of principle and practicality, going after the algorithms themselves and the way that they’re designed is a *much* better and less invasive form of regulation as opposed to going both for the symptom (social media overindulgence) while still allowing people the freedom to use apps in the way they want.
 

As @timdrakesaid earlier: the way many countries go after unhealthiness in food is through going after purposefully addictive ingredients as opposed to limiting the *amount* people can eat and I think that approach is also the best approach for social media re: algorithms vs. allotted access time.

Well the OP doesnt sound like they are literally going to put a time limit on how long you can sit in your couch and use your app like a parent telling a 5 year old they only have 30 minutes

 

They are talking about changing the design of the app to not be so quick changing and endless scrolling. This could be as simple as a design where 7 or 8 second reels are not so quick changing non stop and screen changes dont happen so frequently or so quickly

 

Unless im misunderstanding the OP... the comments about the government micro managing your time seem to be exgarating the proposal at best. I wouldnt really be for it either if that was the case. Ive heard other proposals before for childrens tv shows invovimg time limits but they were refering to average screen changes. As in a not allowing a show like coco melon to changes scenes every 1-3 seconds as to kill a childs attention span abilities. The time limit didnt involve the viewing screen time itself. Could this be something simmilar? Cuz thats kind what i got from it

 

As far as I can tell they want to regulate it for how its given to you ti consume it and I dont see an issue with that. Again, we regulate other things that can be potentialy harmfull. Something has to be done one way or the other tho.

 

Ppls inability to focus is getting so bad in the future its going to start posing a risk to others for anyone in important positions (or create shortages if they are strict on hiring and keeping abled people) in traffic controlers, surgeons, high rise builders etc

 

The teenager who cant focus and screws up your mcdonalds order every other time or messes up your amazon shipment is merely an annoying nuance. But theres also important jobs where a society that cant focus will cause bigger problems

 

The moment it starts to affect others, imo this goes beyond just personal rights and how you want an app to be designed