Obviously it's the apps. If you would give all kids phones that could only call and play snake they wouldn't be so engaged with it all the time.
Most modern social media apps are now redesigned to allow for endless doomscrolling. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram all allow to scroll through content fed to you by an algorithm without even being able to preview the next video. It just slams it in your face.
It's extremely addictive and imo harmful. It ruins attention spans, it ruins social development and it causes insecurities.
I am in favor of banning smartphones in schools. I have seen what these apps do to people only a few years younger than me and it's just depressing.
Well, I think it's the combination of the apps as you described with the devices to connect to them always being within arms reach. Take away either one (or take away the unlimited, always-on network access, like I have a 500 MB per month data plan) and I think we're having a very different conversation.
> seen what these apps do to people only a few years younger than me and it's just depressing
I'll make the obligatory point that the situation seems not much better for older people (Millennials, Boomers, etc.) who are also consuming a shocking amount of video on their phones throughout the day, to the point of it being anti-social.
> Well, I think it's the combination of the apps as you described with the devices to connect to them always being within arms reach.
I wholly agree.
As for the personal experience, I am only 21 so I left high school (in europe) around 3 years ago. TikTok started to boom around 4 years ago. What I've noticed is that my peers who are just a few years younger than me use these apps much more. To the point where it's just unbearable to watch a movie with them because they open their phone up every minute just to get fed some random content. My sister who is 4 years younger than me is insecure to the point of having developed an eating disorder, and I know that social media played a big part in that. Both the insecurity and specifically the pressure to eat healthy.
The algorithms in these apps really play into your faults. If you engage with videos about healthy eating because you are insecure about your weight you will only get fed more of the same. And the creators on these platforms can make extremely toxic and harmful content.
I myself have tried to get TikTok to only feed me conspiracy theories and managed to do it in minutes. Some of my friends have succeeded in getting it to show self-harm content in a few minutes as well. I really find these platforms that give you absolutely no control over the content you're fed dangerous.
> the situation seems not much better for older people
I personally don't know many older people that really consume much phone content. My parents sure don't, neither does my older sister or my colleagues. For the most part anyway. So at least in my social circles the situation does seem better.
I even know a lot of people of my age that actively try to fight it. For instance by disabling video suggestions on YouTube.
> unbearable to watch a movie with them because they open their phone up every minute just to get fed some random content
Yeah, unfortunately I know some Millennials and Boomers like that too.
Anyway, you have an impressive perspective on this for a 21 year-old. These discussions tend to be among us old folks who grew up with dial-up Internet on the family desktop computer in the living room. I would not have guessed your age from your first comment.
Most modern social media apps are now redesigned to allow for endless doomscrolling. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram all allow to scroll through content fed to you by an algorithm without even being able to preview the next video. It just slams it in your face.
It's extremely addictive and imo harmful. It ruins attention spans, it ruins social development and it causes insecurities.
I am in favor of banning smartphones in schools. I have seen what these apps do to people only a few years younger than me and it's just depressing.