Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Robert Reich: How Do We Protect Children from Becoming Addicted to Social Media?
Link: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/how-do-we-protect-children-from-becoming
My granddaughter began scrolling on a cellphone when she was around two years old, her index finger repeatedly swiping across its face as if she were already a teenager.
Some of the 18-year-olds in my classes at Berkeley seem to suffer withdrawal symptoms when I ask them to put away their phones. I see young people in restaurants sitting with other young people, none saying a word to each other as they lose themselves in their devices.
Are they addicted? Yes, if you define addiction as getting such a dopamine rush that they feel compelled to use their cellphones for hours at a time.
How similar is this to a nicotine addiction? And — as was a central question thirty years ago when Big Tobacco was being sued — is Big Tech intentionally designing its product to hook young people?
The answer appears to be that the addictions are quite similar, and Big Tech is just as culpable as Big Tobacco.
On Wednesday, in California, a young woman prevailed in a lawsuit against social media giants Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube, in which she accused them of designing their apps to be as addictive and harmful to adolescents as cigarettes. Jurors found the tech companies to be negligent in having failed to provide adequate warnings about the potential dangers of their products.
What seemed to persuade the jury were features that Meta and YouTube had built into their software like infinite scroll, algorithmic recommendations, and autoplay videos — designed to get young users to compulsively engage with the platforms.
Internal company documents from Meta and YouTube executives showed they knew of and discussed the negative effects of their products on children.
In fact, this case and many others likely to follow in its wake (more than 3,000 other similar lawsuits are pending in California courts against Meta, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok) are rooted in the litigation against Big Tobacco thirty years ago, in which plaintiffs argued that the tobacco corporations created addictive products that harmed their users.
I’m old enough to remember when U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry issued the first landmark report warning that cigarette smoking causes cancer and other diseases, on January 11, 1964. I was a teenager then, quietly debating with myself whether to look cool by having a cigarette dangling from my lips.
- more at link -
Some of the 18-year-olds in my classes at Berkeley seem to suffer withdrawal symptoms when I ask them to put away their phones. I see young people in restaurants sitting with other young people, none saying a word to each other as they lose themselves in their devices.
Are they addicted? Yes, if you define addiction as getting such a dopamine rush that they feel compelled to use their cellphones for hours at a time.
How similar is this to a nicotine addiction? And — as was a central question thirty years ago when Big Tobacco was being sued — is Big Tech intentionally designing its product to hook young people?
The answer appears to be that the addictions are quite similar, and Big Tech is just as culpable as Big Tobacco.
On Wednesday, in California, a young woman prevailed in a lawsuit against social media giants Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube, in which she accused them of designing their apps to be as addictive and harmful to adolescents as cigarettes. Jurors found the tech companies to be negligent in having failed to provide adequate warnings about the potential dangers of their products.
What seemed to persuade the jury were features that Meta and YouTube had built into their software like infinite scroll, algorithmic recommendations, and autoplay videos — designed to get young users to compulsively engage with the platforms.
Internal company documents from Meta and YouTube executives showed they knew of and discussed the negative effects of their products on children.
In fact, this case and many others likely to follow in its wake (more than 3,000 other similar lawsuits are pending in California courts against Meta, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok) are rooted in the litigation against Big Tobacco thirty years ago, in which plaintiffs argued that the tobacco corporations created addictive products that harmed their users.
I’m old enough to remember when U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry issued the first landmark report warning that cigarette smoking causes cancer and other diseases, on January 11, 1964. I was a teenager then, quietly debating with myself whether to look cool by having a cigarette dangling from my lips.
If our children are addicted to social media, how much of this harmful behavior is the responsibility of their parents and other adults?
Another big question: Why are children allowed to bring their cellphones to school when access to social media clearly disrupts the learning activities in the classroom?
Robert Reich hits a raw nerve here ....
Recommended reading!
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Ridiculous question. That's so they can contact their parents during mass shootings. Obviously.
Dark humor with 
... starting next year. I've learned that many individual school systems have already started doing it. They check their phones as the walk in, and get them back as they leave school every day.
And yes, they are also designed to be addictive to their users.
