POLITICS SCHMALITICS

[chasfh]

Oh god, please let this be true.

1 big thing: Gen Z leads social media exodus

Some Gen Zers — ages 14 to 29 — are ditching social media in pursuit of better mental health, Axios' Rebecca Falconer reports. It's part of a wider digital detox movement away from screens and toward analog options. Research suggests that social media use is waning — and that more people are embracing app-blocking products and "dumbphones" that lack social media apps. 📵 Chris Wells, a self-described former "Twitter and Instagram junkie," tells Axios that he's "99% off" social media after doing a "Month Offline" challenge. The 26-year-old says: "I didn't know who I was without my social media accounts, and when I quit, it was pretty miraculous." "The one thing that really came back to me was a sense of privacy. I hadn't really felt that since I was a kid." 🗑️ 17-year-old Aditi Ediga deleted her phone's social media apps last fall. Ediga says: "One reason why teenagers don't want to delete apps and stop using them is that they're scared they're going to miss out on stuff, and then I realized I wasn't really missing out on anything." 🤝 NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of a bestselling book on the effects of childhood tech use, tells Axios: "What you're seeing now, especially among Gen Z, is a self-correction back toward real-world connection." "They've felt the costs of isolation and are rediscovering what actually leads to flourishing." 🤳 Yes, but: Plenty of young Americans are still spending countless hours on social media, with platforms facing calls to ban or restrict teen access. Go deeper.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

Oh god, please let this be true.

1 big thing: Gen Z leads social media exodus

Some Gen Zers — ages 14 to 29 — are ditching social media in pursuit of better mental health, Axios' Rebecca Falconer reports.   It's part of a wider digital detox movement away from screens and toward analog options.   Research suggests that social media use is waning — and that more people are embracing app-blocking products and "dumbphones" that lack social media apps.   📵 Chris Wells, a self-described former "Twitter and Instagram junkie," tells Axios that he's "99% off" social media after doing a "Month Offline" challenge.   The 26-year-old says: "I didn't know who I was without my social media accounts, and when I quit, it was pretty miraculous."   "The one thing that really came back to me was a sense of privacy. I hadn't really felt that since I was a kid."   🗑️ 17-year-old Aditi Ediga deleted her phone's social media apps last fall.   Ediga says: "One reason why teenagers don't want to delete apps and stop using them is that they're scared they're going to miss out on stuff, and then I realized I wasn't really missing out on anything."   🤝 NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of a bestselling book on the effects of childhood tech use, tells Axios: "What you're seeing now, especially among Gen Z, is a self-correction back toward real-world connection."   "They've felt the costs of isolation and are rediscovering what actually leads to flourishing."   🤳 Yes, but: Plenty of young Americans are still spending countless hours on social media, with platforms facing calls to ban or restrict teen access.   Go deeper.

My kids are millennials, neither has ever done social media. One is a gamer and has a long-standing online connection to a stable community (not unlike this one I suppose).

[Tiger337]

10 hours ago, chasfh said:

Oh god, please let this be true.

1 big thing: Gen Z leads social media exodus

Some Gen Zers — ages 14 to 29 — are ditching social media in pursuit of better mental health, Axios' Rebecca Falconer reports.   It's part of a wider digital detox movement away from screens and toward analog options.   Research suggests that social media use is waning — and that more people are embracing app-blocking products and "dumbphones" that lack social media apps.   📵 Chris Wells, a self-described former "Twitter and Instagram junkie," tells Axios that he's "99% off" social media after doing a "Month Offline" challenge.   The 26-year-old says: "I didn't know who I was without my social media accounts, and when I quit, it was pretty miraculous."   "The one thing that really came back to me was a sense of privacy. I hadn't really felt that since I was a kid."   🗑️ 17-year-old Aditi Ediga deleted her phone's social media apps last fall.   Ediga says: "One reason why teenagers don't want to delete apps and stop using them is that they're scared they're going to miss out on stuff, and then I realized I wasn't really missing out on anything."   🤝 NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of a bestselling book on the effects of childhood tech use, tells Axios: "What you're seeing now, especially among Gen Z, is a self-correction back toward real-world connection."   "They've felt the costs of isolation and are rediscovering what actually leads to flourishing."   🤳 Yes, but: Plenty of young Americans are still spending countless hours on social media, with platforms facing calls to ban or restrict teen access.   Go deeper.

I like my Gen Z students.  They are smarter and more respectful than our generation was at their age.  Yes, I have a biased sample.  

[Tiger337]

7 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

My kids are millennials, neither has ever done social media. One is a gamer and has a long-standing online connection to a stable community (not unlike this one I suppose).

I would question our stability.  😀

[pfife]

Nothin but a bunch of stable geniuses here

[chasfh]

14 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I like my Gen Z students.  They are smarter and more respectful than our generation was at their age.  Yes, I have a biased sample.  

I do believe that Gen Z kids are more polite to their elders than certainly my Generation Jones cohort, and certainly more than Xers, and probably more than Millennials. I believe that's because that kind of behavior was reinforced through publicly-supported policies in schools such as anti-bullying initiatives, diversity and inclusion policies, focus on mental health wellness, and probably some others I'm not thinking of. They were taught to be more empathetic than we were when we were growing up, and I think it shows in their encounters with us grownups.

I'm more concerned about the tail-end of Gen Alpha (b. 2020+) and the following Gen Betas (or whatever the next generation will be called), who may end up being educated within a Trumpian dog-eat-dog tough-guy regime that respects only people of means and power, and disregards everyone else as expendable.

[Tiger337]

2 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I do believe that Gen Z kids are more polite to their elders than certainly my Generation Jones cohort, and certainly more than Xers, and probably more than Millennials. I believe that's because that kind of behavior was reinforced through publicly-supported policies in schools such as anti-bullying initiatives, diversity and inclusion policies, focus on mental health wellness, and probably some others I'm not thinking of. They were taught to be more empathetic than we were when we were growing up, and I think it shows in their encounters with us grownups.

I'm more concerned about the tail-end of Gen Alpha (b. 2020+) and the following Gen Betas (or whatever the next generation will be called), who may end up being educated within a Trumpian dog-eat-dog tough-guy regime that respects only people of means and power, and disregards everyone else as expendable.

I agree with this.  Norms of behavior change over time and are often driven by public figures such as entertainers and politicians.  The president, as a representative of the United States, certainly has a role in shaping that behavior.  I hear a lot of Trump suuporters say that his personailty and bahevior don't matter as long as he "gets things done".  I have told Republican friends about the importance of the president as a role model and they say it doesn't matter and that children's morals and ethics come from the church.  That's right, the same church that supports everything Trump does! 

Don't worry, I also make it clear to them that his policies suck as much as his personality.