Kids Don’t Think Congress Has Their Best Interests In Mind With Their Grandstanding ‘Protect The Children’ Hearing
from the the-kids-are-alright dept
We’ve covered a few stories this week related to the Senate hearing on “kids safety” and there’s going to be a lot more in the coming weeks as those same Senators grandstand and yell about “protect the children!” and generally make fools of themselves. I think Casey Newton’s summary of the spectacle is about right:
But while Congress is generally more educated on tech subjects today than it was when the backlash began in 2017, the hearings still play out much as they did at the beginning: with outraged lawmakers scolding, questioning, and interrupting their witnesses for hours on end, while bills that might address their concerns continue to languish without ever being passed. With so little of substance accomplished, the press can only comment on the spectacle: of the loudest protesters, the harshest insults, and the tensest exchanges.
The whole thing is theater, not legislating (and certainly not for educating our lawmakers).
And while there were some children used as props by the lawmakers, it’s interesting to hear that an awful lot of kids seem dubious that Congress actually has their interests at heart.
There’s a great piece in the Washington Post by Taylor Lorenz, looking at what actual kids have been saying about these bills… and they don’t seem particularly supportive.
“These senators don’t actually care about protecting kids, they just want to control information,” one teenager posted. “If congress wants to protect children, they should pass a … privacy law,” another teenager said. Others in the server accused the lawmakers of “trying to demonize the CEOs to push their … bills,” which were often described with profanity.
[….]
“The internet allows people to see different ideas,” said Nathan, a 15-year old in New York who agreed to speak to The Post on the condition that they be identified only by their first name. “They can hear different ideas. They can learn about LGBT people. They can see so many things. These bills are created to censor and hide children. They are created to cut people off from the outside world.”
Nathan, who is nonbinary, said the internet helped them overcome an eating disorder. They worried the information that helped them would no longer be accessible if social media platforms were required to wall off certain topics such as eating disorders.
The most poignant quote in the article to me was this one:
“Every person who claims to care about kids online is ignoring the fact that the internet is the only space left for kids,” May said. “In real life, you’re dealing with mass shooters, no public spaces that are free and nearby. Nobody has money to go hang out at a mall or anything.”
I keep bringing up the study from last year in the Journal of Pediatrics, mainly because it strongly suggests a leading cause of the mental health crisis we see today is that kids no longer have spaces they can go to hang out with other kids without parents hovering over them at all times. Social media has become that space for many kids… so of course, adults are trying to shut it down.
Filed Under: congress, kids online, kosa, mental health, protect the children, senate
Comments on “Kids Don’t Think Congress Has Their Best Interests In Mind With Their Grandstanding ‘Protect The Children’ Hearing”
have fun with this
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/child-health.htm
HOW are these folks ascertaining Childhood DAMAGE?
HOW are they measuring and Getting these IDEAS?
Considering that LGBT, tend to be <10% of the population? WHY are these people worried?
Do they think its contagious?
Is it going to COST them money?? Go look at what other nations have DONE(NOT THE MIDDLE EAST)(unless you want to BE like them?)
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They’re not “worried.” Fascism works by attacking vulnerable outgroups. Fascism is not an ends. Fascism is a means.
They want to make sure they can pacify the rabble by letting them kick around queers.
Re: Re: Suggest a better word
Then Fascism, if you are talking about the People. As that is for Specific persons and groups.
And if yo0u talk about the Bible Thumpers, REMIND them that the bible SAYS, GOD CREATED EVERYONE.
So, whats the problem? converting then enslaving isnt bad enough to be Christian?
I would like to resurrect a classic from the Evil Overlord List.
It's all theater
As has been pointed out on this site, many studies have shown that an overwhelming number of kids actually enjoy social media. Yes, it’s terrible that some kids took their lives after they went on social media, hut that’s a tragic minority.
Why is Congress so set on dragging social media CEO’s into hearings and trying to hold them responsible yet not one gun company CEO has ever been investigated for their participation in school shootings. If a social media site is “responsible” for a death of a child, then gun companies should be responsible for mass shootings.
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When lawmakers attack the First Amendment, they get yelled at; when lawmakers attack the Second Amendment, they get shot at.
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And they way things have been going, it may not be long till lawmakers who defend the First Amendment get shot at, too.
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As if Jan 6 wasn’t a wake-up call for America…
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It was — but America’s response has mostly been to keep slapping that snooze button.
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Any many studies provide direct evidence that social media—particularly Instagram—is a cause, not just a correlate, of bad mental health, especially in teen girls and young women.
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[citation needed]
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Here you go, goober:
Haidt, J., Rausch, Z., & Twenge, J. (ongoing). Social media and mental health: A collaborative review. Unpublished manuscript, New York University. Accessed at https://tinyurl.com/SocialMediaMentalHealthReview.
Be sure to actually read the studies and the critiques contained therein.
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An unpublished university report has not been peer reviewed, and if not on a p reprint server, not offered for review. As such it is mere hearsay when using it to support an augment, and citing it suggests you are scraping the bottom of the barrel to find support for your position.
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Twenge is is a familoar name.
She’s that fraud who openly boasted to NPR how much she massaged and cherry-picked her data she until she got something ahe could claim fit the predetermined conclusion of her new book she was prompting.
Nice job admitting you don’t actually have any legitimate citations, troll.
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That working document, somewhat famously, is not actually proof of what you claim. It is a collection of pretty much all the research found to date, not one of which proves a causal relationship, and many of which show no relationship at all (or a reverse relationship). Some suggest there might be a causal relationship, and some suggest no evidence of such a causal relationship. But none prove a causal relationship.
While Haidt has published elsewhere his belief that social media is harming kids, it was based on a very flawed understanding of the data and statistics, as was pointed out by a statistician.
https://reason.com/2023/03/29/the-statistically-flawed-evidence-that-social-media-is-causing-the-teen-mental-health-crisis/
As that statistician notes:
So… no… your “evidence” does not show what you say it shows.
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Mike, you’re a shill for the tech industry, funded by the very companies and their business partners that you now manifest such exuberance to defend.
It’s unsurprising that you ignore the evidence that undermines your propaganda to instead emphasize any data could be used to excuse social media for the suffering being wrought upon our vulnerable children and young people.
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…hallucinated nobody mentally competent, ever.
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Someone was too stupid to understand what was said and instead went “reeeee, shill!!!”
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The sourness of your grapes has been duely noted.
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Could you point to them?
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Studies as thorough and reputable as those from any antivaxxer, you mean.
Re: Re: So is
Going to SCHOOL and being picked on.
Pointed at
Talk behind your back
And a Huge amount of other things, that HAPPENS TO TEENS.
AND the internet is LIKE YOUR PHONE, CLICK, I dont have to listen to the crap..
UNTIL YOU GO BACK TO SCHOOL..
So where do you think the problem IS?
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“Any many studies provide direct evidence that social media—particularly Instagram—is a cause, not just a correlate, of bad mental health, especially in teen girls and young women.”
Is social media the cause? If one were to remove social media would the problem go away? Of course not, so it is not the root cause. You are not going legislate society in to the perfect beings you envision.
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It’s not just stuff about children. The title could just as well be “Americans Don’t Think Congress Has Their Best Interests In Mind With Their Grandstanding”. They’ve done it regarding guns too, even if the executives weren’t there. It’s all theater.
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They’re kids
And their opinions should have no weight in deciding public policy. No matter how “poignant“ or stupid or smart those opinions might be.
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That’s like saying “trans people, who would be affected by laws targeting trans people, should have no weight in deciding public policy regarding trans people”. Children absolutely should have a say in public policy if they’re old enough to understand the issues and express an informed opinion about them. I mean, do you think children should only matter to the political process when they’re quiet pawns for “think of the children” lawmaking?
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Given that by the very nature of their diagnosis “trans people” are seriously mentally ill and disconnected from fundamental aspects of our shared reality, of course they should have no active, direct influence on policy-making.
You don’t let unelected crazy people make laws that effect all of society.
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Projection, thy name is Hyman.
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Translation: “I think trans people should have their bodily autonomy stripped from them until they agree to live as I demand they live for the sake of my personal comfort.”
Response: “Fuck you.”
Obscene Gesture: 🖕
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Translation: “I think trans people should have their bodily autonomy stripped from them until they agree to live as I demand they live for the sake of my personal comfort.”
How positively republican of them.
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Someone want to censor a whole group of people out of existence.
How positively Nazi of you..
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So, why’d you vote for Donald Trump, then? he’s “crazy” enough to be disqaulified for the role, and no, we’re not talking about his failed insurrection or his legal cases…
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Note: There’s zero evidence of intelligent life behind any of LittleCupcakes’ other posts, either.
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hello lowlife troll loser
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Does that shut up and do what I say apply to teenagers? Kids using social media are entering the stage of their life when they have to learn to be independent, and start making significant decisions, like choices that will influence their future careers..
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Many elected officials are greedy, sociopathic idiots who should have no weight in deciding public policy, but here we are…
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If you’re gonna protect the kids, it would be wise to ask about how they feel about a proposed law…
I mean, it IS going to affect them and there’s no harm in asking them.
Again, you sure you aren’t going to force them into working in hazardous places?
You sound like you’d make then work in meatpacking plants, coal mines, fight your damn wars and insurrections…
I asked this before but having read the WP article as a brit watching this it’s hard for me not to think it will pass particularly when the article said it has support from half the senate (and yes I did read the part about the house), after this has anyone experienced in watching this sort of thing got any predictions of if it will ultimately pass or not?
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i don’t think it will
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I should have been more specific, do you think it won’t pass the senate or the house?
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Doubtful on the house.
Our politicians have become so obvious even children can see through them.
That just means the kids are growing up enough to discover what we discovered long ago: Congress does not have anyone’s interests in mind but their own.
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Indeed, now that the Senate realizes even the kids are wising up to them, they’ve seemingly made it a priority to launch culture wars to keep kids as uninformed as possible, to curb their knowledge of how democracy and fundamental human rights work before their perspectives, energy, and influence can sway public opinion and policy away from the politicians currently in power.
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i think that’s back firing
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See also: Vivek Ramaswamy expressing a desire to raise the minimum voting age to 25 during his (ultimately failed) campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Since parents, or at least the culture and economy as a whole, have removed or failed to provide the spaces children (not a homogenous group, differs very much by age) need to be kids, then maybe they should go all out on their structured activity shit and be with their kids online. It’s not hard. You don’t even have to drive them anywhere. Online playdates for all. Since you’re so damned concerned.
Of course, not everyone is this concerned, even less if they don’t get infected by the moral panic theatre disinformation. Maybe… it is far, far less than a majority?
This hearing was so unproductive and unprofessional, I’m honestly shocked that they didn’t have a fruit stand nearby for tomato throwing.
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Mike, you keep bringing it up because it supports your narrative.
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His “narrative” being what you call the honest facts…
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His narrative that the evidence is not strong enough to support the very reasonable claim that social media is harmful to young people.
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If the evidence doesn’t support the claim, the claim is unreasonable by default.
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Thus far, I have seen three core pillars that support claims of social media harming minors, based on reviewing multiple multiple sources provided by trolls:
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The problem there is that there’s plenty of examples of “adults” falling for the same stuff. Those things are problems, but it’s arguable that kids who grew up online are sometimes better at dealing with such things than people who got to middle age before they got there.
Then, if adult voters are being manipulated by lies and pensioners are being fooled into giving their savings away, maybe there’s a better way to deal with things other than “for the children”.
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…hallucinated nobody mentally competent, ever.
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Sure, buddy.
I bet you think social interactions in general are harmful to children as well.
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Here is another claim, that needs research, and it is other children through bullying that harm some children, and that those bullies are their peers at school or their neighbourhood. Stopping children using the Internet does not protect them from those bullies.
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As someone who was a longtime victim of childhood bullying during the 1980s and 1990s, I can confirm that yes, bullies gonna bully regardless of whether the Internet is a thing.
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There was that recent story where a teen girl’s worst anonymous online bully was her own mother.
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I will not apologize for bringing facts to a discussion in which most of the actual narrative is driven by moral panics and FUD.
I don’t bring it up because it supports a narrative. I bring it up because it is some of the evidence that debunks the widely believed narrative.
That’s what journalists do. They bring facts. If you want to dispute this, you are free to present your evidence.
As usual, many adults think the safest place for kids is in their prison called “childhood.” And the best thing to be done for them is to sentence them to solitary confinement (so that all the pain from “living” doesn’t get them down). Yep, there’s no safer place than being locked in a room where no one can talk to you, or notice you, or ever really think about you again.
How dare those kids think they know better?!
Politicians: Look at Doing Something For The Children, why we’re going to Protect The Children in so many amazing ways so you should definitely support us!
Actual Kids: Actually what you’re trying to do is very much not what we want and will just make things worse for us so-
Politicians: You shut up when we’re using you as props!
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Look, I’m going to wear a dress and enter the girl’s bathroom, kiss another boy and adopt a rock, and no fucking boomer who still believes in an imaginary sky friend is going to stop me.
You might have Trump on your side, but I’ve got someone who kicks much more ass, Stephen T Fucking Stone!
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Does everything revolve around your sexuality?
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I am not on your “side”, and I’ll thank you to stop acting as if you’ve earned the privilege of being associated with me.
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How do you manage to make this caricature sound so upbeat yet so disturbing?
It’s like ordering a pizza and the delivery guy shows up in a tux. But then he hands you an incorrect pizza with all the toppings being vaguely related to what you actually asked for.
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TL;DR: “Here’s your pooperoni pizza” said with a shit-eating grin.
They're looking at it wrong
Zuck himself said it right at the outset, “The dumb fucks” are posting their real identity.
If everyone became anonymous online then no one can be abused in real life.
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The problem is that when online you do not remain anonymous to your peer groups, like class mates, and not being online does not help when they will bully you for that as well.
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Yep, that would need fixed too. Basically, social media as we know it would cease. And the ad industry also needs rewired along the way. The tracking isn’t any more acceptable than the abuses.
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Does it matter what the kids think? They don’t get to make any of the decisions. And they’re too busy doing nothing but complaining online about these decisions for a few minutes a week before moving on to something else instead of anything that would give them some manner of control over them.
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Spoken like someone who views kids as property instead of people.
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Remember that when you are old and decrepit and all the “kids” ignore anything you say.
After all, they learned that behavior from stupid people like you.
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Yes.
Kids would prefer to work in safe conditions and not get fucking injured in a meatpacking plant, for one…
I mean, even if you want to economically exploit children, you’d still want to develop them to their fullest economic potential before exploiting them, you know…
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dumbass troll
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Aww, look at you all jealous that literal children are far more cognitively developed and mature than you.