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Tag Archives: Social Media
Who decides what is acceptable speech on social media platforms? – YouTube
Who decides what is acceptable speech on social media platforms? – YouTube
4,885 views, Oct 10, 2022
There are questions once again about the future of Twitter and what it should and should not allow online. Specifically, how far should the company go when it comes to permitting free speech? What should be taken down when it comes to misinformation? And does the company adequately guard against hatemongering speech? Charlie Warzel joined William Brangham to discuss.
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The High Cost of Living Your Life Online | WIRED
Constantly posting content on social media can erode your privacy—and sense of self.
By Thor Benson Security, Oct 3, 2022 7:00 AM

To be online is to be constantly exposed. While it may seem normal, it’s a level of exposure we’ve never dealt with before as human beings. We’re posting on Twitter, and people we’ve never met are responding with their thoughts and criticisms. People are looking at your latest Instagram selfie. They’re literally swiping on your face. Messages are piling up. It can sometimes feel like the whole world has its eyes on you.
Being observed by so many people appears to have significant psychological effects. There are, of course, good things about this ability to connect with others. It was crucial during the height of the pandemic when we couldn’t be close to our loved ones, for example. However, experts say there are also numerous downsides, and these may be more complex and persistent than we realize.
Studies have found that high levels of social media use are connected with an increased risk of symptoms of anxiety and depression. There appears to be substantial evidence connecting people’s mental health and their online habits. Furthermore, many psychologists believe people may be dealing with psychological effects that are pervasive but not always obvious.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/privacy-psychology-social-media/
Why Social Media Makes People Unhappy–And Simple Ways To Fix It | Scientific American
Research suggests platform designs make us lose track of time spent on them and can heighten conflicts, and then we feel upset with ourselves
By Daisy Yuhas, June 20, 2022

Disrupted sleep, lower life satisfaction and poor self-esteem are just a few of the negative mental health consequences that research has linked to social media.
Somehow the same platforms that can help people feel more connected and knowledgeable also contribute to loneliness and disinformation.
What succeeds and fails, computer scientists argue, is a function of how these platforms are designed.
Amanda Baughan, a graduate student specializing in human-computer interaction, a subfield of computer science, at the University of Washington, believes that interdisciplinary research could inform better social platforms and apps. At the 2022 Association for Computing Machinery Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in May, she presented findings from a recent project that explored how social media triggers what psychologists call “dissociation,” or a state of reduced self-reflection and narrowed attention.
Baughan spoke with Mind Matters editor Daisy Yuhas to explain how and why apps need to change to give the people who use them greater power.
Source: Why Social Media Makes People Unhappy–And Simple Ways To Fix It – Scientific American
Parents of the social media generation are not OK – CNN
By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN Business
Video by John General, Janelle Gonzalez & Sofia Barrett, CNN Business
Updated 7:16 AM ET, Wed December 8, 2021

(CNN Business) Last September, just a few weeks into the school year, Sabine Polak got a call from the guidance counselor. Her 14-year-old daughter was struggling with depression and had contemplated suicide.
“I was completely floored,” said Polak, 45, who lives in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. “I had no clue she was even feeling remotely down at all. When I asked her about it, she just kept saying she wanted to get away from it all … but I didn’t know what that meant.”
Instagram will now tell users when to take a break from using the app After taking her to a crisis center, which banned phone use for anyone checking in, Polak learned from her daughter that the pressures of social media were driving her increased anxiety. The main source of stress: waiting for her friends to open and respond to messages and photos on Snapchat.
Source: Parents of the social media generation are not OK – CNN
It’s Not Misinformation. It’s Amplified Propaganda. – The Atlantic
You don’t need fake accounts to spread ampliganda online. Real people will happily do it.

One Sunday morning in July of last year, a message from an anonymous account appeared on “Bernie or Vest,” a Discord chat server for fans of Senator Bernie Sanders.
It contained an image of Shahid Buttar, the San Francisco activist challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the 2020 congressional runoff, and offered explicit instructions for how to elevate the hashtag #PelosiMustGo to the nationwide Trending list on Twitter.
“Shahid Says…,” read the large print, “Draft some tweets with #PelosiMustGo—don’t forget to capitalize #EachWord. Don’t use more than two hashtags—otherwise you’ll be marked as spam.” The call to action urged people to start posting at noon Pacific time, attach their favorite graphics, and like and retweet other Buttar supporters’ contributions.
Source: It’s Not Misinformation. It’s Amplified Propaganda. – The Atlantic
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