PinnedSocial Media HarmsHighlighting Studies that Big Tech Doesn’t Want You to See — In the history of technology, social media platforms have been around for a relatively short time. Per Sinan Aral in his book, “The Hype Machine i”, digital social networks have been around since at least 2002 with the founding of Friendster. In the intervening 20 years, social media platforms and…Mental Health Awareness4 min readMental Health Awareness4 min read
Pinned4 Reasons to Delete Your Facebook AccountMeta’s Feed algorithm promotes the posts of anxious and/or depressed users, misinformation, and violence — Facebook whistleblower Francis Haugen revealed many dark secrets both in the Facebook Papers and in various interviews, with the most interesting information coming from the Center for Humane Technology’s Your Undivided Attention podcast. These revelations and the response from Meta’s C-suite executives made the following points clear:Social Media3 min readSocial Media3 min read
Published inSocial Media Harms·15 hours agoProtecting Our Children: A Survivor Parent’s Arguments Supporting the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) of 2023It’s Time to Give Parents, Teens and Children more control over their online experiences — On October 10, 2017, I received an urgent call at work from my husband. Come home now. Little did I know that Alex had not gone to school as expected — instead, he stayed home and died by suicide. I knew that he was upset over the ending of a…Kids Online Safety Act5 min readKids Online Safety Act5 min read
Published inSocial Media Harms·Dec 27, 20222022 in Online Harms PreventionOne Person’s Story Can Have A Big Impact — This article highlights the activities of people who understood social media’s downsides and took action to prevent them. They persevered despite derision from academic and technology circles who implied that their concept of harms resulting from online activities were “overblown concerns..that lacked evidence.” Highly publicized academic studies published in 2022…20225 min read20225 min read
Oct 31, 2022I've said it before and I'll say it again: killing my FB account years ago was one of the best…893Charles Lewis IIIGreat article! I also deleted my FB account a couple of years ago.Great article! I also deleted my FB account a couple of years ago. If you ever write a Medium article on this experience, I will gladly add it to my "People Who Deleted Their Social Media Accounts and Still Have Careers and Social Lives" List.1 min read1 min read
Published inSocial Media Harms·Oct 13, 2022Teen’s Death, North London U.K. Coroner Finds Social Media “Contributed More than Minimally” to Her DeathInstagram and Pinterest Algorithms Promoted Harmful, Unrequested Content, Encouraged Binge Watching at Crucial Time — Warning: This article contains information that may be disturbing to some readers. If you have thoughts of harming yourself, please don’t. You are not alone. Help is available. In the U.S., call 988, the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. In the U.K., help is available at Papyrus and the Molly…Teens And Social Media3 min readTeens And Social Media3 min read
Published inSocial Media Harms·Jul 28, 2022Bipartisan Legislation Protecting Minors Online Approved by U.S. Senate Commerce CommitteeKids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and Children and Teens Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Forwarded to Senate Majority Leader Schumer For Next Steps The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved both KOSA and COPPA on July 22, 2022. …Kids And Tech2 min readKids And Tech2 min read
Published inSocial Media Harms·Jul 23, 2022Senate Commerce Committee Decides Future of Children’s Online Privacy & Safety Regulations on Wednesday, July 27, 2022Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and Children and Teens Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Subject of Mark-Up Session — Action Needed Now — Summer is a busy time, but if you care about the online privacy and safety of children and teens in the US, you need to take action before Wednesday, July 27, 2022. For the first time since 1998, when the internet was taking its first baby steps, online privacy and…Parents2 min readParents2 min read
Jul 18, 2022That could be the case of the bot named kentucky_96, whose interests were “sadness” and “depression”. It stopped and rewatched more and more videos related to those topics and TikTok began to show increasingly more similar content. That could perfectly reflect the behavior of a 13-yo kid that’s living through a hard time.TikTok Is the Perfect Social Media — Here’s Why You Should Delete It2712Alberto Romero"began to show increasingly more similar content."began to show increasingly more similar content. That could perfectly reflect the behavior of a 13-yo kid that’s living through a hard time." I was going to write another article about TikTok, but you've done such a thorough job, that I am simply going to refer people with questions to your article. Thank you for highlighting the dangers of the "For You" feed. Bytedance/TikTok obviously has a long way to go to make their platform safe for its users.1 min read1 min read
Published inSocial Media Harms·Jun 14, 2022100 Organizations Support the Kids Online Safety Act (S 3663) (KOSA)Fairplay’s Screentime Action Network Continues to Fight for Kids & Teens Online Safety & Mental Health — Over 100 organizations across the country urged @SenatorCantwell & @SenatorWicker to take action for kids’ #mentalhealth online. Help @fairplayforkids, @EDCoalition, @MentalHealthAm & @APA pass the Kids Online Safety Act. Take Action Here: fairplayforkids.org/kosa. Although the push by not-for-profit organizations Avaaz, Parents Together and Fairplay’s, Screentime Action Network fell short to…Children And Technology4 min readChildren And Technology4 min read
