EU: Facebook and Instagram's Infinite Scroll May Break Digital Rules

[Happy_John]

Whatever happened to discipline and self-control? Sounds like people need to act like adults and govern themselves. Kids are one thing, but adults?

If discipline and self-control were the answer, then "addiction" would not be an established clinical disorder.

Telling someone suffering from a form of addiction to "have more self-control" will not magically make the addiction disappear.

 

[DENZIE]

i hope this gets up. the travesty of socials on our society needs contraints.

 

[Brettka7]

Comments on forums and (even worse) Reddit are pretty hilarious and ironic sometimes.

I recognize a lot of of your usernames in this thread alone. Half of you have been commenting nonstop for a decade or more on this site, and I imagine this isn’t the only forum you frequent.

Why do you think MacRumors is healthier to doomscroll than Instagram?

 

[JungleNYC]

This is not the EUs call. Not even close.

Regulatory leviathan.

 

[boswald]

If discipline and self-control were the answer, then "addiction" would not be an established clinical disorder.

Telling someone suffering from a form of addiction to "have more self-control" will not magically make the addiction disappear.

We're talking about scrolling through social media, not a 12-step program for drinking or something. Maybe I just don't understand.

 

[JungleNYC]

chances of their addictive design
(from Facebook's point of view)

How dare Häagen-Dazs make their ice cream so delicious! I CAN'T CONTROL MYSELFZ!

REGULATE! REGULATE! REGULATE! SUE! SUE! SUE!

 

[Youth in Asia]

Doom scrolling ought to be illegal!

 

[Happy_John]

Comments on forums and (even worse) Reddit are pretty hilarious and ironic sometimes.

I recognize a lot of of your usernames in this thread alone. Half of you have been commenting nonstop for a decade or more on this site, and I imagine this isn’t the only forum you frequent.

Why do you think MacRumors is healthier to doomscroll than Instagram?

Very true.

Limiting doom-scrolling and compulsive rabbit-holing to one platform can be a good strategy though. Containment. Hovering around one septic tank is better than hovering around a multitude of them. And the sampler and more topic-specific that specific tank is, the better, as the rest of your life stays unaffected.

In that sense, a forum is a little better, or at least is "less" worse then general topic platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc.

 

[Youth in Asia]

God bless EU!

 

[Smith288]

Too many tech companies ignoring responsibility for consequences caused by their products.

This is such nanny bs it's insane. Like, I get responsibilities to not show gore, nsfw, etc.... But ANYTHING can be addictive. Anything can cause issues with people if its a good product.

I dont like Meta but its so insane to me they can just sit there and say "parents are too dumb to use the tools of the platform". That's a serious indictment on society as a whole more than Meta.

 

[Happy_John]

How dare Häagen-Dazs make their ice cream so delicious! I CAN'T CONTROL MYSELFZ!

REGULATE! REGULATE! REGULATE! SUE! SUE! SUE!

Food products are already regulated, and that is a very good thing.

 

[Doug.J]

Very true.

Limiting doom-scrolling and compulsive rabbit-holing to one platform can be a good strategy though. Containment. Hovering around one septic tank is better than hovering around a multitude of them. And the sampler and more topic-specific that specific tank is, the better, as the rest of your life stays unaffected.

In that sense, a forum is a little better, or at least is "less" worse then general topic platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc.

Social media also has algorithms that curate content you like (social media bubble) to ensure more engagement. That is the other danger, you only see content you relate to and miss the facts.

How to fix it is a much bigger debate.

 

[Banan911]

Yes, but it is absurd to expect corporations to police themselves in the interest of the general public, and it is also obvious that overuse of social media and compulsive consumption of slop is harmful to the general public, so, much as regulation may seem distasteful, doing nothing except shrugging one's shoulders is not going to achieve anything except more of the same.

Corporations are not answerable to the general public. Governments are. That people do not hold their governments up to answerability is not the same as they cannot.

Giving corporations more control over your life than an elected government is also absurd. Turkeys voting for Christmas.

Depends on how you look at things. In many parts of the world it’s not absurd that corporations take part and has interest in society and the general public.

I know it seems weird in very capitalist countries like the US for example, but there’s an entire world outside the US where culture and ethics are very different. Hence that’s why EU and previously also Australia wants to regulate Meta

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

The guv’ment is taking on scrolleosis

 

[iisdan]

Why is the government deciding for me how I must be healthy. I love scrolling endlessly, its my choice as an adult to spend my time looking at brainrot to relax after a long day of thinking and suffering

 

[Corefile]

How long is a document in M$ Word allowed to be in the EU then? Also, how long can a webpage be before it falls foul of the rules? 100 lines long? 1000? 10K??? You tell us, EU.

 

[Happy_John]

Depends on how you look at things. In many parts of the world it’s not absurd that corporations take part and has interest in society and the general public.

I know it seems weird in very capitalist countries like the US for example, but there’s an entire world outside the US where culture and ethics are very different. Hence that’s why EU and previously also Australia wants to regulate Meta

I'm most definitely not based in the USA.

The fact remains that corporations are answerable to their shareholders, but a democratic government is answerable to the electorate.

The general population, ie, the taxpayer, is the shareholder of the country. So the general public have far more agency with regards government than they do with corporations.

Fundamentally, in a democratic system, you are the boss of the government. You are never the boss of a corporation, you are simply and consumer.

 

[mikebenton]

Two completely different mindsets - 1) It is the responsibility of the government to control how long I can browse a feed. 2) People should have the liberty to do what they want, as long as it doesn't impede on the liberties of others.

Watching tv all day doesn't seem productive. Are tv's next? Is the government going to limit how much time someone can watch tv? Companies have 'the urge' to make tv shows that make you want to watch them. They are very addictive. I think the EU should fine all tv manufacturers, shows, networks, services - 6% of their earnings.

How about that chocolate company? They just kept making that delicious chocolate bar knowing full well that it is making people fat. They should know better! The government should fine all chocolate companies 10% of their revenue for the hundreds of years of inexcusable abuse!

In fact, we should fine every company that contributes to any bad decision I have made in my life!

I am convinced this is the business model of the EU - to just sit around and dream up ways to collect money from any industry making money. Want to cover the salaries for those new DEI executives and that new EU office in Paris? Let's just fine Meta a few hundred million dollars for some rule that we just made up! Makes sense.

 

[Youth in Asia]

Food products are already regulated, and that is a very good thing.

The American mind has been moulded to respond negatively when the topic of regulation is discussed. Have you seen Dave Rubin's take on building code regulations?

 

[vantelimus]

Whatever happened to discipline and self-control? Sounds like people need to act like adults and govern themselves. Kids are one thing, but adults?

This isn't a matter of discipline and self-control. It is based on an understanding of typical human behavior. We should abandon the assumption that adults who develop compulsive or harmful patterns of use are morally deficient. Psychologically manipulative design should be universally recognized as unfair practice.

 

[Happy_John]

The American mind has been moulded to respond negatively when the topic of regulation is discussed. Have you seen Dave Rubin's take on building code regulations?

Everyone hates regulations, in the same way "everyone hates police".

Everyone hates police until they need them. Everyone hates regulations until those regulations prevent someone or something else harming them personally.

It's a very hypocritical attitude, to dismiss something until it is personally beneficial, and then demand the very thing that they've been criticizing.

 

[Minato1990]

Too much government

Nah
For this case its needed
Its like you saying too much government for making crack illegal
Are you for crack DesertNomad?!!

 

[Shalev Lazarof]

Social media of any form is cancer to humanity.

 

[neo_cs193p]

The formulation is misleading. It's not that their optimizations could lead to compulsive and addictive behavior. It should lead to compulsive and addictive behavior. It's intentional and by design.

 

[Someyoungguy]

I'm going to get hate for this but this just shows how out of touch the EU is:

"did not adequately assess the risks of their addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults."

While I know addictive design is a thing, you can't expect every app maker out there to do some kind of risk assessment, it's just ridiculous to even think about it. The onus is on the end user to regulate themselves with whatever hobby they have.

I would say that they absolutely assessed the risks, and that's why it is addictive. It all serves a purpose. So yeah, they are responsible for curbing it.