Comment on Parents used to warn their kids that literature would rot their brains. Then it was the radio, TV, and video games. Now it's TikTok.

• starlinguk@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  They don't adapt, though.

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• ylph@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The kids always adapt though.

  There is a strong survivorship bias in this though. Some kids do adapt, maybe even most, but many still are harmed, and have been by unhealthy exposure to radio, television, videogames, etc. in the past. Social media is even wreaking havoc in the older generations right now.

  It’s easy to point at the survivors and the success stories and say see, there is nothing to worry about - but that’s also a bit like pointing at the lifelong smokers who do not get lung cancer as an argument against promoting non-smoking.

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• Polydextrous@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Yes, the trend of making more and more mentally disruptive technology has been continuing. Yes, capitalists have managed to make more and more effective attention/brain drains…that’s exactly what we’re saying.

  The kids “adapt” in that the world has changed and kids adapt to the world they grew up in. It doesn’t mean the above things aren’t true. It just means things change, and I dunno about you, but I don’t see things moving in the most positive direction. Angrier people, less and less able to have nuanced discussions, people becoming more entrenched and hostile about their views, more instances of thinking people with differing opinions are “evil…” I mean, shit, look how much radio has changed. From old timey radio broadcasts with the family sitting around the fire hearing tales of Redd McGibbon and Bullet to fuckin Howard stern making strippers do math so people can laugh at them and Rush Limbaugh. See what we’re saying?

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