birdwatcher (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
birdwatcher) wrote2026-01-29 08:34 pm
birdwatcher) wrote2026-01-29 08:34 pm
Fucking A
Eli Stark-Elster -- School is way worse for kids than social media.
Like the politicians behind this (запрет соцсетей для детей) wave of legislation, let’s temporarily ignore the evidence. In fact, I want to make up some data from scratch.
For instance: did you know that daily social media use increases the likelihood a child will commit suicide by 12-18%? Or that teenagers are far more likely to visit the ER for psychiatric problems if they have an Instagram account? Or that a child’s amount of social media use, past a certain threshold, correlates exponentially with poorer sleep, lower reported wellbeing, and more severe mental health symptoms?
If that was all true for social media — and again, none of it is — you and I both would agree that people under 16 or so should not have access to platforms like Instagram or Snapchat. Imagine allowing your child to enter any system that would make them 12-18% more likely to kill themselves. That would be insane. You wouldn’t let your kid anywhere near that system, and the public would protest until it was eliminated once for all.
Great. So let’s get rid of school.
Like the politicians behind this (запрет соцсетей для детей) wave of legislation, let’s temporarily ignore the evidence. In fact, I want to make up some data from scratch.
For instance: did you know that daily social media use increases the likelihood a child will commit suicide by 12-18%? Or that teenagers are far more likely to visit the ER for psychiatric problems if they have an Instagram account? Or that a child’s amount of social media use, past a certain threshold, correlates exponentially with poorer sleep, lower reported wellbeing, and more severe mental health symptoms?
If that was all true for social media — and again, none of it is — you and I both would agree that people under 16 or so should not have access to platforms like Instagram or Snapchat. Imagine allowing your child to enter any system that would make them 12-18% more likely to kill themselves. That would be insane. You wouldn’t let your kid anywhere near that system, and the public would protest until it was eliminated once for all.
Great. So let’s get rid of school.