Coroner Lists Instagram Algorithm As Contributing Cause of UK Teen's Death (arstechnica.com) 49
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In a London court this week, coroner Andrew Walker had the difficult task of assessing a question that child safety advocates have been asking for years: How responsible is social media for the content algorithms feed to minors? The case before Walker involved a 14-year-old named Molly Russell, who took her life in 2017 after she viewed thousands of posts on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest promoting self-harm. At one point during the inquest, Walker described the content that Russell liked or saved in the days ahead of her death as so disturbing, the coroner said in court, that he found it "almost impossible to watch." Today, Walker concluded that Russell's death couldn't be ruled a suicide, Bloomberg reports. Instead, he described her cause of death as "an act of self-harm whilst suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content."
Bloomberg reported that Walker came to this decision based on Russell's "prolific" use of Instagram -- liking, sharing, or saving 16,300 posts in six months before her death -- and Pinterest -- 5,793 pins over the same amount of time -- combined with how the platforms catered content to contribute to Russell's depressive state. "The platforms operated in such a way using algorithms as to result, in some circumstances, of binge periods of images, video clips and text," which "romanticized acts of self-harm" and "sought to isolate and discourage discussion with those who may have been able to help," Walker said.
Following Walker's ruling, Russell's family issued a statement provided to Ars, calling it a landmark decision and saying that the court didn't even review the most disturbing content that Molly encountered. "This past fortnight has been particularly painful for our family," the Russell family's statement reads. "We're missing Molly more agonizingly than usual, but we hope that the scrutiny this case has received will help prevent similar deaths encouraged by the disturbing content that is still to this day available on social media platforms including those run by Meta." Bloomberg reports that the family's lawyer, Oliver Sanders, has requested that Walker "send instructions on how to prevent this happening again to Pinterest, Meta, the UK government, and the communications regulator." In their statement, the family pushed UK regulators to quickly pass and enforce the UK Online Safety Bill, which The New York Times reported could institute "new safeguards for younger users worldwide." Meta and Pinterest took different approaches to defend their policies. "Pinterest apologized, saying it didn't have the technology it currently has to more effectively moderate content that Molly was exposed to," reports Ars. "But Meta's head of health and well-being, Elizabeth Lagone, frustrated the family by telling the court that the content Molly viewed was considered 'safe' by Meta's standards."
"We have heard a senior Meta executive describe this deadly stream of content the platform's algorithms pushed to Molly, as 'SAFE' and not contravening the platform's policies," the Russell family wrote in their statement. "If this demented trail of life-sucking content was safe, my daughter Molly would probably still be alive." Russells' statement continued: "For the first time today, tech platforms have been formally held responsible for the death of a child. In the future, we as a family hope that any other social media companies called upon to assist an inquest follow the example of Pinterest, who have taken steps to learn lessons and have engaged sincerely and respectfully with the inquest process."
Pinterest told Ars that it is "committed to making ongoing improvements to help ensure that the platform is safe for everyone" and internally "the Coroner's report will be considered with care." Since Molly's death, Pinterest said it has taken steps to improve content moderation, including blocking more than 25,000 self-harm related search terms and, since 2019, has combined "human moderation with automated machine learning technologies to reduce policy-violating content on the platform."
Bloomberg reported that Walker came to this decision based on Russell's "prolific" use of Instagram -- liking, sharing, or saving 16,300 posts in six months before her death -- and Pinterest -- 5,793 pins over the same amount of time -- combined with how the platforms catered content to contribute to Russell's depressive state. "The platforms operated in such a way using algorithms as to result, in some circumstances, of binge periods of images, video clips and text," which "romanticized acts of self-harm" and "sought to isolate and discourage discussion with those who may have been able to help," Walker said.
Following Walker's ruling, Russell's family issued a statement provided to Ars, calling it a landmark decision and saying that the court didn't even review the most disturbing content that Molly encountered. "This past fortnight has been particularly painful for our family," the Russell family's statement reads. "We're missing Molly more agonizingly than usual, but we hope that the scrutiny this case has received will help prevent similar deaths encouraged by the disturbing content that is still to this day available on social media platforms including those run by Meta." Bloomberg reports that the family's lawyer, Oliver Sanders, has requested that Walker "send instructions on how to prevent this happening again to Pinterest, Meta, the UK government, and the communications regulator." In their statement, the family pushed UK regulators to quickly pass and enforce the UK Online Safety Bill, which The New York Times reported could institute "new safeguards for younger users worldwide." Meta and Pinterest took different approaches to defend their policies. "Pinterest apologized, saying it didn't have the technology it currently has to more effectively moderate content that Molly was exposed to," reports Ars. "But Meta's head of health and well-being, Elizabeth Lagone, frustrated the family by telling the court that the content Molly viewed was considered 'safe' by Meta's standards."
"We have heard a senior Meta executive describe this deadly stream of content the platform's algorithms pushed to Molly, as 'SAFE' and not contravening the platform's policies," the Russell family wrote in their statement. "If this demented trail of life-sucking content was safe, my daughter Molly would probably still be alive." Russells' statement continued: "For the first time today, tech platforms have been formally held responsible for the death of a child. In the future, we as a family hope that any other social media companies called upon to assist an inquest follow the example of Pinterest, who have taken steps to learn lessons and have engaged sincerely and respectfully with the inquest process."
Pinterest told Ars that it is "committed to making ongoing improvements to help ensure that the platform is safe for everyone" and internally "the Coroner's report will be considered with care." Since Molly's death, Pinterest said it has taken steps to improve content moderation, including blocking more than 25,000 self-harm related search terms and, since 2019, has combined "human moderation with automated machine learning technologies to reduce policy-violating content on the platform."
Meta is short for . . . (Score:2)
Metastasize
Yes the modern answer to everything. . . (Score:1)
Blame someone else.
Re:Yes the modern answer to everything. . . (Score:5, Insightful)
I realise this is the typical American response. And of course I'm not going to argue against that. However, some things to consider:
I remember a fascinating documentary a few years back called Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes by Jane Elliot. In a space of half a day, she breaks grown, stolid men down to tears with simple psychological tactics. It really opened my eyes to the power of suggestion. It might do the same for you, too.
So I absolutely think that there is some responsibility on the social media companies to do better.
Re:Yes the modern answer to everything. . . (Score:5, Informative)
Thank you for that reference.
Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes by Jane Elliot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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I realise this is the typical American response. And of course I'm not going to argue against that. However, some things to consider:
I remember a fascinating documentary a few years back called Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes by Jane Elliot. In a space of half a day, she breaks grown, stolid men down to tears with simple psychological tactics. It really opened my eyes to the power of suggestion. It might do the same for you, too.
So I absolutely think that there is some responsibility on the social media companies to do better.
Do the parents not also hold some responsibility?
Re:Yes the modern answer to everything. . . (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course! In my opinion, a lot of people let this kid down, including the parents. And I say that as the parent of two early-teen kids.
And of course, the judge ruled that social media "played a role", not "were responsible". So I don't think that anybody is proclaiming there are clear black and whites here.
It's interesting reading the comments below. This teenager likely did suffer from clinical depression (although I'm not a doctor, and obviously I wasn't there and am not going to presume I could make a medical diagnosis over the internet).
But this kid wasn't an isolated case. There's a lot of kids out there suffering depression. And in an era (even back in 2012!) when Target's algorithms can predict pregnancy [forbes.com] I doubt anybody could convince me that the social media companies can't detect depression in teenagers, and nudge them towards support groups instead of more toxicity.
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"nudge them towards support groups instead of more toxicity."
That's a really good idea.
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Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes by Jane Elliot. In a space of half a day, she breaks grown, stolid men down to tears with simple psychological tactics.
According to Wikipedia, the "simple psychological tactics" consist of "a withering regime of humiliation and contempt."
It really opened my eyes to the power of suggestion.
Abuse and humiliation of a captive audience, who were required to participate by their employers, who couldn't turn it off or walk away, has little to do with "the power of suggestion."
Jane Elliott - Workplace diversity training [wikipedia.org]
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According to Wikipedia, the "simple psychological tactics" consist of "a withering regime of humiliation and contempt."
Abuse and humiliation of a captive audience, who were required to participate by their employers, who couldn't turn it off or walk away, has little to do with "the power of suggestion."
Jane Elliott - Workplace diversity training [wikipedia.org]
The wikipedia article failed to mention that this is the same kind of abuse that non-white people used to encounter in the workplace in the 1960s and 1970s. The only difference is that it was far more pervasive and socially acceptable.
Re: Yes the modern answer to everything. . . (Score:2)
I definitely would reserve some blame for social media platforms. They've demonstrated a willingness to manipulate the flow of content when it suits their politics.
However, parents don't have to give smartphones to their children. If they must, they can ask the shop or tech support to help lock it down to block or limit social media use.
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Actually it's the typical Slashdot response - half read a summary, misinterpret it and go off in full outrage based on your misperceptions.
The coroner didn't say that Facebook was THE cause. he said it was A contributing factor (not the only one, but one of several).
It's easy to draw parallels. For example:
Yes, obese people could control their intake and exercise more, but some physically/emotionall cannot.
Saying that having a diet full of foods swimming in growth hormones, sugar and corn syrup is a
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"the UK does have some good food standards "
I wonder, is "rye bread" required to have rye in it?
That's not the case in the US.
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I realise this is the typical American response. And of course I'm not going to argue against that. However, some things to consider:
And now picture that this 14 yr old girl felt so alone that she thought that death was preferable to continued life.
Now whilst social media isn't innocent, it's not really the one who should shoulder most of the blame here. It does fall on the parents, and the village that someone thought their best option was to take their own life. The problem is it's not "PC" (oh do I hate that word) to blame parents for their failures even when said failures are obvious. So we coddle them by blaming comic books, musi
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"It does fall on the parents, "
More than you might think. Genetics turns out to be far more important in determining life trajectory than just about anything else.
Not that we can do much about it. People don't even want to talk about it.
http://faculty.econ.ucdavis.ed... [ucdavis.edu]
What amazed me about this article is that human mating is not random, people somehow pick out partners with very high genetic correlation. How they do that is utterly unknown.
Re: Yes the modern answer to everything. . . (Score:2)
No kidding.
Not my fault because ________
Yeah, surely that's the prob: they need educating (Score:4, Insightful)
Oliver Sanders, has requested that Walker "send instructions on how to prevent this happening again to Pinterest, Meta, the UK government, and the communications regulator."
The UK government and the communications regulator might need instructions. But Pinterest, Facebook and all the other nasty social media sumbitches already know how to avoid harming their viewers, have known for years, and they're not interested because it reduces engagement.
Oh and by the way, this bears repeating: it's not Meta, it's FACEBOOK. Meta is the name Facebook hides behind to make you forget it's really plain old nasty toxic Facebook behind it, and to dodge taxes. Please say FACEBOOK, not Meta whenever possible. Don't validate their scam.
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But Pinterest, Facebook and all the other nasty social media sumbitches already know how to avoid harming their viewers, have known for years, and they're not interested because it reduces engagement.
That's horseshit, mate.
As long as the harm-leading-to-lower-engagement is less than the boost in engagement otherwise, they don't give a shit.
Think of the children! (Score:1)
Think about that for a moment; we are about to create a new class of material which is legal to discuss with your friends in a bar but can't be posted online, all because some guy didn't take enough notice of his daughter to realize she was depressed until it was too late.
Sigh... (Score:2, Funny)
But the problem is that a person who cancels themselves usually has other problems. Like clinical depression. A small outside chance that she was in some sort of trouble like pregnancy. My money is on depression.
the accusation that social media directly caused her suicide is similar to the idea that video games make people violent. Or that the Beatles and their song "Helter Skelter" was the proximate cause of the murders that Charles Manson and his
Involuntary act when Pain exceeds Coping Resources (Score:5, Interesting)
... is a useful model for reducing suicide. See the book "Out of the Nightmare" discussed here (along with other resources on wellness I put together):
https://github.com/pdfernhout/... [github.com]
"Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain. That's all it's about. You are not a bad person, or crazy, or weak, or flawed, because you feel suicidal. It doesn't even mean that you really want to die - it only means that you have more pain than you can cope with right now. If I start piling weights on your shoulders, you will eventually collapse if I add enough weights... no matter how much you want to remain standing. Willpower has nothing to do with it. Of course you would cheer yourself up, if you could. Don't accept it if someone tells you, "That's not enough to be suicidal about." There are many kinds of pain that may lead to suicide. Whether or not the pain is bearable may differ from person to person. What might be bearable to someone else, may not be bearable to you. The point at which the pain becomes unbearable depends on what kinds of coping resources you have. Individuals vary greatly in their capacity to withstand pain. When pain exceeds pain-coping resources, suicidal feelings are the result. Suicide is neither wrong nor right; it is not a defect of character; it is morally neutral. It is simply an imbalance of pain versus coping resources. You can survive suicidal feelings if you do either of two things: (1) find a way to reduce your pain, or (2) find a way to increase your coping resources. Both are possible."
One of the fundamental challenges in an organization or society is to destigmatize asking for help to avoid the classic dilemma those with suicidal thoughts face when they expect asking for help will only increase their pain from whatever reactions occur -- such as job loss or being ejected from a university community. By reconceptualizing suicide as an involuntary action that occurs when total pain exceeds resources for coping with pain, David Conroy provides a morally neutral way for organizations and society to think about suicide prevention in a productive way. Rather than focus mainly on intervening in a crisis, organizations can rethink their operations to reduce participant pain and to increase coping resources. This helps everyone in the organization, not just those who have reached a threshold where pain is very close to coping resources. Early intervention is much cheaper and more successful than waiting for a crisis. This model shows how organizations can approach suicide intervention in hundreds of way. One of those ways is also making people aware of success stories where individuals overcame depression and related suicidal thoughts.
======
Another piece of the puzzle is to realize that, as Stephen Ilardi puts it:
https://tlc.ku.edu/ [ku.edu]
"We were never designed for the sedentary, indoor, sleep-deprived, socially-isolated, fast-food-laden, frenetic pace of modern life."
There were many problems in our hunter/gatherer past (like lack of emergency trauma care for a fall, lack of antibiotics, lack of global trade to avert local famines, and so on). But in general, humans are adapted for the hunter/gatherer small-group niche by millions of years of evolution. It is only in the last few thousand years that we have started to adapt to a different circumstance. In general, the further we get from exercise, nature (including sunlight and vitamin D3), good sleep, positive sociality in small groups doing meaningful things together, eating whole food that is mostly plants, and doing useful purposeful work at a reasonable pace rooted in responsibility, gratitude, and purpose (all of which displaces tail-chasing negative ruminant thinking), the sicker we become both physically and mentally.
One problem with the profit-maximizing algorithms of current so
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... is a useful model for reducing suicide. See the book "Out of the Nightmare" discussed here (along with other resources on wellness I put together): https://github.com/pdfernhout/... [github.com]
"Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain.
I have heard it described as wanting consciousness to stop.
That's all it's about. You are not a bad person, or crazy, or weak, or flawed, because you feel suicidal. It doesn't even mean that you really want to die - it only means that you have more pain than you can cope with right now. If I start piling weights on your shoulders, you will eventually collapse if I add enough weights... no matter how much you want to remain standing.
Of course you aren't a bad person if you are depressed. But there are peop
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> The young lady was almost certainly very depressed. But a lot of people are harassed, bullied, or even just shunned on social media, and they do not commit suicide ... But there are people who have had long periods of horrible things happen to them, yet are not depressed.
Yes, an individual's behaviour is 'caused' by a mix of their genetic predispositions and past experiences. Genetics and past experiences vary greatly from one individual to the next.
I'm not sure what you're arguing here ?
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> The young lady was almost certainly very depressed. But a lot of people are harassed, bullied, or even just shunned on social media, and they do not commit suicide ... But there are people who have had long periods of horrible things happen to them, yet are not depressed.
Yes, an individual's behaviour is 'caused' by a mix of their genetic predispositions and past experiences. Genetics and past experiences vary greatly from one individual to the next.
I'm not sure what you're arguing here ?
First off, I'm not "arguing" anything. Just noting that people are different.
What I am saying is exactly what you noted. That it is predisposition and experience that might lead to depression and possible suicide.
I was bullied as a child (among other things) and it did not make me suicidal. It made me a bit hard, perhaps, and taught me some valuable lessons, like I am responsible for myself. Others react differently. And I am quite sympathetic to them, having a number of people in my life who have commi
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> First off, I'm not "arguing" anything. Just noting that people are different.
Arguing wasn't the best choice of words. I was wondering how you meant those statements to be interpreted.
> I was bullied as a child (among other things) and it did not make me suicidal.
It's good the level of bullying you experienced was within the level of copping skills you had. I think if more infants and young children are grounded with a solid sense of emotional worth, then they will better be able to cope with adversi
Bullies2Buddies & Resilience via the Golden Ru (Score:2)
On your suggestion on people learning to cope with the adversity of being bullied (up to a point), some groups especially for middle-school have had good success with the "Bullies to Buddies" approach (as long as the bullying is not extreme and the people involved are all reasonably mentally stable):
https://www.izzykalman.com/ [izzykalman.com]
"We will never win the war against bullying by trying to convince people to stop being bullies. We need to teach people how not to be victims!"
Also from there: "What does the research
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On your suggestion on people learning to cope with the adversity of being bullied (up to a point), some groups especially for middle-school have had good success with the "Bullies to Buddies" approach (as long as the bullying is not extreme and the people involved are all reasonably mentally stable): https://www.izzykalman.com/ [izzykalman.com] "We will never win the war against bullying by trying to convince people to stop being bullies. We need to teach people how not to be victims!"
True. Since we're here, I'll relate my story. When I was in second grade, my parents bought a new house. I finished out the year at my old school. note - this was a couple years before our area switched away from one room school houses! I finished the year at my old school, then started 3rd grade in the new place. I got hellish bullied. And the school and parental advice was "It takes a bigger man to walk away from a fight".
I mean, maybe it does, but you get to walk away from a fight every day of your l
Can't argue with success, yet love your bullies (Score:2)
First, kudos to you for adhering to "Just Say No to drugs" for your son -- even if the teachers and doctors have sadly become the drug pushers.
Thanks for the personal story. Compulsory schools tend to be one of the worst places for bullying precisely because a young person can't just walk away (like to another classroom or school or the library) without the school authorities cracking down on the student or their family (including via police powers). So a student has limited options. You had even less optio
Dandelion & Orchid Children; Dumb vs. Smart (Score:2)
On your point on different people responding differently to various stresses, here is some related research which suggests the same gene can be either an advantage or a disadvantage depending on circumstances:
"The Science of Success"
https://www.theatlantic.com/ma... [theatlantic.com]
"Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So hold
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Humans are the only animals that consciously choose to end their own lives. It's tempting to think that the brain is well designed and a powerful survival tool, but it's not.
Part of it is paranoid, always on the lookout for danger. That part loves to make predictions about the future, about what dangers we may face. It's easy to listen too much to it, when it tells you to avoid that situation because you might embarrass yourself with failure, or to dwell on its warnings about the inevitable pain you will fe
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Humans are the only animals that consciously choose to end their own lives.
That's a tricky point because it hinges on what the definition of consciousness is and what free will is. People often assume acts of humans are conscious acts of deliberate free will and that no act of a different animal is. Limiting it that way, it's essentially saying humans are exceptional because we define ourselves to be. I think that's just as false reasoning, probably even more so than anthropomorphisation.
Some bees will lea
Evolutionary psychology about depression and more (Score:2)
"Depression and suicide are not things that only affect crazy people, they are just a flaw in the human brain that we only have a limited understanding of."
Thanks for the insightful replay. As with your point on the adaptive value of paranoia up to a point, a similar (controversial) argument -- among several others -- has be made for the adaptive value of depression up to a point as a response to a loss of social status, where withdrawal leads to avoiding a likely loss in interpersonal conflicts. From:
https [wikipedia.org]
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a person who cancels themselves usually has other problems. Like clinical depression.
Where does clinical depression come from?
Re: Sigh... (Score:3)
The clinic.
Duh!
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a person who cancels themselves usually has other problems. Like clinical depression.
Where does clinical depression come from?
It could come from a number of places. Some times traumatic episodes. My cousin was the altar boy toy of a Catholic priest. He killed himself in his early 20's. A young lady friend of mine in high school committed suicide. Her depression came on hard and fast, and by the time we realized it, she killed herself. And some times, you just do not know where it comes from. A co worker was to all appearances a level headed guy. but apparently not all was well. His wife left him and he killed himself.
Some times
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Seeing images of self harm and suicide on social media normalizes them. Most people who have not suffered severe depression can't imagine cutting themselves or ending their life. There's a point at which someone with depression starts to think about it, starts to contemplate doing it, and social media can speed up the transition from unthinkable to something people do.
In fact seeing other people do it on social media can be seductive. It's a community that shares your pain, that you can join. So social medi
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Seeing images of self harm and suicide on social media normalizes them.
It might normalize them for people who have an innate problem. There has to be some sort of seeking out as well. I don't generally go places where people speak of how much fun it is to kill oneself or otherwise do self harm. I've been to a few out of curiosity and research. But they mainly horrify me.
I also play games like Diablo 3, yet I have no intention of doing any of the things done in the game.
Most people who have not suffered severe depression can't imagine cutting themselves or ending their life.
I can. I've been around enough of it to understand that the pain is real.
There's a point at which someone with depression starts to think about it, starts to contemplate doing it, and social media can speed up the transition from unthinkable to something people do.
In fact seeing other people do it on social media can be seductive. It's a community that shares your pain, that you can join. So social media definitely does play a part.
So what is your solution? Make i
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It's really sad about the young lady, and her suicide.
But the problem is that a person who cancels themselves usually has other problems. Like clinical depression. A small outside chance that she was in some sort of trouble like pregnancy. My money is on depression.
the accusation that social media directly caused her suicide is similar to the idea that video games make people violent. Or that the Beatles and their song "Helter Skelter" was the proximate cause of the murders that Charles Manson and his cult committed.
The young lady was almost certainly very depressed. But a lot of people are harassed, bullied, or even just shunned on social media, and they do not commit suicide.
So there are some good questions to ask. Were the parents clueless about her depression? Another question is if we decide "Yes, social media is the proximate cause of her suicide and all social media must change so that no one who uses it cancels themselves". Okay, how do we do that? Ban social media? Create message censors who investigate every posing and purge any that someone might find upsetting? Make the censors criminally responsible if someone reading a post they allowed through kills themselves?
I'm pretty certain that while I understand the parent's dismay at what happened, they might just want to understand that unless the young lady had no symptoms of depression -not likely - they had a part in this. Not a popular view, but some times the shivering truth is not going to be popular.
"Cancels"?
This is a straight up suicide. Sorry, but I really hate how "cancel" gets bandied about but I digress and largely agree with you.
I agree with your point, social media isn't the one who led her to this path, people did that and now the people who are most to blame claim to "miss" the departed (a persons death tends to be a bigger affair for the living) but don't want to face up that they didn't seem to care enough when she was alive. So they develop a convenient scape goat to magic away any g
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This is a straight up suicide. Sorry, but I really hate how "cancel" gets bandied about but I digress and largely agree with you.
I'm certainly not referring to cancel culture.
I agree with your point, social media isn't the one who led her to this path, people did that and now the people who are most to blame claim to "miss" the departed (a persons death tends to be a bigger affair for the living) but don't want to face up that they didn't seem to care enough when she was alive. So they develop a convenient scape goat to magic away any guilt, be it comic books, rock music, video games, et al. anything to avoid having to admit they shoulder any, let alone most of the blame.
Now here's something. It's a perilous thing, but if we were to have people lurking in some of these groups, they might be able to spot someone who is looking like they might be edging closer to self harm. I write perilous because imagine the personal horror if the lurker missed someone who killed themselves.
Removing stigma is important. A person who might kill themselves is virtually never a risk to anyone but themselves. It also might stop people from gettin
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So many words just to say that you didn't read the article? Why
Why? I didn't need to read the article.
We've seen this same scenario play out over and over and over and over again.
Same old same old "solution". Which won't work.
An algorithm contributing to someone's suicide is the exact same thing as a song contributing to someone's suicide. Or a song causing the murder of Sharon Tate. Or whatever the cause du jour is.
Should we eliminate ll of the causes du jour - music, social media, algorithms. Computer games.
Perhaps it will be a return to earlier times wh
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It's really sad about the young lady, and her suicide.
To the halfwit who modded the first post on the story "redundant".
You can mod it over rated, troll, or flamebait, but very seldom is the first post redundant. If you disagree, I suppose overrated would be the best mod.
What About Books, Newspapers, TV etc.. (Score:2)
The suicide is tragic and I don't doubt that media can have a causal role in pushing someone into despair and depression.
However, we seem to react very differently depending on the type of media. I have no doubt that there are people who enter depressive spirals reading about horrible tragedies in the newspaper everyday or consuming books from the library about horrible events like the holocaust. Yet, when such tragedies occur, we don't lay the blame at the feed of the library or newspaper even though it
Who is to Blame? (Score:2)
Because... (Score:2)
Because apparently the algorithm activated the device's self-destruct mechanism, instantly electrocuting the teen. What? No? S/he just was watching what they wanted to because they were a moron? And that's some algorithm's fault?
Social media promotes anything but... (Score:1)