A New Student Movement Wants You to Log Off 50
Two years ago a college sophomore started "the Log Off movement." This week the New York Times explored its progress — starting with how their mission's been affected by negative news stories about social media:
"The first article I read that really launched me into it was Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation. I found study after study showing the possible correlation between increased rates of anxiety, suicide rates and eating disorders tracking alongside increased rates of usage... The most powerful thing to me was not the studies. It was the fact that personal stories were not being told and there was not an epicenter where people could come together and say: "Here's my personal experience." "Here's how I was harmed." "These were the accounts that made me feel worse about myself." I knew that was necessary. The genie's out of the bottle.
As members of Gen Z, we understand that there are positive attributes and there are negative attributes to social media, but right now, in its current usage, it can be really harmful.
Q: How does the Log Off Movement address these issues?
Through our podcast, a leadership council, an educational curriculum on how to use online spaces safely and blogs, we are discussing ways we can move forward with technology and allow it to become a tool again rather than a controller.
What we are asking for teens to do is to be comfortable talking about their experiences so that we can educate legislators to understand a Gen Z perspective, what we need from technology, what privacy concerns we're having, what mental health concerns we're having. We have an advocacy initiative through Tech[nically] Politics, which pushes for laws that help ensure teens have a safe online experience, specifically the California Age Appropriate Design Code Bill....
Q: How have you adjusted your own relationship to social media? What methods have worked?
Whenever I go through a stressful period with exams, I delete Instagram. I know that in periods of stress, I'm going to lean towards mindlessly using it as a form of coping. Another thing that's worked for me is Grayscale, which makes the phone appear only in black and white.
I always suggest Screentime Genie, which provides solutions on how to limit screen time. I use Habit Lab for Chrome, which helps you reduce your time online. It creates a level of friction between you and addictive technology.
One app they still enjoy is BeReal (which notifies you and your friends to take an unstaged picture of what you're genuinely doing at one randomly-chosen moment each day). But the group's founder still remembers the "horrific loop" of using social media apps six hours a day (starting with Instagram at the age of 12) — and "feeling as though I could not stop scrolling because it has this weird power over me..." One teenager who'd spent six hours a day on social media later shared their observation that logging off improved their vision — but also made the world more clear mentally.
The group's founder says the ultimate hope is their project "results in a kind of pivot prioritizing the well-being of users in these online environments."
As members of Gen Z, we understand that there are positive attributes and there are negative attributes to social media, but right now, in its current usage, it can be really harmful.
Q: How does the Log Off Movement address these issues?
Through our podcast, a leadership council, an educational curriculum on how to use online spaces safely and blogs, we are discussing ways we can move forward with technology and allow it to become a tool again rather than a controller.
What we are asking for teens to do is to be comfortable talking about their experiences so that we can educate legislators to understand a Gen Z perspective, what we need from technology, what privacy concerns we're having, what mental health concerns we're having. We have an advocacy initiative through Tech[nically] Politics, which pushes for laws that help ensure teens have a safe online experience, specifically the California Age Appropriate Design Code Bill....
Q: How have you adjusted your own relationship to social media? What methods have worked?
Whenever I go through a stressful period with exams, I delete Instagram. I know that in periods of stress, I'm going to lean towards mindlessly using it as a form of coping. Another thing that's worked for me is Grayscale, which makes the phone appear only in black and white.
I always suggest Screentime Genie, which provides solutions on how to limit screen time. I use Habit Lab for Chrome, which helps you reduce your time online. It creates a level of friction between you and addictive technology.
One app they still enjoy is BeReal (which notifies you and your friends to take an unstaged picture of what you're genuinely doing at one randomly-chosen moment each day). But the group's founder still remembers the "horrific loop" of using social media apps six hours a day (starting with Instagram at the age of 12) — and "feeling as though I could not stop scrolling because it has this weird power over me..." One teenager who'd spent six hours a day on social media later shared their observation that logging off improved their vision — but also made the world more clear mentally.
The group's founder says the ultimate hope is their project "results in a kind of pivot prioritizing the well-being of users in these online environments."
Never logged on (Score:5, Funny)
I don't use social media at all, except for slashdot and ars technica. I don't think either counts as everyone pretty much ignores me...
Is this good for my mental health?
Re: (Score:2)
Well, that's like saying you try to stay drug-free by staying away from crystal meth but double down on crack cocaine.
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Who the fuck is scraeming "LOG OFF" at my house. show yourself, coward. i will never log off
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Re:Never logged on (Score:5, Insightful)
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If you don't think you need a safe space, you haven't been to some of the more fascinating places on the internet
Re: Young generation is fucked (Score:2)
"authoritarian wars"
Yeah this group of useless eaters have been getting extra batshit crazy from the very top to the very bottom (those with a title or who got their badge out of a cereal box). Authoritarians are useless negative pieces of shit and a few days ago I had to handle one of them.
The whole lot of little tin plated nazis need a boot up their ass or a rope around their neck.
**creickets** (Score:1)
so? (Score:2)
My interest remains dormant.
Re:so? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that this is a fundamental issue with this website. It's a technology website populated by boomers and millennials, two generations for whom growing up surrounded by computers was the exception, not the norm.
The kids from today are born with cellphones in their hands, inflicted upon them by parents who either just wanted an electronic babysitter, or naively thought that this will give their kids an edge in today (and tomorrow's) tech-dependant world.
Stories like this one, and the ones we had a couple of days ago about Social Media's effects were met with generally the same answer from the parent's post. "So what? Doesn't concern me". We have a whole generation who's mind was molded by the internet and it's addiction algorithms.
The issue is that this generation is today's workforce and society's future pillar. And when they show up to work (if they even get to that stage) all depressed and anxious and badly adjusted to the world, everyone fails to understand that these poor kids' brains never had a chance to form "normally" in the first place.
Things as simple as cutting down your usage of social media and smartphones might be easy for those who grew up without them, it might be a herculean effort to those who didnt get that lucky. And the general dismissal of this new tech addiction on this website, ironically by and for literal nerds, is a symptom of the new generational gap.
Re:so? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think that this is a fundamental issue with this website. It's a technology website populated by boomers and millennials, two generations for whom growing up surrounded by computers was the exception, not the norm. The kids from today are born with cellphones in their hands, inflicted upon them by parents who either just wanted an electronic babysitter, or naively thought that this will give their kids an edge in today (and tomorrow's) tech-dependant world.
If it were only the children with the issue.
Stories like this one, and the ones we had a couple of days ago about Social Media's effects were met with generally the same answer from the parent's post. "So what? Doesn't concern me". We have a whole generation who's mind was molded by the internet and it's addiction algorithms.
The issue is that this generation is today's workforce and society's future pillar. And when they show up to work (if they even get to that stage) all depressed and anxious and badly adjusted to the world, everyone fails to understand that these poor kids' brains never had a chance to form "normally" in the first place. Things as simple as cutting down your usage of social media and smartphones might be easy for those who grew up without them, it might be a herculean effort to those who didnt get that lucky. And the general dismissal of this new tech addiction on this website, ironically by and for literal nerds, is a symptom of the new generational gap.
You are throwing a lot of blame on the smartphone and social media and it's effect on young people. Certainly Facebook is populated more by mature people.
As for the millennials and those of that ilk, there is a lot of candidates for problems. A lot of these kids were drugged when they were growing up in order to make them tractable. And while it does serve as a chemical straitjacket, it turns out it messes with the very structure of their brains. https://www.methodsman.com/blo... [methodsman.com]
Now this is only an observation, but the friends of my son who were chemically straitjacketed aren't doing very well in life. Lack of ambition, generally depressed, and don't seem to care about much. The people who run the classes ,tend to like drugging people
Next up, a lot of young people complain about the inability to meet people. Turns out that the dating applications, which is one of the only safe ways for men to meet women today without the legal or social media problems involved that are involved with the old school walking up and saying "Hello".
There are clubs and bars of course, but that can be a minefield, and is more applicable for situationships and high bodycount hookups than anything real and healthy.
Rejection of social media addiction? Bloody hell, it's a dopamine dispensary factory. If you reject it, you probably have it. While the addictive hit that comes from positive responses is larger, people get addicted to the negative ones as well. I know even here, I get a sensual glee when I get to do a Saturday night curbstomping. But I know the symptoms of dopamine addiction and how it can mess you up if you overload on it. Point is, these young folk have a lot more on their plate than just SM addiction.
Re: (Score:2)
Very well said.
We need to help these teens somehow instead of denying the problem.
Re: so? (Score:2)
I don't "need" to do anything of the sort.
For one thing, as a married childless GenXer (age 55), I have no close ties to anyone with this issue.
For another, climate change is going to be a far bigger, REAL problem for their generation.
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It's not just the kids, although I couldn't agree more with your points. An entire culture of toxic enablement has sprung up around this issue. Those same parents refuse to admit that the iPhone is ruining Junior's mind. The difference in average daily screen time of a teenager between 2000 and 2022 is unreal. I've seen children as young as 3 using an iphone!
At this point, the younger parents are basically fucked as a group... they're hopeless screen addicts, on average, whose social skills and cranial
"News" too (Score:5, Insightful)
The same could be said of watching the "news" shows. So many people get addicted to being angry. Watching (or listening to) countless hours of the same garbage about how the other side is ruining our country.
Log out - but first checkout our podcast (Score:3, Insightful)
Better yet don't ever join (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: Better yet don't ever join (Score:1)
In America they can fire you for wearing the wrong shade of black so that "cats" example isn't at all farfetched.
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I do understand extremist tend to be very binary, have difficulty with nuances. We saw this with the boomers. Many were raised in new wealthy America, and were bummed by rules. So they w
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I was a high school computer science teacher from 2000 to 2018. I always preached to my students to stay off social media, especially Facebook. The first reason for their own health and well-being and the second being that if they say something negative about their job, company, or supervisor that can be used to fire them. Furthermore it's a permanent record that follows you to your next potential job. "This applicant likes cats, I hate cats". Dumb example I know but substitute any word for cats and you get my meaning.
Yes, I get that you don't understand information security. You might have suggested that they limit their Facebook accounts to trusted friends and relatives. If your job offer includes "give us access to your Facebook account", you should politely but, very firmly, tell them that they are never going to get access. They are not your close friends or relatives, and we do not mix work with our home lives.
This can still go wrong, of course but, that's true of most things in life, and you are harming people by
If they're serious.... (Score:2)
If they're serious, they'll have a dead tree newsletter version of the website people can get snail-mailed to their door.
There's a joke in here somewhere... :D
If I don't log on (Score:1)
Only Gen Z? (Score:2)
Shouldn't be a surprise (Score:2)
"Internet addiction" has been a thing for at least two and a half decades-- it is a novel, but not unique, version of a Skinner Box, and social media is designed to dial that concept up to 11. It's an easy trap to fall into, even for an adult. For a child raised on the torrent of social media and 24/7 media coverage of everyone and everything, what's remarkable is that they can come close to functioning in "the real world" (I use quotes, because the definition of reality is probably looser than it has bee
Re: Shouldn't be a surprise (Score:2)
And part of the reason is the real world has turned to complete shit, netted down with all kinds of strictures and people looking at you finding every tiny detail to hang you for. It was this way long before the public even knew what an "internet" was.
So you can't blame people for escaping that fuck mess and spending time in a 'world' that feels more satisfying and they have more of a degree of control over.
Use the net, but with an alias, keep privacy (Score:2)
I've never used Facebook, but from the descriptions it resembles to some extent the old Usenet. I spent a lot of time on Usenet in the 80s and 90s. People shared ideas, fads, obsessions, knowledge and pseudo-knowledge. There were flame wars and conspiracies. Tropes like Godwin's Law were formulated at that time. But, for the most part, people did not use their real names or give out personal details. I think if I had shared personal information it would have had a very negative effect on my experience
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"I think if I had shared personal information it would have had a very negative effect on my experience. I would have probably been more anxious about what I posted and what people said for instance."
It's like you're saying that having to consider your actions as having consequences is somehow detrimental, when in fact it's how societies function.
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Maybe that is why usenet went downhill, because of anonymity. What I realize about my OP now, seeing your response, is that I was thinking about the usenet social forum as not a place that concerned one's private life, and so not a place likely to generate social anxiety. The other side of the coin, as you seem to suggest, is the freedom some people feel to troll and be irresponsible. But they are apparently irresponsible on Facebook and Twitter and the like as well from what I've read. Here's an exampl
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Yep, it's complicated. True, you can find interesting, engaged thoughtful commentary in anonymity online. Unfortunately you have to weed through the spammed swastika ascii-art.
I try to apply simple logic, although I don't always succeed. If I wouldn't say it to somebody's face, I try not to say it at all.
That doesn't mean I'm never a dick. But I'm generally no more a dick online than I am in person.
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I think that one big difference is in the shift of agency. My experience of Usenet - there may have been clients which did things differently - is that I had to decide which newsgroup to look at right now. Am I in the mood for serious debate about something which matters, or am I in the mood for light entertainment? If it's the latter, I can always come back later and read the more serious newsgroup when I'm in the right mood and have the time to think about it.
Facebook, on the other hand, lets you decide w
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This shift of agency idea is very interesting, and something new that I'm learning about Facebook.
It brings home the difference between something not created or designed to make money (usenet), and something that is.
The problem is on the back end (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the real problem isn't the barrage of sewage that flows across social media every day. I think it's that so many young people today are incapable of disconnecting. Online and offline are inextricably bound.
I'm squarely gen-X and im thankful that the inner construct that is me was basically together before the internet and social media achieved dominance. When I saw the first glimpses of that sewage in Usenet and IRC, I just closed the feed and didn't go back to the thread or channel.
This stuff was foisted on Gen-z before they were ready. We're beta testing a whole generation.
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People are getting better at managing their use of social media. It can be therapeutic at times, but also toxic if you are not careful.
As an example, at times I find it comforting that I'm not the only one who is refusing to be gaslit by the government, and am not the only one feeling pessimistic about the future of the UK. It's bad enough that we could be just over a year from the end of it.
At other times the relentless barrage of things to be outraged about is depressing, so I turn it off. I make it work
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I think the real problem isn't the barrage of sewage that flows across social media every day. I think it's that so many young people today are incapable of disconnecting. Online and offline are inextricably bound.
I'm squarely gen-X and im thankful that the inner construct that is me was basically together before the internet and social media achieved dominance. When I saw the first glimpses of that sewage in Usenet and IRC, I just closed the feed and didn't go back to the thread or channel.
This stuff was foisted on Gen-z before they were ready. We're beta testing a whole generation.
Yup.
Somehow we went from "keep the family computer in the living room" to "give every 8 year old a pocket internet-connected computer." What could possibly go wrong?
Back to the land (Score:2)
This could be Gen-Z's version of a Back To The Land [wikipedia.org] movement. They don't necessarily have to start farming. I'm thinking metaphorically. Ironically, the groundwork for modern social media such as The WELL [wikipedia.org] came out of such a movement.
Everybody after the Booomer generation has placed some blame on them, and probably will for a while. I used to say "They got mind-expanding drugs. We got crack babies".
Today, Gen Z may be waking up to the fact that "They got the WELL, we got FaceBook.".
They might even "tune
There are some good sides (Score:2)
I recommend however to limit time spent on it; and also to avoid reading comment sections on news sites etc.
For time spent, I only check social media after my kids go to bed.
Er (Score:2)
Whenever I go through a stressful period with exams, I delete Instagram.
If you have to "delete" more than once, you are doing it wrong ...
Cognitive load and low emotional investment (Score:2)
I've been struggling with cognitive load and low emotional investment in connections caused by modern touchscreen smartphones ever since I got my first one: The HTC Desire with Android 4.4. This was more than 10 years ago. It was an update or two later and ever since that I always think about wether I should make my current smartphone the last one and go back to feature-phone and sketchbook. And medium.com (subscribed), slashdot ((very) active member for ~2 decades) and 9gag aside, I don't really use social
Yes yes (Score:1)
As members of gen Z... (Score:2)
...talk to me again when you stop soiling your diapers.
Twitter is for twits! (Score:1)
Yep, it's really important (Score:1)