You're Wrong About Social Media Being Addictive

Plus: The Pentagon prepares for possible ground troops in Iran, a listener asks how libertarians should answer the appeal of collectivism, and ICE descends on airports.

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You're Wrong About Social Media Being Addictive

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This week, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch discuss the recent verdicts against Meta and the growing legal and cultural push to treat social media like a harmful, addictive product. Multiple juries decided that platforms such as Instagram and YouTube were negligently designed and that they contributed to mental health harms among young users, raising comparisons to Big Tobacco and intensifying the debate over which online activities are protected speech. The panel considers whether the real issue is design features such as infinite scroll and algorithmic feeds or simply content itself.

The panel then examines the latest developments in the Iran conflict, where the White House has suggested that the war may be nearing its end even as the Pentagon prepares plans that could include ground troops and the seizure of Iran's nuclear stockpile. They also take up a listener question about how libertarians can make the case for community and human connection without relying on government. Finally, they discuss the deployment of ICE agents to airports during the DHS shutdown. Are those agents helping ease delays, or are they making an already strained system worse?

Reason is hiring! Check out the two open roles on the video team now:
https://reason.org/jobs/associate-producer/
https://reason.org/jobs/producer/

0:00–Is social media addictive?
25:29–Conflicting narratives on Iran war
38:40–Divisions on the right over Iran
41:54–Listener question on collectivism
49:06–ICE agents at airports
54:05–Weekly cultural recommendations

Mentioned in the podcast:

"A Jury Hit Meta With a $375 Million Verdict. The Open Internet May Pay the Price," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"#Addiction," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Taylor Lorenz: Is Social Media Responsible for Bad Parenting?" by Nick Gillespie
"Hail to the Censor!" by Matt Welch
"More War," by Christian Britschgi
"Trump's 'Military Operation' Wordplay Can't Hide Iran War," by Joe Lancaster
"Trump's War in Iran Risks Ruining His Entire Foreign Policy," by Daniel Deptris
"How Will Congress Fund a $300 Billion War With Iran?" by Veronique de Rugy
"Trump Can't TACO His Way Out of Iran," by Matthew Petti
"The Iran War Has Already Hurt Oil Production More Than the '70s Energy Crisis Did," by Reem Ibrahim
"'What Are the Goals?' Some Republicans Questioning $200 Billion for Iran War," by Eric Boehm
"Sovereignty Is Such a Lonely Word," by Matt Welch
"Peace Is Hell," by Nick Gillespie
"Mamdani's Promise of the 'Warmth of Collectivism' Is a Lie. Just Ask All the Failed Communes," by John Stossel
"A Socialist Swearing In," by Christian Britschgi
"I Spent Over 3 Hours in a TSA Line. Why Haven't We Abolished This Agency?" by Billy Binion

• Producer: Paul Alexander
• Video Editor: Ian Keyser

What are we consuming this week?

Peter Suderman

• Atmosphæra Incognita, by Neal Stephenson

Nick Gillespie

• Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, created by Connor Hines

Matt Welch

• Anaconda

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• The National Cherry Blossom Festival

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Comments

[MWAocdoc]

First of all, there is almost no science behind "mental health issues" so they can't even begin to define "harm" in objective terms. Next, almost everyone in the world has at least one "mental health issue" so it would be virtually impossible with the current state of the art to identify any objective support for causation from any particular antecedent factor except "human being" - especially teenage human beings. There is near zero chance that any particular teenager can claim damages from a non-existent cause anywhere near the million dollar range. The juries in these cases are full of crap and the only relevant factor here is "deep pockets."

[Rick James]

Harm lawsuits have been devastating various industries for decades, why would we think Silicon Valley with all their emojis and Stache apps would be immune?

This is where I'm going to get all Reason on everyone's ass.

*clears throat* The problem isn't whether or not this or that app did any real measurable damage, the real problem is our civil legal system and how it encourages these types of lawsuits...

How'd I do?

[Stupid Government Tricks]

a listener question about how libertarians can make the case for community and human connection without relying on government.

Almost by definition, community and human connection are what people do, on their own. Once government gets involved, it's coercion, not community.

[Longtobefree]

"ICE descends on airports."

Those BRUTES!
Shorting lines, passing out water, and saving the life of at least one kid.
Damn fascists!

Descend my ass!

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

Are those agents helping ease delays, or are they making an already strained system worse?

Lines are shorter now. So better, not worse.

[SCOTUS gave JeffSarc a big sad]

ICE is helping. Reason is working retardedly at making things worse.

[Longtobefree]

"You're Wrong About Social Media Being Addictive"

And you're wrong about us giving a damn.

[JFree]

Those companies don't spend a shit ton of money creating/designing platforms in order to leave the manipulation of behavior to chance. They don't give a shit about content. Content is merely what allows them to take your eyeball time without you really realizing it.

Fact: We know a lot about the animal brain - and THAT is the part (not the frontal lobe) that we have been able to manipulate for well over a century now. In the exact same way, we can create stampedes in herd animals, etc. Now in humans because we can now get beyond the frontal lobe.

Fact: The more we know about the brain, the more certain it is that sociopaths/psychopaths are going to be drawn to the algorithms/etc that manipulate others - and the less the others who don't know what's happening will be able to resist the manipulation.

Fact: Once someone has been manipulated, they are no longer able to even understand what is happening. Their frontal lobe can no longer process information independently as if it is new because they have already reacted to that info in a different part of their brain. See Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theory of Stupidity

Fact: Libertarians will, as usual, be useless because libertarian notions require that a)free will exists, b)in the individual, c)there is no such thing as a 'group', and d)there is certainly no such notion that humans are also animals.

[Don't look at me! ( Is the war over yet?)]

I don’t use Facebook or X.
I don’t care if another people do.

[Agammamon]

>You're Wrong About Social Media Being Addictive

You spend all day on social media, fight people on social media, write stories based on what someone said on social media - but sure, it's not addictive.

It's just the center of you life.