Social Media, The Good, Bad & Ugly & The Future

Gern Blansten

tempo_n_groove said:

Re-opening this.

Australia has the first ever ban on Social media.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/australia-social-media-ban-takes-effect-world-first-2025-12-09/

This will be interesting.

Interesting...it's a massive problem and it is only getting worse with all this AI shit

Tim Simmons

I'm sure it will go as well as their ban on guns.


Which is to say, incredibly successful and the US will never implement it to improve society.

mickeyrat

Tim Simmons said:

I'm sure it will go as well as their ban on guns.


Which is to say, incredibly successful and the US will never implement it to improve society.

WE DON'T FOLLOW, WE LEAD!!!!

tempo_n_groove

Tim Simmons said:

I'm sure it will go as well as their ban on guns.


Which is to say, incredibly successful and the US will never implement it to improve society.

I'd like to keep my guns but you can take social media.

With all these companies making money off of it I wonder how it will effect the economy for Austraila or even make a dent?

I am really curious on how this goes.  The kids will find a  way around it for sure because they will all have FOMO and want to know what the latest and greatest is.

HughFreakingDillon

I applaud this. In hindsight I wish we wouldn’t have allowed our kids access as early as we did. My youngest is fine, but our oldest (19) her entire existence revolves around social media, celebrity, trends, etc. it’s seriously what I would imagine is like living with a drug addict. The ferocity of emotion when we even bring up the idea of limiting her access where we sometimes fear the idea of physical violence can be frightening. 

Her entire friend group is the same. Never leave the house; only communicate electronically. And they all can’t figure out why they get extreme anxiety when leaving the house. 

nicknyr15

HughFreakingDillon said:

I applaud this. In hindsight I wish we wouldn’t have allowed our kids access as early as we did. My youngest is fine, but our oldest (19) her entire existence revolves around social media, celebrity, trends, etc. it’s seriously what I would imagine is like living with a drug addict. The ferocity of emotion when we even bring up the idea of limiting her access where we sometimes fear the idea of physical violence can be frightening. 

Her entire friend group is the same. Never leave the house; only communicate electronically. And they all can’t figure out why they get extreme anxiety when leaving the house. 

Man that is sad. I truly feel bad for her generation, they’re missing out on so much. 

brianlux

Problem?  What problem? 

HughFreakingDillon

nicknyr15 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I applaud this. In hindsight I wish we wouldn’t have allowed our kids access as early as we did. My youngest is fine, but our oldest (19) her entire existence revolves around social media, celebrity, trends, etc. it’s seriously what I would imagine is like living with a drug addict. The ferocity of emotion when we even bring up the idea of limiting her access where we sometimes fear the idea of physical violence can be frightening. 

Her entire friend group is the same. Never leave the house; only communicate electronically. And they all can’t figure out why they get extreme anxiety when leaving the house. 

Man that is sad. I truly feel bad for her generation, they’re missing out on so much. 

It makes us quite sad too. I’m hoping it’s a phase, kinda like my generation going to the bar 4 nights a week. But we also hung out, started bands, went to festivals, etc. they go to
the bar once every 2 months or so. 

We have one kid who is never home, about to go across the world, and one who barely leaves her bed. 

gimmesometruth27

man i am so glad i grew up when i did. no influencers, no social media, no internet, real news, life was nice then. 

nicknyr15

gimmesometruth27 said:

man i am so glad i grew up when i did. no influencers, no social media, no internet, real news, life was nice then. 

Agreed. That’s the only good thing about being older lol 

Halifax2TheMax

* The following opinion is mine and mine alone and does not represent the views of my family, friends, government and/or my past, present or future employer. US Department of State: 1-888-407-4747.

Tell me again how great AI is, please? Future’s look oh so bright.

Google AI Overviews put people at risk of harm with misleading health advice

Exclusive: Inaccurate information presented in summaries, Guardian investigation finds

People are being put at risk of harm by false and misleading health information in Google’s artificial intelligence summaries, a Guardian investigation has found.

The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are “helpful” and “reliable”.

But some of the summaries, which appear at the top of search results, served up inaccurate health information and put people at risk of harm.

In one case that experts described as “really dangerous”, Google wrongly advised people with pancreatic cancer to avoid high-fat foods. Experts said this was the exact opposite of what should be recommended, and may increase the risk of patients dying from the disease.

In another “alarming” example, the company provided bogus information about crucial liver function tests, which could leave people with serious liver disease wrongly thinking they are healthy.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/02/google-ai-overviews-risk-harm-misleading-health-information

Elon Musk’s Grok AI generates images of ‘minors in minimal clothing’

Lapses in safeguards led to wave of sexualized images this week as xAI says it is working to improve systems

Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok posted on Friday that lapses in safeguards had led it to generate “images depicting minors in minimal clothing” on social media platform X. The chatbot, a product of Musk’s company xAI, has been generating a wave of sexualized images throughout the week in response to user prompts.

Screenshots shared by users on Xshowed Grok’s public media tab filled with such images. xAI said it was working to improve its systems to prevent future incidents.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/02/elon-musk-grok-ai-children-photos

We All Believe

I left social media, for good, immediately after the election.

At first, I got rid of all of my friends, followers, and followees except for bands and sports teams.

I was a pretty constant daily poster, and when I stopped, the monster was so desperate for engagement that I got two likes on posts that I had made months before, from a woman with two completely different names, but the same exact picture. That's when I knew for sure it was time to go.

It was becoming intolerable back then, and I can't imagine what it's like now.

The only thing I'm still on is LinkedIn, but even that is becoming insufferable. People are turning that into social media. I've seen posts about Epstein, sports, and other things from people I'm not connected to and do not follow, but they somehow end up in my feed. Like why the fuck do the Yankees have a LinkedIn profile? And how does the algorithm connect all of that to my searches for jobs in mutual funds ops and unclaimed property lol?

Lerxst1992

Yankees are an employer, they have marketers lawyers etc.

when I first saw someone present linked in at a business networking seminar about twenty years ago it was horrifying…”employers soon will expect you on this.” Reality turned out true. And worse.

HughFreakingDillon

I feel like linkedin is the new myspace. 

gimmesometruth27

HughFreakingDillon said:

I feel like linkedin is the new myspace. 

linkedin is insufferable. everyone patting themselves on the back. i am successful but i don't need to be telling everyone.

nicknyr15

gimmesometruth27 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I feel like linkedin is the new myspace. 

linkedin is insufferable. everyone patting themselves on the back. i am successful but i don't need to be telling everyone.

You just did 
😂😂

lastexitlondon

I'm unsuccessful and I'm telling everyone 

gimmesometruth27

nicknyr15 said:

gimmesometruth27 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I feel like linkedin is the new myspace. 

linkedin is insufferable. everyone patting themselves on the back. i am successful but i don't need to be telling everyone.

You just did 
😂😂

lol you know what i mean. i am successful to an extent, but i am not out there asking for validation for it, haha

nicknyr15

gimmesometruth27 said:

nicknyr15 said:

gimmesometruth27 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

I feel like linkedin is the new myspace. 

linkedin is insufferable. everyone patting themselves on the back. i am successful but i don't need to be telling everyone.

You just did 
😂😂

lol you know what i mean. i am successful to an extent, but i am not out there asking for validation for it, haha

Haha! I know. I’m just teasing. 

Gern Blansten

yeah Linkedin is annoying as hell....I signed up years ago and never visit it. Annually I get all kinds of "congrats" on my work anniversary