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Scrolling social meeja and loss of intelligence.

Professor Precise-a-bug

Do you get bored by scrolling social meeja websites?

I was listening to Radical on R4 with Amill Raja on Friday morning. His guest was exploring the notion that we are becoming less intelligent because of the impact of constant scrolling social meeja sites which are full of short looping video clips. I understand and agree with the argument, that people are loosing the ability to analyse and think critically because they are too distracted by what they see on their phones.

But it got me thinking. For myself I can’t stand things like that. I get bored with websites that scroll down all the time with video clip after video clip or stupid picture of s dog in a hat. It is just me, or is it because I am autistic? 

Separately..I am laying claim to a new word I. have invented… "meeja" as a more accurate description of social media as most of what I catch site of on TiikTok, Insta etc seems to be more about the person who posted it than the subject …. LOOK AT ME. LOOK AT ME.

Parents

  • I no longer have any social media accounts, precisely because the endless scroll was so addictive. Unfortunately, there's ample evidence from the major social media companies themselves (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) that the addictive aspect is by design. I tried Mastodon and Bluesky, but while they don't have algorithms driving engagement, they've copied the endless scroll, so eventually I bailed out.

    I'm not so sure that it's making people less intelligent. More distracted and less able to focus and think critically? Definitely. But again, I think that's by design, and it's affecting everyone not just neurodivergent folks. Outrage keeps people engaged and scrolling, thus seeing more adverts and sponsored messages.

    I've got all the main social media platforms hard-blocked on my computer and phone, so I don't even seeing anything embedded into other sites and platforms. An extreme solution perhaps, but it's amazing how much 'reporting' nowadays is literally showing social media posts.

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  • I no longer have any social media accounts, precisely because the endless scroll was so addictive. Unfortunately, there's ample evidence from the major social media companies themselves (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) that the addictive aspect is by design. I tried Mastodon and Bluesky, but while they don't have algorithms driving engagement, they've copied the endless scroll, so eventually I bailed out.

    I'm not so sure that it's making people less intelligent. More distracted and less able to focus and think critically? Definitely. But again, I think that's by design, and it's affecting everyone not just neurodivergent folks. Outrage keeps people engaged and scrolling, thus seeing more adverts and sponsored messages.

    I've got all the main social media platforms hard-blocked on my computer and phone, so I don't even seeing anything embedded into other sites and platforms. An extreme solution perhaps, but it's amazing how much 'reporting' nowadays is literally showing social media posts.

Children
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