My parents generation are the most screen addicted people I know. Absolute slaves to Facebook’s algorithm. It’s really disheartening to see.

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atomicnumber3 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's weird. I was born with the internet being largely a business or academic tool, with normal people barely having a reason to have an email address.

When I was in high school, flip phones could let you text friends, as long as you didn't mind your parents later using your soul to pay the phone bill.

When I was in college, the most addictive thing the internet could offer was foul bachelor frogs and rage comics.

Along the way, I learned how dangerous even those unrefined sugars were. It was like chewing coca leaves or sugarcane. Enough t get you a buzz, but not enough to ruin your life. So I know not to touch the algorithmic fentanyl feeds of TikTok and the like.

But good god, nobody younger or older had any protection from this. My parents and spouses parents, and my zoomer cousins both basically got handed giant bags of refined gigasugar without even the vaguest warnings. I'll refrain from likening it to opiates against because they are on a whole different level, but good god it does seem more dangerous than even refined sugar.

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Aurornis 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It’s definitely not limited to Facebook. About half of the 50-70 year olds in my family and my wife’s family are screen addicted without Facebook. They live on questionable news websites, messenger apps, Nextdoor, and some others.

It’s strange to hear a 60-something rant about how evil Facebook is and then go on to regurgitate countless conspiracy theories they picked up from whatever websites they’re reading this month.

The parents who scroll Instagram and Facebook feel downright tame in comparison.

	▲	pndy 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		For about 2-3 years now youtube itself is flooded with countless channels producing generated content. Whoever are the people behind this they know what they're doing and what kind of stuff will give them views and attention from vulnerable audience. There's fueling political and social rage with "news", casting doubts on family relations with "true life stories" (daughter-in-law threw me out of my house), religious "coaching" (dead since end of 60s Padre Pio gives you life lessons and "secret" prophecies), worthless tips and tricks (don't eat this nut if you're 50yo woman or your hair will fell off), lewd promotion with twist on history (sexual violence in every thumbnail) or tourism (women in country of x are "ready" all the time). So on and so on. So I'd say it's not that much strange if you look closely what kind of the content older people can walk onto. And this is just youtube.
	▲	parpfish an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I shouldnt be surprised that my mom is obsessed with her smartphone. As a kid, I remember her talking with friends on the landline phone for what seemed like HOURS

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blakblakarak 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My Dad’s got early stage dementia and Facebook is an absolute nightmare. The apps infested with AI slop and the algorithm seems to fill his feed with stuff designed to get him worked up (currently badly behaved cyclists even though he no longer drives).

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gzread 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Mine got Israeli propaganda and kept texting me so often about Hamas and Muslims that I had to block him.

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talon8635 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Mine got Iranian propaganda and kept texting me so often about IDF and Jews that I had to block him.

	▲	KoftaBob 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Iran's a sideshow compared to Tel Aviv's Hasbara spin factory.

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parpfish an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

old folks and children both face the same problem with the internet— their initial exposure is to the current internet that has been ab tested into a hyper-addictive hellscape and they are cognitively unprepared. Jumping straight into the deep end before you know how to swim.

Whereas genX and Xennials had the privilege of wading into a pre-social media internet during their formative years which served as a vaccine of sorts. We are by no means immune to tech addiction and disinformation, but we seem much better equipped for spotting trolls/ragebait and giving the side-eye to addictive dark patterns in apps