Our September-October story “When We Were Friends” described the early days of Facebook at Harvard. We asked readers to share their attitudes toward social media—and give us their tips for limiting usage.
Here’s a sampling of the answers we received.
Would you support government-imposed social media restrictions for minors?
“The persuasive design features of social media are causing tremendous harm to society and children in particular. In addition, children should not have the ability to sign a contract to give away their data when they are not able to sign other contracts until they are adults.” –Jeff M.
“[It’s the] parents’ job to restrict, but the social media platforms should give the parents the tools to establish real guardrails. I might consider curbing some of the addictive practices that the platforms use—but I don’t like censorship.” –Stuart P.
“This is an issue for parents, not the government.” –Ross L.
“I was there when social media started and immediately saw how it was going to serve the platform and not the users. I’ve avoided it in the post-to-the-world cases since, as best I can. I believe it is not designed for the benefit of its users, and is actively harmful when it affects young minds.” –matt e.
“I wish that social media companies had more government regulations in general. I wish the government required social media companies to give users more control over what their experience is of the app. For instance, I wish I could get rid of the Instagram explore page, reels, and suggested posts. I wish I could receive an email when certain accounts post, so that I can detox from the site without missing alerts I actually don't want to miss. I wish I could watch Youtube without also seeing suggested videos. My point is that social media companies have too much power as it is. They are incentivized to maximize how long we spend on their platforms, and don't care about how that has affected users. We know that social media platforms are addictive, especially for young brains. The government should restrict usage for children, because it should pose restrictions on the companies more generally.” –Chloe B.
“Kids don’t have the executive function necessary to consume social media with appropriate levels of skepticism and distance.” –jon h.
“Social media has been weaponized against vulnerable individuals. I'm not sure ‘restrictions’ is the correct word, but print media and visual media (TV, movies, etc.) have regulations, guidelines, and penalties for violations. It seems bizarre to me that social media seems to operate in a space suspended from rational, common sense standards.” –jason S.
“I said I support restrictions, not necessarily for the government to impose restrictions, but for parents and guardians to impose those restrictions. We have seen how social media can lead to trauma, mental health crisis and violence." –jamie r.
What actions do you take to curb your social media usage?
