#social-media-addiction

#social-media-addiction

Are people turning away from social media? But that tide might be finally, yet slowly, turning. My Gen Z students have recently been the ones telling me about social media "cleanses", whereby they take a break from it all for a prescribed duration, and "grayscaling" their socials (whereby color images turn to black and white, making them less eye-candy-esque-and all around having better cellphone etiquette such as putting it away during class and turning it off at night.

oh my gosh yall IG is a drug,

TikTok has agreed to settle a social media addiction lawsuit just days before trial, while Instagram and YouTube are still on the hook for the landmark legal action that accuses the tech giants of deliberately designing their platforms to exploit and harm children. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but plaintiffs attorneys told The Associated Press that an agreement had been reached on Tuesday, just as jury selection was getting underway in Los Angeles.

The social video platform was one of three companies - along with Meta's Instagram and Google's YouTube - facing claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum. At the core of the case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials "KGM," whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out.

TikTok has reached a settlement in a closely-watched lawsuit over social media addiction, narrowly avoiding a trial that's scheduled to begin jury selection Tuesday. Terms of the deal, which was reported by The New York Times, weren't disclosed. TikTok's settlement comes about one week after Snap reached a settlement in the same case. The trial is expected to move forward in Los Angeles with Meta and YouTube as the only defendants.

When AI wearable company Friend blanketed New York City with ads last month, there was significant backlash. Many of the company's ads (which included rage-baiting copy like, "I'll never bail on our dinner plans") ended up defaced with graffiti that called the product "AI trash," "surveillance capitalism," and a tool to "profit off of loneliness."