MetaFilter

Social media is neither inherently beneficial or harmful to young people

I wanted my kids high school to ban phones before Jonathan Haidt wrote his book. I haven’t read his book and I still want my kids high school to ban phones.

It’s kind of funny seeing people say, “Haidt’s data is bogus, ipso facto social media and smart phone usage by adolescents is benign. Let’s blame the 2008 financial crisis.”

Solid data will be hard to come by, and short of that, we have to operate on common sense, intuition, and anecdata.… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 4:43 PM on April 25, 2024

an anecdote vs researchers who cite multiple meta-analyses

Unless I missed something, the meta-analyses don't claim that smartphones and social media are provably benign; they just say that the research is inconclusive all around. Those are very different things. When there isn't good research, it make sense for parents to rely on anecdotes and their own experience

As for Masnick's piece, I thought it was pretty good until he mis-capitalized danah boyd's name.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 1:59 PM on April 26, 2024

The Boston Globe just published an article about a recent study from Norway on the effects of banning smartphones in middle schools.
The study examined more than 400 middle schools in Norway that had implemented phone bans and relied on three primary data sources: a nationwide pupil survey, survey data on middle schools’ smartphone policies, and a compilation of Norwegian administrative datasets, including health and family registers.
The study showed improvements in… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 8:02 AM on April 27, 2024

The Portugal Model for Addressing the Overdose Crisis

The author also acknowledges that activists have a different role to play. They shouldn't be expected to be balanced.
We can’t rely on activists, advocates, and reformers to strike this type of balance, because it’s not their job,...Some activists have worked their entire adult lives to stop an inhumane war against people with addiction. They need to push the limits of reform as far as they can, forcing us to expand our beliefs about what is possible. On the other side, there are… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 9:23 AM on April 25, 2024

The Scientist of the Soul

I only ever read Where Am I. That was about 40 years ago, and I still remember it, and enjoy remembering it. Sorry to see him go.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 3:43 PM on April 20, 2024

Hippos no longer berserk

One Hippo all alone
calls two hippos on the phone.
Three hippos at the door
bring along another four.
Five hippos come overdressed.
Six hippos show up with a guest.
Seven hippos arrive in a sack
While eight hippos sneak in the back.
Nine hippos come to work.
All the hippos go berserk!
All through the hippo night
hippos play with great delight.
But at the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 4:27 PM on April 3, 2024

An Amazon reviewer wins the internet:

After they go berserk and get older, the get calmer. We need a “Hippos take out a mortgage” and “Hippos fill out FAFSA”.

posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 4:31 PM on April 3, 2024

"For everyone facing this disease ... You are not alone"

I lost my mom to cancer when I was fourteen. I just dropped a meal off for a family with kids whose mom has cancer. Fuck cancer.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 1:47 PM on March 22, 2024

"Law professors tend to be astonishingly bad at the whole 'law' thing"

(Did you mean to write "does not inoculate you", youthenrage?)
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 5:28 PM on February 18, 2024

Well that was an entertaining read. Thank you.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:50 PM on February 18, 2024

Wow, that's quite the follow up.

Right Hand: We admit no wrong doing.
Left Hand: We violated university policy and federal law.

LinkedIn profile update coming soon.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 7:06 AM on March 12, 2024

She wrote Lives of the Monster Dogs and then, silence.

First comment is from charismatic megafauna. How eponysterically appropriate.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 11:50 AM on February 17, 2024

Oldest Martian Meteorite on Earth Traced to Its Origin on the Red Planet

How can we tell that a meteorite came from Mars?
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 9:37 AM on August 4, 2023

Aka Venus Rocks.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 10:38 AM on August 4, 2023

Zuck's Twitter clone has arrived

When I set up my Threads account, I imported my Instagram follows, but that was pretty irrelevant, since I didn't use Instagram much. It meant I was connected to my sister and brother, and my brother's cat, and not much else. My feed was full of Paris Hilton.

But then I started scrolling through my Twitter feed, and every time I saw someone I wanted to stay connected to, I'd switch back over to Threads and look for them there. The hit rate was amazing. I'd put it about… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 7:07 AM on July 11, 2023

An Oral History of the Capitol Crawl

TL;DR but I believe this is covered in Crip Camp. It’s a great movie. Even though I lived through those years, I didn’t know any of the history. Very moving stories as well
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:44 AM on July 3, 2023

South Koreans become younger overnight after country scraps ‘Korean age’

My dad was 56 for a number of years, but no one passed legislation to force him to grow up.

Seriously, though, do the Korean systems really use January 1st? I had heard that traditionally. in China everyone got a year older on the lunar new year. I would have expected Korea to do something similar.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:35 AM on July 3, 2023

Wordle + Klondike = ???

It won't let me play words longer than 5 letters. Hrumph.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 3:02 PM on July 1, 2023

Daniel Ellsberg, April 7, 1931 – June 16, 2023

.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 2:05 PM on June 16, 2023

The note was short: "We've decided to live here."

At a time when we're seeing daily reports of people shooting strangers for ringing their doorbell or driving up to their house, it is important to be reminded that we can still choose to take joy in life and in the unknown neighbors who share our community. It is so wonderful that someone placed the dolls in that mailbox, and equally wonderful that the mailbox owners responded the way they did.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:25 PM on April 21, 2023

Twitter is (or was) down

It's time for Elon to turn over ops to ChatGPT.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 11:16 AM on March 6, 2023

Dianne Feinstein: Will she stay or will she go?

Everyone needs a trusted friend who's ready to tell them when it's time to leave the party. It's sad that it's gotten to this point.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 7:58 PM on February 14, 2023

@elonjet@mastodon.social

This was the plan all along.

Text messages to Musk from the Musk/Twitter law suit a few months ago. The replies indicate the messages were sent by Stephen Miller.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:00 AM on December 17, 2022

Ha, he banned Paul Graham.

(PG how it started / how its going.)
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 2:13 PM on December 18, 2022

Elon just posted a new poll:

I’m torn. My immediate reaction is to vote Yes. Get the hell out of there.

On the other hand, this whole meltdown has been so entertaining. And some other CEO might actually be able to successfully transform Twitter into global fascist network. At this point I really just want Twitter to fail so we can all move on.

So I guess I’m voting No.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 4:09 PM on December 18, 2022

Elon Musk now holds world record for largest loss of wealth ever.

But temper that schadenfreude with the knowledge that his tally sheet still runs over $100B.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:24 PM on January 10, 2023

Subterranean birdsite blues

Yeah, that was quite the entertaining demand letter.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:20 PM on December 1, 2022

I'm not sports person, but I have a Twitter list of entertaining Red Sox beat reporters.

I'm not a scientist, but I have a Twitter list of trusted epidemiologists.

I'm a white man, but I follow a lot of black women and learn a lot from them.

I'm basically cis-het, but I follow a lot of trans activists.

I'm far left progressive, but I follow some never Trump conservatives.… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 8:22 AM on December 5, 2022

Twitter is able to see the contents of direct messages. So technically, Elon can read anything and let anyone he wants read anything. It would probably violate the terms of service and maybe be illegal. So the question is really whether Musk will be able to resist the temptation. Your call.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 5:16 PM on December 8, 2022

Screen shot posted by Bari Weiss showing her dashboard view of the Libs of TikTok account. It includes a menu option "Direct Messages".

This leaves many questions unanswered. Will the Direct Messages link actually show her the DMs, or will there be a security barrier? Can she vie any account, or just selected accounts that she's requested access for.

As far as I know, these questions haven't been answered. Given the way Musk has… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:35 AM on December 9, 2022

I doubt average Twitter employees or even folks working in trust and safety have blanket access to DMs. I expect such access is restricted with some controls on access.

I'm sure that in the past Twitter had an access control system to prevent misuse of PII, including Direct Messages. But that's like saying "in the past, the president of the United States didn't use the IRS to target enemies." People like Donald Trump and Elon Musk have made… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 8:24 AM on December 9, 2022

Casey Newton also announced on Platformer that he is essentially leaving Twitter. He will tweet his Platformer updates, but won't be tweeting otherwise, or engaging with others on the site.
Now, awaiting Musk’s latest tweets, I find myself anxious that one of his former employees could be physically assaulted or worse over what the CEO is posting. I don’t know how, in that environment, [I can] make little jokes about Google’s latest failed messaging app, or bad PR pitches, or any of… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:37 PM on December 12, 2022

This would be a good time to repost the epic demand letter from labor attorney Akiva Cohen threatening Musk with thousands of arbitration cases across the US if he attempts to renege on his severance commitments.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 4:43 PM on December 13, 2022

Dear Twitter Advertisers

On a lighter note, Ben Collins has put out a call for the best tweets ever, and people are obliging.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 11:01 AM on October 27, 2022

Deactivated my Twitter account today.

The problem is that reporters won’t delete their Twitter accounts. It will still drive the press agenda, and to the extent it becomes more of a cesspool, the whole news media landscape will be more of a cesspool.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 1:49 PM on October 27, 2022

Looks like the layoff number is 25%.

That's the first round.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:33 AM on November 1, 2022

As someone who has never used Mastodon, I found this thread and the responses somewhat helpful in understanding the differences between Twitter and Mastodon. If nothing else, it highlights the fact that you shouldn't think of Mastodon as a Twitter clone, and if you do you'll end up disappointed. It sounds like it will serve the needs of some Twitter users, but not the needs of many others.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 11:02 AM on November 2, 2022

It may be hilarious, but it's also disingenuous. Very few people will understand the difference between a gray and blue checkmark. This UI will strengthen disinformation campaigns.

If they truly wanted to indicated "paying customer", they should use a blue dollar-sign rather than a check mark. But they must think showing that simple reality would be déclassé. And actually, it would be a cent-sign. If the $8 fee is adjusted for local economic conditions, as… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:49 AM on November 9, 2022

I love that the new Twitter is helping us find out how real, verified people really feel. People like

Tony Blair and George W Bush

Several popes and Martin Luther

And perhaps most importantly, Jesus.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 3:55 PM on November 10, 2022

When someone explains how Mastodon works
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 7:12 PM on November 12, 2022

Science Twitter is valuable, but Twitter is going through an uncertain phase at the moment. Let's archive the Science Twitter follow graph using scientists' ORCIDs just in case. We built a tool for this.

Via Carl T. Bergstrom.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 9:42 AM on November 14, 2022

I wonder what will come first: corporate bankruptcy, or a long-term service outage? For a while it looked like financial collapse would be the next big turning point, coming within a matter of months. But now it feels like the service could go dark at any moment, and there wouldn't be sufficient staff with the right expertise to get it restarted for a long time.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 7:46 AM on November 16, 2022

According to Casey Newton, “the Pragmatic Engineer newsletter reported that internal polls show only 25 percent of software engineers at the company intend to stay.”
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 1:55 PM on November 17, 2022

Alex Cohen is a "mostly parody account". (I wish it had been true, though.)
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:12 PM on November 17, 2022

Just scrolled through my timeline, and it’s sad. Everyone is saying goodbye.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 8:11 PM on November 17, 2022

Twitter is currently blocking tweets that include a link to joinmastodon.com. If you try to post a tweet that includes that URL, you get a message saying "Tweet not sent".

Via Dr. Meredith Wills.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:32 AM on November 18, 2022

Latest rumor is that Apple App Store and Google play store are attempting to figure out when/if to pull Twitter from their stores.

No one should be surprised by this. Which is another way of saying that Elon will be shocked and blindsided when it happens. But really, if those app stores blocked the release of Parler until they increased moderation, it's hard to see how they can allow the current version of Twitter.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 2:35 PM on November 21, 2022

Yes, rahaeli. I believe this was the thread.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 6:26 AM on November 22, 2022

Man repatriates 19 antiquities after reading Guardian article

The most honest way is the straightforward way.’

Such a simple lesson. “I wanted to do the right thing.” Here’s hoping more people get back to that.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 8:43 PM on November 12, 2022

That's a Long, Long, Long Learning Curve

.
posted to MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 12:02 PM on November 3, 2022