This is the subreddit for and by listeners of Crooked Media podcasts like Pod Save America (formerly Keepin' it 1600) hosted by Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor, and Dan Pfeiffer.
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synopsis; Is it time for you to make an AI friend? Jon and Max weigh the pros and cons of robot affirmation, sink their teeth into a new study on smart phone bans in schools, and then turn their attention to something they’re both very qualified to talk about: the rap beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake that’s reanimating Twitter. Plus, a new East vs. West feud takes shape as the guys face off for Vote Save America’s “Organize…or else” campaign. Head to https://votesaveamerica.com/2024 to ally yourself with your favorite Offline host.
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A lot of these algorithms are based on math that has been around for several decades, the difference over the recent past has been an increase in compute power and the amount of data pumped into them. China's compute is not ahead of the west and they have also been sanctioned pretty heavily from buying advanced semiconductors, so that really just leaves user data powering this thing. I.e. if tiktok's algo is really that much more addicting than the other flavors of social media, it is likely because the Chinese app is more aggressive at collecting user data opposed to a more sophisticated version of decades old math.
It is the whitest thing ever to compare lyrically-dense rap beefs to Taylor Swift. Classic Favs
White millennials gonna white millennial
Their answer to use Instagram Reels was incredibly disappointing; Facebook/Meta has been directly implicated in political interference and genocide. Why are we having this discussion without acknowledging abuses by U.S tech companies
Also I am FIRMLY against banning cell phones in American schools with the risks of school shootings; children here need to be able to contact their parents quickly.
This is a huge misunderstanding the the scales of harms. School shootings are rare while the everyday harms of phones in school are widespread and common. How much good does it even do for kids to be able to contact their parents quickly in the rare event of a shooting?
We have had to go pick up my niece from school a few times because of a shooting threat. She was understandably upset and wanted her family. Being able to contact her quickly was incredibly useful. I'm not against making them have their phone off at school, I think that's smart, but no, I remain firmly against making them leave their phone at home. And I might even support that if we address gun violence first.
That's still very rare compared to the day-to-day issues with phones. What would have been the long-term harm if she had needed to use a school phone to call her family instead?
The time it would take every child to use a school phone to not just call their family but keep calling until they identify who can pick them up vs. being able to send a group text to the family to determine it quickly. The volume of kids at the school vs the number of school phones
App permissions are pretty restricted, lots of hyperbole and straight up misinformation here. Tiktok is monitoring your keystrokes as much as google or apple are. The real concern would be at the OS level, but there been no rush to ban foreign OS software. The tiktok ban is not based in reality.
Tiktok being harmful is a questionable claim lacking evidence. Legislators werent concerned about myspace or facebook harming us. They arent concerned about youtube or snapchat harming us, nor twitter. Why is this magically the only harmful form of a social media platform?
I'm all for being skeptical of social media and its potential harms. but I feel like banning phones has the same energy as banning calculators. Every job on the planet has people with a phone available in their pocket 24/7, if they aren't capable of learning with it, thats a problem with the education, not with the phone in their pocket. Social media being harmful to kids makes sense to me. I think an 8th grade ish requirement is sensible. but thats not "no phone until 8th grade", its no social media until 8th grade. The reality is that roblox and minecraft are social media, fortnite is social media. You cant actually eliminate social media from kids.
No that can still be a problem with the phone in their pocket. Comparing it to a calculator is silly. A calculator can only really be used as a tool in pursuit of education (besides the smart kids who figure out how to program their calculators which is still of very limited use). A phone can be used for a lot more than that.
A pen can be used for a lot more than education too, but we dont ban pens.
Its a versatile tool, just like any other. If its disrupting education then limit its uses within the classroom. But banning it from free time and their life outside seems excessive and overly paranoid/panic driven.
Comparing a pen to a phone is even worse. This is just ridiculous
The most unsatisfying thing about our legislators right now - on both sides of the aisle - is their unwillingness to tackle Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. with the same fervor that they do TikTok.