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s/o teen-friendly video explaining how social media algorithms manipulate us?


SKL
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I really want my kids to understand this better.  But I am The Establishment, one rung up from The Enemy.  I also Know Nothing and am Wrong.  And I am annoying.

There must be a teen-friendly video on YouTube that explain things, right?  Something that will make our kids feel and act smarter?  Links??

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I had my current teenager read this book as part of his logic course.  It's written by a CIA analyst and I felt like it went through things really well.  It literally starts with fake news in ancient times to establish that humans have been doing this literally forever.  

 

This one by a mathematician who worked on Wall Street is also really good and is up next for my kiddo.  It's all about Big Data and the ways we are being tracked and manipulated.  Its well written and not dry or boring.  

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@SKL 

My 17yr old studies this at university. She's happy to help with some resources but would like some clarification of what you're after.

Are you concerned about media literacy? Critical literacy in general? How algorithms actually work? How data is used by the platforms?

Or maybe you're concerned about specific things like social media and feminism, body image, race, oppression, porn? 

My daughter said that most of her sources are academic, but she's happy to try to find some books and videos.

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7 hours ago, scholastica said:

You could try The Social Dilemma. The “story” interspersed with the interviews is cheesy, but the interviews are informative. My youngest saw it and wants nothing to do with social media. 

I second this. We watched it as a family with my young (at the time) teens. They had zero social media until the last month of high school. It’s pretty necessary for college because IG is how the university and clubs communicate.

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1 hour ago, matrips said:

I second this. We watched it as a family with my young (at the time) teens. They had zero social media until the last month of high school. It’s pretty necessary for college because IG is how the university and clubs communicate.

Somehow my college kids have survived without social media. They just have zero interest. I never really told them not to. Though I heard the grapevine one may have actually gotten an instagram account recently.

The biggest problem? Buying and selling stuff? Third child (highschooler) has Facebook just for marketplace because he is always buying and selling things but he loses sales since people want to see his profile and he has almost nothing on it. 

Not arguing with you. Who knows what they miss out on but they seem to survive. 

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I'm not trying to get my kids off of social media.  They are high school seniors and their being on SM is not really up for discussion.  I want them to be more aware of how SM works to influence thought and behavior, so they will start out skeptical when they see something questionable.

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57 minutes ago, SKL said:

I'm not trying to get my kids off of social media.  They are high school seniors and their being on SM is not really up for discussion.  I want them to be more aware of how SM works to influence thought and behavior, so they will start out skeptical when they see something questionable.

My daughter recommends this author: Safiya Noble https://safiyaunoble.com/bio-cv/ 

 

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