🔎 How to prevent TikTok from controlling your life… and your vote
🔎 How to prevent TikTok from controlling your life… and your vote
ALSO: New youth vote spells trouble for Biden, Gaza ceasefire negotiations explained, and Kendrick Lamar's surprise graduation speech
A new study suggests that when young people are addicted to the internet and social media, it changes their brain chemistry. This could result in even more addictive tendencies and negative behavior changes that can affect mental health, intellectual ability, development and even physical coordination. (More from Guardian)
Knowing the impact of social media on the brain raises questions on the impact that political content on TikTok has on swaying people’s views and votes. More than half of all teens use TikTok daily (17% use it “almost constantly”), according to a Pew Survey, and researchers at Baylor found that TikTok users in particular are prone to getting addicted to the app.
TikTok can be particularly addictive because it’s driven by algorithms designed to keep users hooked and emotionally invested. The app tracks what videos get users to engage and keep watching, and then delivers more similar content from like-minded accounts.
This brings up concerns that TikTok can be used to spread propaganda and disinformation. And researchers at Loyola Marymount University found that TikTok users are more likely to follow and share political content than users of other apps. (More on this from Vox)
So what can you do to avoid social media taking over your life and swaying your opinions? The AP asked young people, who grew up using social media, what they wished they knew when they first got online.
The advice they shared include:
“Don’t take it too seriously”
“Tell my parents to set up time limits for me... I would try to resist [TikTok] as long as I could. It’s so addictive.”
“Take a social media detox”
“You are the one in control”
“It’s a waste of time”
“A lot of it is not real”
Young voters backed Biden in 2020, but this time things look different
A new poll found that just one-third of all young Americans said they would back Biden if the election was held at the time the survey was conducted. University of Chicago’s latest GenForward survey also reflects a virtual tie in the race. Biden leads former President Donald Trump by just two points, and 34% of respondents are currently backing a third-party candidate or said they would support “someone else.” The poll also found that the war in Gaza is not the top voting issue for most young Americans. Instead, economic concerns, particularly over inflation, remain front and center. (NPR)
Dig Deeper:
↪ Democratic Strategist James Carville suggests Biden, Trump causing young voters to disengage: ‘My greatest fear’ (The Hill)
↪ Hollywood vets and Biden alums launch super PAC to shore up his youth vote problem (Politico)
↪ ‘SNL’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’ writers pitch ads to help Biden reach younger voters (The Wrap)
↪ Trump's bid to steal the youth (Axios)
🗞️ In other News
➤ Supreme Court rejects bid to restrict access to abortion pill
The court found that anti-abortion doctors who questioned the FDA’s easing of access to the pill did not have legal standing to sue. (NBC News)
➤ Pope Francis uses homophobic slur for gay men for 2nd time in just weeks
Just weeks after apologizing for using a homophobic slur, Pope Francis used the same word again during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, according to Italian news agency ANSA. (CBS News)
➤ San Francisco declares itself a sanctuary city for transgender people
San Francisco is the third California city to make this declaration behind West Hollywood and Sacramento (NBC Bay Area)
➤ A Florida school district banned a book about banned books
The Indian River County school district banned Alan Gratz’s “Ban This Book,” about a fourth-grader determined to return removed titles to her school’s shelves. (Washington Post)
🌎 Around the world
➤ Gaza ceasefire plan hangs in balance as US says Hamas seeking changes
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Hamas had proposed numerous changes, some unworkable, to a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, but that mediators were determined to close the gaps. (Reuters)
Dig Deeper:
↪ The perplexing state of Gaza ceasefire negotiations, explained (Vox)
↪ Multiple acts of vandalism across NYC linked to war in the Middle East (ABC7NY)
➤ The far right made big gains in European elections. What’s next, and why does it matter?
Far-right forces could now influence or block joint EU-wide policies on migration, security and climate change. (AP)
Related: Can this 28-year-old far-right politician be France's next prime minister? (Washington Post)
➤ Banana giant Chiquita to pay millions over human rights abuses
Banana company Chiquita Brands International has been found liable for financing a far-right Colombian paramilitary group and ordered to pay $38.3 million in damages to the families of eight men killed by the group during the country's civil war, a federal jury in Florida decided. (USA Today)
🗳️ Politics
➤ Sandy Hook survivors call for gun control as they graduate high school
Newtown students declare ‘time for change’ more than 11 years after one of the deadliest US school shootings (Guardian)
➤ Biden's Title IX protections for LGBTQ students struck down by Texas court
A judge ruled on guidance that said schools could be denied federal funding for discriminating against students based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. (NBC News)
➤ ACLU sues Biden administration over new executive action on the southern border
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday challenging the Biden administration’s new executive actions that block migrants from seeking asylum at the southern U.S. border when crossings surge. (NPR)
💰 Money
➤ These young people invest in fitness. What should you spend on exercise?
New generations of Gen Z and Millennial consumers view exercise as a financial priority, and they are investing significant portions of their income into fitness. (Washington Post)
👩💻 Technology
➤ The delicate art of turning your parents into content
Across TikTok and Instagram, Gen Z creators are casting their Gen X elders as heroes, foils, antagonists, and comic relief. (The New Yorker)
➤ How Fizz, an anonymous messaging app for Gen Z, tore a high school apart
The app allows students to share anonymous posts and is meant to be "uplifting" (Business Insider)
➤ What Gen Z wants from AI policymakers
An interview with Sneha Revanur, one of the leading Gen Z voices calling for AI guardrails (Semafor)
🎓 College Corner
➤ Kendrick Lamar gives surprise speech at 2024 Compton College graduation
Taking the stage during the midpoint of the ceremony, much to the surprise of the class of 2024, Lamar expressed pride for his city, and hope for the next generation. (Consequence Sound)
🍿Pop Culture
➤ Ariana Grande still “reprocessing” time on Nickelodeon amid ‘Quiet on Set’ allegations
"I think the environment just needs to be made a lot safer all around," the musician, who starred in 'Victorious' and 'Sam & Cat,' said. (Hollywood Reporter)
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