How can tech tycoons allow such hatred?
Your news last week that Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been forced to order a blitz on internet suicide images reinforces my belief that social media has become the curse of today’s young generation.
Real friends have been replaced by virtual ones and groomers, face-to-face conversation is a rarity, playing sport or games is now done on screen and alone, and the ceaseless envy, spite, hatred and bullying goes unchecked.
I’m afraid the genie is now out of the bottle, but school governors could make a start by banning mobile phones during school hours, giving youngsters some respite to study and interact normally. Hopefully some parents might follow suit in their homes.
Roy Daniels, Luton What horrifies me is that troubled people can find each other so much more easily with social media. In the past, someone who might want to harm themselves could have gone their whole life without meeting a like-minded person. Now with only a few clicks they can plot together how they will harm themselves. Internet groups can be a force for good, but also the opposite is true.
J. McLean, Manchester Liz Jones was spot-on in her article last week in the wake of Molly Russell’s death after seeing images of self-harm on Instagram. Perhaps the only way to stop firms behaving so irresponsibly is locking up the bosses. D. Jones, Surrey I can only assume that some bosses and owners of social media sites have no children of their own, or nieces or nephews, and that none of their friends have children either. Because if there were any children anywhere in their lives, how could they face them or their parents, knowing what they allow on their moneymaking sites? K. Bennett, Cornwall There should be guidelines on social media use for children. Far too many youngsters define their worth by likes, shares and retweets. Even adults are affected by it. They feel disappointed, depressed or upset if no one likes their posts. Hope Bryan, Liverpool Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg wants you to use his site as much as possible, but that doesn’t apply to his own children. In creating Facebook Messenger Kids, his goal was to get people on Facebook from as young an age as possible. Yet in a public letter he wrote to his daughter, he said he wanted her to spend plenty of time reading books and playing outside. There was no mention of social media at all, not even ‘kid-friendly’ sites.
That he refuses to admit his apps are deliberately designed to be addictive or take any substantial steps to improve them speaks volumes of his hypocrisy.
Tech billionaires are all too happy to profit from everyone else using their apps, but when it comes to their own families they want them to stay far away.
A. Shaw, Burnley