To End mindless scrolling.

SMART Act to the rescue!

[blend27]

A bill proposed by a freshman Senator on Tuesday is meant to curb social media addiction by regulating the techniques that prolong engagement on the platforms.

What is targeted on major SM platforms:

1. INFINITE SCROLL OR AUTO REFILL
2. ELIMINATION OF NATURAL STOPPING POINTS
3. AUTOPLAY
4. BADGES AND OTHER AWARDS LINKED TO ENGAGEMENT WITH THE PLATFORM

From WP: [washingtonpost.com...]
The Bill as it is now: [hawley.senate.gov...]

Maybe it is a good thing after all.

What do you think?

[LifeinAsia]

What do you think?

That yet another politician is trying yet again to have the government decide/control/regulate what individual citizens/businesses can and cannot do simply because they (the government) think they know better than everyone else.

[ken_b]

I'd tell you what I really think of this idea, but we don't do politics at WW.

And even if we did, and I did, the PC police would be all over me :P

[graeme_p]

Politicians think every problem can be solved by passing a law.

There is also what "Yes Minister" described as the politician's syllogism:

1. We must to something
2. This is something
3. Therefore we must do this.

[brotherhood of LAN]

Some people are built this way, to just consume information like food. Worked with someone that had a bad dose of ADHD - all over the social networks, 'random image of the day' on browser invocation, a gazillion tabs open. You could send him to the shop for a pint of milk and he'd end up joining the army and come back 2 years later with 10 loaves of bread.

I deleted my FB account. You load it up not really knowing what you're going to see, and of course with the practices they have in place to keep you on there longer. I don't think legislation is helpful. Education to people who are capable of choosing would be my preferred way. For others, it's a vice like any other.

If anything, legislate it like gambling. In the UK a person can request a self-imposed ban. Maybe not a bad thing that.

[engine]

It's human nature to want to find out more, and some people are more obsessed than others. Some can't help plating games over days. Some can't help but binge watch a whole series of shows as soon as released. Some can't help but clean and tidy the kitchen, and tidy it again because one item has moved out of place.
It's a human trait.

Users of the Net became net surfers, spending many hours following links and exploring.

Long copy pages became obsessive: you know the ones, "let me tell you how you can achieve great riches over a weekend, but before I do, let's understand why you want it..." etc.

Then infinite scrolling sites... Don't get me started, some are absolutely dreadful.

I don't believe you can legislate over this: For example, how much scrolling is too much?

IMHO, more has to be done to educate people that being locked in to social media is not the real world. For me, that is a bigger problem.

[Marshall]

A bill proposed by a freshman Senator on Tuesday is meant to curb social media addiction by regulating the techniques that prolong engagement on the platforms.

While to some degree this may be laudable, this is the least of our problems right now.

[blend27]

First it was a ...more... link on shortened "articles" to get you to click on stuff so more & more page views are registered, then came auto scroll, auto play, auto fill. All of that with Buttons and badges, heck even have some here.

But before all that it was Starship Troopers!

Newsreel announcer:
Join the Mobile Infantry and save the Galaxy. Service guarantees citizenship. Would you like to know more?

----------------------------------------------
On other note: I watched several high profile confirmation hearings and major testimonies over the past 9 month, C-Span, and guess what? They are all on their phones giggling and tapping while camera is not pointing at them directly... Just an observation...

[Dimitri]

"BADGES AND OTHER AWARDS LINKED TO ENGAGEMENT WITH THE PLATFORM "

Hey!

[graeme_p]

I do not think infinite scrolling is the problem.

The main things that draw people in are notifications of various types: replies to comments, emails telling you someone has posted something, ....

[JS_Harris]

Infinite scrolling is a problem, but not the problem he's describing. That sounds like the excuse for more legislation to me.

Also, Freshman senators often don't know as much as seasoned webmasters or big tech employees, his motion should be ignored. If it's not it would be worth investigating it's origin and seeing who he's working for, what he's proposing is unconstitutional, people have the freedom to scroll for 20 years straight if they have the fridge and toilet close enough together.

Endless scroll is probably more of a problem for advertisers wanting accurate time on page info or data recorders who have to deal with 10x more pages viewed.

Killing autoplay would also be counter-intuitive. Right now it helps visitors know they've landed on a bad site.

[ronin]

I can't stand infinite scrolling.

I'll take pagination every time.

I consider infinite scrolling a usability fail.

[Dimitri]

Infinite scrolling is to be one with the Universe

[graeme_p]

Killing autoplay would also be counter-intuitive. Right now it helps visitors know they've landed on a bad site.

Funniest WW comment in a while