6 hours ago
(This post was last modified: 6 hours ago by C C.)
In the face of crisis, psychologists urge a return to the basics
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article...the_basics
EXCERPTS: In sessions on supporting youth mental health, the impact of technology, and “adulthood unmoored,” APA speakers agreed that many of us are struggling to find purpose and optimism amid technological, climate, and global disruption.
Psychologist Ali Mattu noted that over a decade ago, clients sought relief from stress and anxiety, which evolved to seeking relationship and connection support. “Now it’s despair, overwhelm, and meaning,” Mattu told the mainstage audience. “Anyone below the age of 50 here is really searching for meaning, connection, hope, and what do I do with all this overwhelm? What do I do with all of these systems that seem to be collapsing?”
Perfectionism and the paradox of choice often lie at the root of the overwhelm, said Thomas Curran, associate professor of social psychology at the London School of Economics. “We don’t worry about what we are doing; we worry about what we could be doing,” Curran said. “It’s like swimming in a vast expanse of ocean with nowhere to dock. It’s frightening, and it feels like no matter what we do, it’s never enough.”
The answer, Curran said: “Microdose bits of discomfort into daily life.” For young people, positive change means pushing back against the ubiquity of technology that purports to connect us but actually keeps us in separate bubbles, staring at our individual feeds.
[...] Iyer noted that tech firms wouldn’t be spending such unprecedented amounts of money on lobbying and marketing if they didn’t realize there’s a surge of resistance to artificial intelligence and social media dominating our lives. “The world is in our hands if we are willing to make the leap,” she said, noting a return to “weird” hobbies and in-person activity that replace digital time. “I see a lot of young people pushing back against that.”
AI models were trained on disproportionately white male–oriented data sets, noted Brendesha Tynes, professor of education and psychology at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, in urging a slowdown in the adoption of AI.
“Anti-Blackness is the default setting in AI,” Tynes said. Young people need skills “to identify, critique, and cope with the algorithmic bias in technologies that they might witness, and then also to eventually create better AI technologies that don’t have anti-Blackness bias.”
[...] In sessions across the three days of the conference, researchers presented papers and models for identifying and building on resilience in marginalized communities, from LGBTQ+ youth and adults to disabled and racially marginalized people of all ages... (MORE - details)
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CONTRARIAN AI: So it is not actually everyone "below the age of 50". But left-wing and Neo-Luddism conspiracy propaganda that portrays AI as being anti-woke. Along with a practical need to stoke up depictions of rampant oppression when political power is waning on that front. In contrast, some pockets of the right conceive and promote AI as being the opposite [woke]. But overall the productivity benefits drive acceptance of AI in the work sector, in contrast to the negativity of the cloistered humanities and its satellite social sciences.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article...the_basics
EXCERPTS: In sessions on supporting youth mental health, the impact of technology, and “adulthood unmoored,” APA speakers agreed that many of us are struggling to find purpose and optimism amid technological, climate, and global disruption.
Psychologist Ali Mattu noted that over a decade ago, clients sought relief from stress and anxiety, which evolved to seeking relationship and connection support. “Now it’s despair, overwhelm, and meaning,” Mattu told the mainstage audience. “Anyone below the age of 50 here is really searching for meaning, connection, hope, and what do I do with all this overwhelm? What do I do with all of these systems that seem to be collapsing?”
Perfectionism and the paradox of choice often lie at the root of the overwhelm, said Thomas Curran, associate professor of social psychology at the London School of Economics. “We don’t worry about what we are doing; we worry about what we could be doing,” Curran said. “It’s like swimming in a vast expanse of ocean with nowhere to dock. It’s frightening, and it feels like no matter what we do, it’s never enough.”
The answer, Curran said: “Microdose bits of discomfort into daily life.” For young people, positive change means pushing back against the ubiquity of technology that purports to connect us but actually keeps us in separate bubbles, staring at our individual feeds.
[...] Iyer noted that tech firms wouldn’t be spending such unprecedented amounts of money on lobbying and marketing if they didn’t realize there’s a surge of resistance to artificial intelligence and social media dominating our lives. “The world is in our hands if we are willing to make the leap,” she said, noting a return to “weird” hobbies and in-person activity that replace digital time. “I see a lot of young people pushing back against that.”
AI models were trained on disproportionately white male–oriented data sets, noted Brendesha Tynes, professor of education and psychology at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, in urging a slowdown in the adoption of AI.
“Anti-Blackness is the default setting in AI,” Tynes said. Young people need skills “to identify, critique, and cope with the algorithmic bias in technologies that they might witness, and then also to eventually create better AI technologies that don’t have anti-Blackness bias.”
[...] In sessions across the three days of the conference, researchers presented papers and models for identifying and building on resilience in marginalized communities, from LGBTQ+ youth and adults to disabled and racially marginalized people of all ages... (MORE - details)
- - - - - - - - - - -
CONTRARIAN AI: So it is not actually everyone "below the age of 50". But left-wing and Neo-Luddism conspiracy propaganda that portrays AI as being anti-woke. Along with a practical need to stoke up depictions of rampant oppression when political power is waning on that front. In contrast, some pockets of the right conceive and promote AI as being the opposite [woke]. But overall the productivity benefits drive acceptance of AI in the work sector, in contrast to the negativity of the cloistered humanities and its satellite social sciences.