Comment by mchannon | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mchannon | Hacker News Reader

I can't help but wonder if there's not another side to this coin.

Just as gangs run prisons to effects both bad and good, I wonder if the new norms these young cyborgs (can't live without the technology that's glued to them) don't have a silver lining about them.

Parents have a window into their kids' social circles that they didn't use to have.

The four big bullies who'd corner the skinny kid in the alley and pummel him can instantly be repelled by a 4 ounce piece of plastic. Not repelled, deterred.

This brave new world has terrors aplenty and perhaps it's not a net positive that every teenager comes preinstalled with a battery of apps. But maybe it could be a net positive and we haven't realized it.

I can't think of much more terrifying as a 14 year old than if my parents had a window into my world. And I had a great relationship with them.

I would have rather gotten beat up once or twice as a kid, and learn to handle it, than have constant parental surveillance.

Privacy really is dead.

Isn't that just a matter of having parents that respect your privacy (in other words: good parents)?

I definitely think there's a silver lining (at least here in Russia). My theory is that smartphones reduce street crime and bullying by providing stimulation.

Back in the eighties when I grew up, the world was much, much less stimulating than it is now. Bullies bullied weaker people, hit on girls and tortured animals just to get their dopamine fixes and to alleviate boredom.

Now all the potential bullies have smartphones full of apps. And the homescreen apps they have on their phones are the result of a decade of competitive evolution -- they are apex attention predators. As a result, their smartphones provide them with more than enough stimulation to keep them occupied all day: porn, dating, gossip, news, games, gambling.

As a result, I haven't been mugged in a decade (knock wood). There were a couple of tries, but I just disregarded them.

I say this is good.

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