this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
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[–] Analog@lemmy.ml 70 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Post headline deserves a downvote. Quote from article:

Lanier asked Mosseri what he thought of K.G.M's longest single day of use of Instagram being 16 hours.

"That sounds like problematic use," the Instagram boss answered. He did not call it an addiction.

He also didn’t say it was a tomato. Like wtf do you want, I can’t tell if he was asked specifically if 16 hours a day was an addiction. The prior question was about whether he had known she had a 16hr day, and he had not. (He should have; poor trial prep.)

This is sensationalist BS and I dearly want this platform to be better than that.

Just so we’re clear, Meta can die in a fire and the world would be better off, I’m not defending them in the slightest.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 69 points 2 days ago (3 children)

The title is accurate.

He was asked if it was an addiction, and he repeatedly used technicalities and weaseley language to refuse to admit it.

"It's important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use," [Instagram head Adam Mosseri] added.

"I'm sure I've said that I've been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don't think it's the same thing as clinical addiction."

Yet, Mosseri repeatedly said he was not an expert in addiction in response to Lanier's questioning.

[–] lmmarsano@group.lt 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

he repeatedly used technicalities and weaseley language to refuse to admit it

see

Yet, Mosseri repeatedly said he was not an expert in addiction in response to Lanier’s questioning.

Even if a nonexpert claims something is clinical addiction, they're a nonexpert & their word is meaningless. For a credible statement, they'll need to admit relevant evidence instead of ask a nonexpert.

Imagine being asked for a medical diagnosis when you're not a qualified physician. It's perfectly fair to point out you're not an expert on the matter & point out your awareness of distinctions between imprecise conventional language & precise, scientific definitions.

No one is obligated to volunteer dubious claims to antagonize themselves on the stand just because you want them to.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 4 points 1 day ago

Pam Bondi, is that you?

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world -1 points 1 day ago (3 children)

He's right. Clinical addiction has nothing to do with how much you do something, it has to do with how much it causes problems in your life. I know everyone on Lemmy is tripping over their own hard ons to kill corporations, but there are people using lemmy 16 hours a day and if laws are passed to fight Internet addiction, they will not specifically target corporations. We all go down together. Just ask the creator of Urban Dead.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So someone doing Heroin everday is not addicted if it doesn't cause any problems in life? Clinical Addiction absolutely does have to do with how much you do something (and other factors of course).

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

That's a physical addiction. Drug addiction is a problem physicians handle. Psychologists handle addiction to video games, gambling, sex, the Internet, etc and that's how they define addiction.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 0 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

That is simply not correct. It is true that addiction to substances ends in physical dependency. But at its core all addiction is psychological. A heroin addict doesn't relapse after two years of being sober because he's still physically addicted to it. In most cases it's about missing the capacity for emotional regulation. And people addicted to substances don't get treated by physicians, at least where I'm from.

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

It is correct. If you do heroin everyday, you will have physical problems. If you stop playing Team Fortress 2 and it causes you to start shaking, vomiting, and shitting your pants, then that's comparable to heroin. But you won't do that so they're not the same types of addiction. That's why the medical community defines addiction by how something affects your life and not by some arbitrary number of times you do it.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

There are more than one criteria by which addiction gets defined. One of these absolutely is how often you do something. How it affects you is not the only criteria by which the medical community defines an addiction, albeit one of them.

Heroin Addiction is different to Team Fortress addiction in the same way it is different to Cannabis addiction, they are all unique in how they affect you. The physical and psychological effects of cannabis addiction are going to be different to the ones of heroin and internet addiction.

If they were only defined by how they affect you, like you argue, then every addiction would be a unique type of addiction, which is not how we define them

Again at the core all addiction is psychogical. We don't differenciate between them on basis of physical effects.

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

So how many hours of TF2 can you play a day before doctors will diagnose you with an addiction? Four, eight, sixteen?

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I'm sorry but did you even read my comment? As in the part where I explain there are multiple criterias that define an addiction?

But to take the numbers mentioned in the Post, yes, 16 hours of instagram use are an extremely strong indication of an addiction. If more criteria are fulfilled then it will definetely be diagnosed as an addiction.

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Yes I read your comment. So if a man is compelled to murder two hobos a month and can't break the habit, that would not be a strong indication of an addiction?

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 0 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I mean I know you asked this as a kind of gotcha, but yes psychologists have long argued that seriel killing can be classified as a behavioral addiction. Ted Bundy himself said he felt addicted to killing.

[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 0 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

It's not a gotcha. It's more of the Socratic method.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 1 points 1 hour ago

Lol ok. I guess that means you don't have actual arguments or are just trying to be a troll.

Either way, have a good one.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I guess we could chalk it up to bad journalism because the example was purely anecdotal. It‘s frustrating for sure.

[–] maturelemontree@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That still sounds misleading. He was not speaking for 16 hours of use which is what the headline suggests. As other has stated, I hope those companies crumble but I think honesty is important, not sensationalization.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 18 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I fear for the future of reading comprehension. Before the portion Analog quotes, the article gives people multiple paragraphs of context to understand addiction as what is being talked about. I don't expect the word to be wedged into every sentence about the same topic. Meta's Adam Mosseri was clearly doing everything in his playbook to not use the word "addiction" in a sentence.

And Adam Mosseri knew better. We know he's been confronted with evidence of addiction but doesn't want to listen.

But I do find it much more concerning that Analog appointed himself judge of bad articles, then either accidentally or intentionally omitted the preceding paragraphs that I had to quote for him.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 33 points 2 days ago

The entire line of questioning was about addiction and the CEO was pretending it wasn't (he didn't want up admit the truth because his company would be liable). The headline was accurate and your take is officially a hot one.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Something something defending the billionaires! /s

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml -4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I just dislike sensationalism.

If the truth isn’t enough, then I don’t want it.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

You dislike the truth. You should watch Tobacco CEOs deny that cigarettes were an addiction.

https://youtu.be/A6B1q22R438

[–] XLE@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Hopefully Analog returns to Lemmy in far less than 12 days, and heavily edits their comments to reflect their error

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, that was some serious ninja editing.

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What editing? Didn’t edit either if those posts.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

The comments I replied to were heavily edited after I replied. You can comment at the bottom with an Edit: and then explain what you changed. Otherwise, it is known as a ninja edit and it is generally frowned upon because it makes the conversations convoluted. Cheers!

[–] XLE@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Since you care deeply about truth or something, when will you be correcting your comments that, at best, lack huge amounts of truth that change the contents you put forth? At best, you accidentally skipped multiple paragraphs that contradict your claims. At less best, you knew better.

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Post said he said a thing. He did not say the thing. Not complicated.

Could have worded the post title to be accurate: didn’t. Instead, lied.

Words matter. Truth matters. Interpretation is how you get religious people performing atrocities based on millennia old writings.

“[Asshole] Squirms Under Questioning, Refuses To Admit 16hrs A Day Is Addictive Behavior.”

Not hard.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Your comments now are a huge shift from

"That sounds like problematic use," the Instagram boss answered. He did not call it an addiction.

He also didn’t say it was a tomato.

Seems that, in the interest of accuracy, you should update them, lest you be the thing you claim others are.

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I recommend a re-read, my good buddy, of all my posts in this thread.

Truth. Not lies. Not conjecture.

This can be the truth that he was dodging the question.

Don’t say people said things they didn’t say. Simple.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Your original post was a lie, or dumb accident, through omission. And now that you know better, you are lying intentionally in it.

You know damn well they were talking about addiction and not tomatoes. And yet you dishonestly tell people those two things are the same.

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Did the douchebag say exactly what the post title said he said?

[–] XLE@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Have you walked back your lie comparing the actual topic of addiction to the irrelevant topic of tomatoes? Make sure you post an explicit correction along with an apology.

"If the truth isn't enough, I don't want it." Please demonstrate.

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml -2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

You support lying. Good to know.

If you don’t understand the tomato comment, no wonder you’re having so much trouble with the interpretation and lying topics!

[–] XLE@piefed.social 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

There's no way you can say that the inquiry was about tomatoes as much as it was about addiction. Not without being incredibly stupid or incredibly dishonest.

You are now intentionally leaving out multiple paragraphs of content that would prove the opposite, which adds to your deception.

Demonstrate a grain of honesty by fixing your lies and maybe you'll have a right to talk.

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

You really don’t understand and are just driving the point home the more you post. I feel kinda sorry for you.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Please defend your use of your lying false equivalency. Demonstrate your wisdom, Truth Seeker.

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

What do you think my original point was?

Yours was essentially “it doesn’t matter if he said addiction or not, he was dodging the question. All the evidence points towards him claiming that much usage is not an addiction.”

[–] XLE@piefed.social 0 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I told you what your point was. Over and over. And I told you how you were misleading (and now, just intentionally dishonest). Quite a few people seem to understand exactly what I told you.

So if you think there's a communication issue, it's on your side to fix.

[–] Analog@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

You got it wrong and aren’t willing to recognize that. The fact that you can’t even paraphrase my point (no matter how wrong you think I am) shows just how out of your depth that you are.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 1 points 1 hour ago

The stupid/malicious dichotomy just keeps coming up with you, huh. How did you miss the explanations? Ditto for your original wrong comment.

Even if you think you are right, o arbiter of truth, apparently dozens of people disagree with your take when shown context. That's on you bro. Go fix it.

[–] XLE@piefed.social -1 points 1 day ago

@RemindMe@feddit.org about correcting misinformation in 24 hours

[–] bold_atlas@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah and you probably think headlines that say "suspect dead after ICE-involved incident" is fine and that "ICE performs summary execution of innocent person" is sensationalism.

[–] luciferofastora@feddit.org -1 points 2 days ago

The post accurately copies the article's headline without editorialising.

The article itself is shit though.