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Comment by ckosidows | Hacker News Reader

This is a false equivalence. I don't use a product _because_ it's got an endless scroll. I use a product and then they add that "feature" without giving me an option. I would, and have, turned it off when possible. But it's not currently possible to do so on apps like Reddit.

In no way is this like yogurt. If I don't like that one yogurt has trace amounts of heroin in it, I can buy a different yogurt. If I don't like that reddit has an infinite scroll, I have to miss out on conversations in communities I like. There simply aren't similar communities I've ever been able to find for certain topics. And anything similar also has an infinite scroll (Facebook, twitter, etc.).

If, in your example, all yogurts had trace amounts of heroin in them, I would agree with the comparison.

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Fortunately social media contains neither heroin nor nicotine. All clear!

You seem incredibly sure about the health safety of a technology we've had for ~20 years and of which the daily usage has been steadily rising in that time. US kids average 5 hours/day on social media.

By the way heroin use was widespread in the early 1900s, it took decades to regulate it even though the addictive and detrimental effects were very obvious to everyone. And let's not get started on nicotine. See the similarities?

I wasn’t aware that there was a public health exemption to the first amendment, and I’m having trouble finding it. Can you show me where to find it?

ony if you explain how infinite scroll is necessary for freedom of speech and of the press

It doesn’t have to be necessary to be protected. 1A does not require that speech be “necessary”. Your rights are your rights.

You still are missing the point which is: how does infinite scroll relate to freedom of speech? It just doesn't.

How does choosing your book’s font and margins apply to freedom of speech? Why should you get to choose that as an author/publisher?

> How does choosing your book’s font and margins apply to freedom of speech?

The fonts and margins dont communicate anything by themselves. There is a book that communicates ideas/opinions and that is what's protected by the first amendment. If someone found a font that exploits the brains reward mechanism and causes all sorts of mental health problems perhaps that should be regulated too.

Infinite scroll doesn't communicate anything by itself, it is purely a revenue maximizing feature that, as it turns out, has negative effects for people. There is no underlying idea or opinion here that Meta is communicating that should be protected by free speech.

Tell me you’ve never done serious graphic design work without telling me

Fonts are protected, you say? Then what if someone makes a font where every character is a different scene of child pornography? Would it be protected?

should we check with you every time we want to do anything or...?

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