Francis Williams' Philosophy Blog

 The majority of social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, set the minimum age restriction for users at 13. This age limit was established in a 1998 legislation that prevented online webservices from collecting children's data without parental consent. Since then 13 has become the standard for companies like Facebook to adhere to when setting minimum age restrictions. It has also become the default age for parents to assume it is safe for their children to use social media. The internet has evolved significantly since then. The rise of smartphones in the 2010s and the simultaneous boom in social media platforms means children are spending a large part of their time online, potentially exposed to harmful content, cyberbullying, and applications that distract them from school work or everyday tasks. Although there are a variety of factors at play - such as maturity, social competence, and intellect - many have argued that 13 is too young, and I would arg...

   The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines nihilism as: “ [] the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.” It can generally be divided into several forms, including: existential nihilism, moral nihilism, political nihilism, and cosmic nihilism to name a few. The first of those -existential nihilism- is the most commonly known form of nihilism, often expressed in the statement: 'life is meaningless.' It is also the form I will be discussing in this essay. Most people associate nihilism with apathy: 'Life is meaningless and there is no point in doing anything'. People who hold this view believe that everything you attempt is futile and even if you do end up with some level of success it is insignificant on a grand scale (so you might a well not doing anything in the first place). This attitude might be summed up best by the statement from the character 'Mr Peanut Butter' from the TV series Bojack horseman: “The uni...

"But, in fact, they are one and all united in thorough and instinctive hostility towards all forms of society besides that of the autonomous herd (even to the point of rejecting the concepts of “master” and “slave” – ni dieu ni maˆıtre reads a socialist formula –); they are united in their dogged opposition to any special claims, special rights, or privileges (which means, in the last analysis, that they are opposed to any rights: since when everyone is equal, no one will need “rights” anymore –); they are united in their mistrust of punitive justice (as if it were a violation of those who are weaker, a wrong against the necessary  Neither God nor master.  On the natural history of morals result of all earlier societies –); but they are likewise united in the religion of pity, in sympathy for whatever feels, lives, suffers (down to the animal and up to “God”: – the excessive notion of “pity for God” belongs in a democratic age –); they are all united in the cries and the impat...