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- Born in 1806 in London, England.
- He lived in England, although he died in France.
- “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person was of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.” - John Stuart Mill
- Biography

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John Stuart Mill highly believed in:
- Utilitarianism
- Individual liberty
- Limited government
- Women's rights.
- He also believed that everyone should have their voices heard, although only the educated should have their opinions better influenced within the government.
- He believed that the problem was within society itself rather than the government.

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Life References (1st Person POV; Memory)

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Life References (1st Person POV; Memory)

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"Is my work really that great? For quiet a while, I have been receiving invitations to the British House of Commons. I have rejected them all, but now I am willing to accept one. I am looking forward to have a hopefully good influence on the government. It may finally be time to make changes to society and influence the government to make those changes."

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‘Trump threatens to veto defense bill over social media rule’

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‘Trump threatens to veto defense bill over social media rule’

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"Veto Article 230!? That in it's own way defeats the idea of everyone having the right to their own opinion! Surely, this cannot be. Allow everybody to have and express their own views. This is a right that cannot take away! No matter how incredulous or ridiculous people's views appear to be, they are still theirs. Even if one doesn't respect these views, they should at least be respected. Removing and pressing charges against companies who have posts with opinions that one does not find pleasure in is not respect whatsoever! Respect other's opinions! Particularly those who are educated!" - JSM

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"Therefore, if the very dangerous & unfair Section 230 is not completely terminated as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), I will be forced to unequivocally VETO the Bill when sent to the very beautiful Resolute desk," Trump added.

A senior House staffer said the issue has no chance of success with Democrats.

"It's a f---ing joke," said the staffer, who spoke anonymously to discuss private negotiations. "This is a complex debate that has no business as an eleventh-hour airdrop."

The senior staffer said the push to include other proposals targeting Section 230, even a bipartisan bill led by Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), in the defense bill won't make it either. "Full stop," the staffer said.

The latest curveball from Trump comes as lawmakers rush to clinch a compromise defense bill this week. Democrats will almost certainly reject Trump's demand of a total repeal of the online protections.

The House and Senate passed their versions of the defense bill with enough bipartisan support to overcome a potential veto. It's unclear if those margins would hold up if Trump followed through on the threat.

It's the second time Trump has threatened to veto the defense bill. Over the summer, Trump pledged to tank the bill over a provision to remove the names of Confederate leaders from Army bases.

The base renaming issue was the greatest divide between lawmakers and the White House heading into negotiations, but lawmakers appeared to be inching toward a deal on the matter this week.

Axios reported Monday that the Trump administration had made a last-minute push to repeal Section 230, which protects online companies such as Facebook and Twitter from lawsuits over content posted on their platforms. Trump has sought to limit the protections, and even some Democrats have voiced concerns that the protections have been abused by social media companies.

An industry source who asked not to be named told POLITICO that Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have already told the White House that Democrats won't accept a full repeal as part of the defense bill H.R. 6395 (116).

Senate Republicans, instead, are aiming for more modest changes to the liability provision. Axios reported that Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), a member of the Armed Services Committee who also chairs the Commerce Committee that has jurisdiction over telecommunications issues, is pushing for negotiators to adopt his legislation to limit the protections in the final NDAA.

The defense policy bill is likely one of the last major pieces of legislation lawmakers will pass this year and before the end of Trump's presidency next month, making it a target for issues that aren't directly related to national security.

A repeal of online liability protections first emerged last month after White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows floated a potential agreement in which Trump would drop his opposition to renaming military bases in exchange for repealing Section 230.

House Armed Services Chair Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said at the time that he would be open to compromise in order to finish the defense bill. And though he conceded social media platforms had abused their immunity, he downplayed the likelihood of Democrats agreeing to Trump's wholesale repeal of Section 230.

"I think these platforms are getting away with things they shouldn't get away with," Smith told the Council on Foreign Relations.

"The committees of jurisdiction will have something to say about this," he added. "And the president's motivation is transparent: he thinks social media was mean to him ... and he wants to sue them as a result, and he's looking for us to give him that power."

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Trump threatens to veto defense bill over social media rule

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"Therefore, if the very dangerous & unfair Section 230 is not completely terminated as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), I will be forced to unequivocally VETO the Bill when sent to the very beautiful Resolute desk," Trump added. A senior House staffer said the issue has no chance of success with Democrats.

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‘A ‘Double-Edged Sword’: For Harvard Students, Social Media Both Connects and Alienates’

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‘A ‘Double-Edged Sword’: For Harvard Students, Social Media Both Connects and Alienates’

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"If spending large amounts of time on TikTok makes you happy, then go ahead and help yourself! The actions that make you happy are most recommended! That is the idea of utilitarianism. Basically, do whatever makes you happy! You can be happy by using TikTok for simple entertainment, or to even express your own opinions to others in your comments or videos. Do the actions that promote happiness and express your opinions, that's certainly the way to go!" - JSM

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With the world in the throes of a pandemic and a lockdown altering everyday methods of communication, students find themselves increasingly hooked on social media and grappling with the effects of hyperconnectivity.

The result is a boon for social media platforms. TikTok, a platform for sharing "personalized short videos" - as described by its website - has thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic. The app experienced a 27 percent increase in growth during the first 23 days of March compared to February. More than 25 U.S. states and territories had closed schools by mid-March.

Data for the daily use of six social media platforms - Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram TikTok, and YouTube - from The Crimson's Class of 2024 freshman survey showed TikTok had the fewest number of users: 412 out of 840 respondents had an account. However, out of those who did have an account on a given platform, TikTok boasted the highest proportion- 43 percent - who reported spending on average more than one hour each day on it, followed by YouTube with 37 percent; and Instagram, with 27.4 percent.

Social media creators and users at Harvard said their social media consumption patterns have drastically increased under pandemic lockdown restrictions and impacted their well-being in a variety of ways.

TikTok Goes Viral

In Apple's list of most-downloaded apps for 2020, TikTok sits in second place, overshadowed only by Zoom.

Aurelia E. Balkanski '23 said she found herself spending more time on TikTok once lockdown began, whereas she spent less time on Instagram, a change she said was motivated by the different content on the two platforms. Part of TikTok's draw, she said, came from the videos all being less than one minute long, providing her with what she described as "quick, little, funny entertainment."

"I guess Instagram has their explore page, but it's half ads and such - but with TikTok, it's like watching TV, but there's never a boring part of your show, you know," Balkanski said. "The continuous access to videos makes it appealing. You never see the same thing twice - you'll always be exposed to new people and new things and new stimuli."

And the sheer breadth of content on TikTok ensures that users can find videos of interest no matter what they're searching for. TikTok's algorithm also creates a specially-curated, never-ending feed for users - and makes it possible for any video to go viral.

Yasmine Omri '24 said she spends her time on niche genres of TikTok content that offer advice. She is not an active user of the platform, rather choosing to watch entertaining or "valuable" videos that were shared to other platforms in the form of YouTube compilations or Instagram posts.

"I've seen some TikToks of college YouTubers just explaining financial applications in really short TikToks, and some were explaining the Common App, and I was like, 'Oh, that's super cool'," Omri said.

Claira Janover '20 made an account in April for her personal use. On June 5, her account suddenly took off after she posted a video supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, leading to "a little bit of a national scandal." As of Dec. 2, she had more than 460,000 followers on the platform.

"When COVID first broke out, I didn't really think about TikTok at all - I made fun of people on it. And when more and more people started to do it, and send videos, was when I finally indulged," Janover said. "It was something that I used mainly for fun - just had a blast with it."

After being thrust into the limelight, she was forced to consider "social media behavior and psychology of engagement," she said.

Similar to Balkanski, Janover noted that users are drawn to TikTok due to its algorithm and entertainment value.

"TikTok is randomized in a way that Instagram is not," Janover said. "Growth on it is just so anyone can build, right? Just have a viral video. Versus Instagram, for example, where there's no such thing as a viral post."

The unpredictable nature of the TikTok feed has contributed to its success as an entertainment platform - in just four years, the platform has grown to reach an estimated value of $50 billion - and at the center is its prized algorithm, which keeps the user hooked on a never-ending stream of videos.

Any user's feed can contain content from a wide variety of creators - regardless of whether or not the user follows those creators - that does not necessarily have to be recent. Unlike many other platforms, TikTok does not show when a video was posted, and the algorithm draws on content from further back.

Some students said they are convinced that TikTok has "gotten a little out of hand in how much cultural stake it has in our generation," said Karina L. Cowperthwaite '23.

"Everyone's on TikTok, everyone's doing TikTok trends, everyone's getting their news on TikTok," she said. "I don't know if I would cite TikTok as a reputable news source - but I do know people who do."

'Double-Edged Sword'

For Tommaso Serafin '24, joining TikTok and subsequently spending more time on social media was off the table.

"It seems that it would be a no-brainer to say that social media was helpful during a time in which people are locked in and everything, but I just feel it's not that straightforward," he said.

Despite TikTok's ever-growing popularity, Serafin cited concerns about the addictive nature of TikTok's notorious algorithm - adding that TikTok was "much worse" in terms of getting users addicted than its competitors - on top of data privacy issues. The app has garnered concern from some Americans about its data collection practices. President Donald J. Trump released an executive order in August that designated TikTok a national security concern because of its parent company's connections to China, setting in motion a ban that never came to fruition.

Beyond these concerns, some students have reported that social media is a depressing influence on their lives.

Serafin is an international first-year student living off-campus, which he believes exacerbated the "demoralizing" effect of seeing posts of people going out and possibly shirking COVID-19 restrictions.

"Once you contextualize stuff, it's better. But in the moment, seeing that, it's not really nice," he said. "And that's why I tried to cut back and not look at it."

Some students, like Cowperthwaite, said that the "double-edged sword" of hyperconnectivity exacted by quarantine and lockdown measures has amplified the effect of social media on their self-image.

"You see people starting these cool projects over quarantine, or doing these remote internships, and I think there's definitely a higher level of anxiety - at least for me personally - that 'Oh my gosh, I'm not doing enough because I'm not physically out there doing anything'," she said.

She added that young people are not just being subjected to greater pressure in this form from their peers during isolation, but that this was all still in the context of the "constant conversation" revolving around the presentation of beauty and lifestyle standards on social media.

"You're more vulnerable to that persuasion when you're sort of sitting at home on your phone," Cowperthwaite said. "I personally find that detrimental to my mental health, because quarantine can be a dark hole where you feel very isolated and in your own head."

Social media can create difficulty for people on both sides of the screen. John A. Fish '21, who has been making YouTube videos for the past six years, attested to the strains creators feel.

"Quarantine's been really difficult for a lot of people. And I've been really lucky that it hasn't been horrible for me as it has been [for others]. But it's been a hard time. And it's kind of hard to make videos when, like, you're not doing great," Fish said.

He added, "The content that I make kind of relies on me, like, being curious and exploring ideas and, like, exercising that part of my brain for a while, at the start of the pandemic, I wasn't doing that really. And I broke out of that a little bit. It's gotten better, but it's definitely affected [me]."

The creative block has come with its upsides. Fish said that because he puts out content less frequently, he is able to spend more time reflecting on his own life.

"I think it allowed me to be a little bit more introspective with what I want to be doing with my life, my career and who I want to be involving in that," he said.

While some students said they needed a break from these apps, others found social media to be an integral part of their communication with friends amid pandemic lockdown measures.

Fish said that because he lives in Canada, but his college friends live in the U.S., being on social media is a must "in order to get any semblance of a social life."

Still, Fish said he tries to find the right balance for his social media use, ensuring that it is intentional and that he's "actually connecting with my friends and family and not just scrolling infinitely through, you know, Trump's Twitter or whatever."

Time Magazine reported in May that 75 percent of Generation Z survey respondents said they "always or often" or "sometimes" felt more lonely because of the pandemic.

Some Harvard students said they used social media to fill this void.

Balkanski found that spending time on social media helped her fill the gaps left by face-to-face social interactions, saying that it "brings [her] joy to see those other people are having fun as long as they're distancing".

Akhila S. Yalvigi '23 agreed and said that she appreciated "the feeling of being connected with people, even if it's just in a superficial way".

"Just knowing that people are on the other side of the screen was helpful for me, and I personally never really had any huge problems with the negative impacts of social media," Yalvigi said. "Mostly, I tend to follow people that I know and follow my friends and everything, not necessarily buying into like influencer culture and engaging with that a lot."

Cowperthwaite emphasized that for her, there was a distinction between using "social media" and "staying connected digitally."

"Calling your friends or doing Netflix Party or playing Among Us, or doing some kind of online activity, that has been really beneficial in terms of connecting with people online," she said. "But in terms of social media, I did find myself deleting Instagram."

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A 'Double-Edged Sword': For Harvard Students, Social Media Both Connects and Alienates | News | The Harvard Crimson

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With the world in the throes of a pandemic and a lockdown altering everyday methods of communication, students find themselves increasingly hooked on social media and grappling with the effects of hyperconnectivity. The result is a boon for social media platforms. TikTok, a platform for sharing "personalized short videos" - as described by its website - has thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic.