For anyone not brain-dead: the scientific evidence that excessive exposure to social media garbage and “doom scrolling” is bad for you and especially bad for children is completely overwhelming. It’s something we’ve known for years. Jonathan Haidt is a douchebag who picks low hanging fruit.
Damn, I wonder how that happened in these intervening years to radicalize young men.
Does this mean we can’t have social media? No, it just means the way we are living, the hellscape of online abuse and concrete jungle we’ve created for the next generation is making us vulnerable to manipulation and misery. This isn’t about social media. It’s about the fact that most of you fuckers haven’t touched grass in years. That’s why our democracy is dying.
Ah yes, we need special scientific evidence to figure out if playing outside with friends, fresh air and sunshine is better or worse than watching TikTok 5 hours a day.
I definitely there is an addictive nature to smartphones and the apps and social media we engage in. Kids are getting a high from infinite scrolling and depression and anxiety from pressure of social media. Marketing on crack.
There’s also something to people becoming armchair psychologist, the popularity of the field and over diagnosis.