I've found that many people resist the smart phone theory because it would mean examining their own cellphone habits. It's hard to ask addicts to be impartial about their addictions.
Updated because a smart reader found a mistake in my food costs but I also forgot some other bills - student debt and gas/car maintenance - and probably some others I can't think of right now. Do you agree that inflation of 10-20% has outpaced wages 3-5% in last few years? Lots of data point this out.
Median income is around $37.5 grand per citizen in the USA - based on real gov data. Let's do a quick reality check on what this equates to in the real world 2024 cost of living. Average 1 bedroom apartment is 1700 a month * 12 = 20,400 per year year. Now let's just stick to the basics - no fun stuff like streaming tv, going out to eat occasionally, bowling, movies etc. - Food/drink/toiletries per week nowadays is at least 400 a month for one person*12 months=4800-5000 per year - Electric and Heat = around 100 a month *12 = 1200 averaged out (also different deals/combos in different locations in country). Some kind of sliding scale/work health insurance - 75 a month * 12 = 900 - Phone/wifi - 50 a month * 12 = 600. Car payment 250 per month*12= 3000 & Car Insurance 90*12 months + 1080. Car Gas and Maintenance per year 1500 minimum. Average student loan 250*12=3000. Okay - these are are the necessary basics to survive in the 21st century USA - no?
Now Let's add up per year bills for the basics in 2024 USA - Rent 20,400 + Food 5,000 + Electric & Heat 1200 + Health Insurance 900 + Phone/Wifi 600 + Car & Insurance 3180+Gas/Maintain 1500+College Debt 3000 +Another 5000 for Uncle Sam!= $40,780! And US Median income of 37,500 is Actually only 32,500 real pay median income after taxes and social security etc.! After all bills and taxes etc for only basics - the average citizen is short $8,280 for bare bottom existence and cheapest apartments in shady neighborhoods, cheapest car deals, cheapest insurance, phone/wifi etc. - Not only not enough to survive but not enough to have fun or ever get ahead or save any money for possible emergency or ever hope to have children - even one! Some are thinking better degrees equal more money - true but it's all relative - more money equals a nicer apartment for 2000 a month, car payment goes up etc. and more taxes too! Yeah! No wonder millions are forced to live with their parents! See Vox latest link below
My single Mother made 30,000 a year working as a social worker in the 1970's/80s and raised 4 kids with minimal child support from Dad and we had all basics and a little extra but those days are long over! But back then a decent 3 bedroom house sold for 30,000 - now 350,000 - a brand new car - 3000 - now 30,000 - a cucumber was a dime - now 1.25 - apple etc the same. So prices for coveted things like homes and cars have gone up by 10 times but wages have only doubled from 15-20,000 in 1980 to 35-40,000 now. This is reality. Please Stop manipulating data that disregards it!
Food, drink, and toiletries is $400/wk/person? By whose calculation? My family of 3 is right around the median income for our state, in a middling cost-of-living area, and we don’t spend anywhere near $1200/wk on food, drink, and toiletries.
Woops - meant 400 a month per person for food & toiletries in upstate NY which would mean 4800 a year - a difference of 9,600-2780=6820 surplus - but I also forgot to list college debt which averages sliding scale would be 250 a month at 12 = 3000 a year - and taxes minus another 3-5000 state & fed/social security etc. so extra is erased again! So again - no extra money for anything - to plan future anything - or go anywhere! Wait - Also forgot gas/oil change and repairs for car! On and on until the break of dawn.
Agree that phones and social media are in the top 3 causes of youth depression - but you are forgetting that many of these solid middle class youth are facing a future where they will not do as well as their Boomer and Millennial parents based on college debt, higher costs of living vs lower wages, Global Warming crisis and oncoming AI taking half of all jobs in 10-20 years. These are real concerns you continue to dismiss - why? Sounds like you are not only out of touch with the youth but defensive - because you grew up privileged? I am a High School teacher for 10 years in NYC and upstate NY and hear from the youth directly - not just small sample surveys which are cool but like polls - limited in their understanding of the big picture. Respect your work but feeling your privilege and denial biases in rejecting these very real causes of teen angst.
Do you agree that inflation of 10-20% has outpaced wages 3-5% in last few years? Lots of data point this out. Also - median income is around $37.5 grand per citizen in the USA - based on real gov data. Let's do a quick reality check on what this equates to in the real world 2024 cost of living. Average 1 bedroom apartment is 1700 a month * 12 = 20,400 per year year. Now let's just stick to the basics - no fun stuff like streaming tv, going out to eat occasionally, bowling, movies etc. - Food/drink/toiletries per week nowadays is at least 400 for one person*4 weeks= 1200*12 months= 14,400 per year - Electric and Heat = around 100 a month *12 = 1200 averaged out (also different deals/combos in different locations in country). Some kind of sliding scale/work health insurance - 75 a month * 12 = 900 - Phone/wifi - 50 a month * 12 = 600. Car payment 250 per month*12= 3000 & Car Insurance 90*12 months + 1080. Okay - these are are the necessary basics to survive in the 21st century USA - no?
Now Let's add up per year bills for the basics in 2024 USA - Rent 20,400 + Food 14,000 + Electric & Heat 1200 + Health Insurance 900 + Phone/Wifi 600 + Car & Insurance 3180 = $40,280 - 37,500 median income = 2780 short for bare bottom existence and cheapest apartments in shady neighborhoods, cheapest car deals, cheapest insurance, phone/wifi etc. - Not only not enough to survive but not enough to have fun or ever get ahead.
My single Mother made 30,000 a year working as a social worker in the 1970's/80s. But back then a decent 3 bedroom house sold for 30,000 - now 350,000 - a brand new car - 3000 - now 30,000 - a cucumber was a dime - now 1.25 - apple etc the same. So prices for coveted things like homes and cars have gone up by 10 times but wages have only doubled from 15-20,000 in 1980 to 35-40,000 now. This is reality. Please Stop manipulating data that disregards it!
Those numbers have to have been cooked. Not only has inflation been understated for decades now (see Shadowstats.com), but the cost of living has risen unevenly, with things like rent, healthcare, and college tuition greatly outpacing the general price level. Also wages have lagged greatly behind productivity gains as well, at least wages at the bottom and middle, while skyrocketing at the top. If minimum wage had kept up with productivity since 1968, for example, it would be well into the $20s/hour by now. But the oligarchs at the top took nearly all of the gains for themselves. If that doesn't make the reader feel RIPPED OFF, check your pulse 'cause you might be dead!
It's worth mentioning, for sure, but if you look at the income graph, you see that kids with higher income seem even worse off. Which is probably due to: parents earning well but constantly on their phones for work, away a lot, and more access to tech due to better wealth in the home, etc.
A smartphone likely has an even more powerful effect due to another, earlier change: full time group daycare in early life (newborns)-- which only began in late 1980s and rapidly worked its way up to a third of kids. Emotional self regulation, internal locus of control, agency, sense of self are developed in toddlerhood via modeling, in relationship. Relational intimacy & trust (attachment) with your mom is later a great shield from the slings and arrows of bullies, etc. (Dr Gordon Neufeld's "place to cry.") Kids w this ballast can deal with painful experiences, including adolescence, in pro-social ways.
Indeed, Gen X were famous for being latchkey kids, of course, but at least they still (usually) had Mom around during infancy and early childhood when it is most crucial of all.
The teen that I know with the most issues with anxiety wasn't allowed to have social media or a smartphone for several years after she started having severe issues. Her family had overprotected her so much that she thought it was normal that a 14yo go to bed at 7:30 and not be allowed to play with neighbors because they were gifted. Then she started a large private high school and had a mental collapse that she's never recovered.
Updated because a smart reader found a mistake in my food costs but I also forgot some other bills - student debt and gas/car maintenance - and probably some others I can't think of right now. Do you agree that inflation of 10-20% has outpaced wages 3-5% in last few years? Lots of data point this out.
Median income is around $37.5 grand per citizen in the USA - based on real gov data. Let's do a quick reality check on what this equates to in the real world 2024 cost of living. Average 1 bedroom apartment is 1700 a month * 12 = 20,400 per year year. Now let's just stick to the basics - no fun stuff like streaming tv, going out to eat occasionally, bowling, movies etc. - Food/drink/toiletries per week nowadays is at least 400 a month for one person*12 months=4800-5000 per year - Electric and Heat = around 100 a month *12 = 1200 averaged out (also different deals/combos in different locations in country). Some kind of sliding scale/work health insurance - 75 a month * 12 = 900 - Phone/wifi - 50 a month * 12 = 600. Car payment 250 per month*12= 3000 & Car Insurance 90*12 months + 1080. Car Gas and Maintenance per year 1500 minimum. Average student loan 250*12=3000. Okay - these are are the necessary basics to survive in the 21st century USA - no?
Now Let's add up per year bills for the basics in 2024 USA - Rent 20,400 + Food 5,000 + Electric & Heat 1200 + Health Insurance 900 + Phone/Wifi 600 + Car & Insurance 3180+Gas/Maintain 1500+College Debt 3000 +Another 5000 for Uncle Sam!= $40,780! And US Median income of 37,500 is Actually only 32,500 real pay median income after taxes and social security etc.! After all bills and taxes etc for only basics - the average citizen is short $8,280 for bare bottom existence and cheapest apartments in shady neighborhoods, cheapest car deals, cheapest insurance, phone/wifi etc. - Not only not enough to survive but not enough to have fun or ever get ahead or save any money for possible emergency or ever hope to have children - even one! Some are thinking better degrees equal more money - true but it's all relative - more money equals a nicer apartment for 2000 a month, car payment goes up etc. and more taxes too! Yeah! No wonder millions are forced to live with their parents! See Vox latest link below
My single Mother made 30,000 a year working as a social worker in the 1970's/80s and raised 4 kids with minimal child support from Dad and we had all basics and a little extra but those days are long over! But back then a decent 3 bedroom house sold for 30,000 - now 350,000 - a brand new car - 3000 - now 30,000 - a cucumber was a dime - now 1.25 - apple etc the same. So prices for coveted things like homes and cars have gone up by 10 times but wages have only doubled from 15-20,000 in 1980 to 35-40,000 now. This is reality. Please Stop manipulating data that disregards it!
BINGO. Imagine if wages had kept up with productivity since the early 1970s. Minimum wage would be well into the $20s/hour by now But instead, the oligarchs took nearly all of the gains of that productivity. If that doesn't make the reader feel RIPPED OFF, check your pulse 'cause you might be dead!
The real elephant in the room is that the *adults* are NOT alright. Anyone who thinks that arbitrary age gating and other such band-aids are on philosophically stable ground will soon find themselves eating crow. So if we really want to solve this all-ages collective action problem, how about we officially declare a state of emergency and quarantine all social media for "just two weeks". Also have a smartphone buyback program like they do for guns. I am only half-joking about that.
(As for phone-free schools, fine. And how about phone-free workplaces as well?)
Of course, those are not permanent solutions, only enough to break the spell that Big Tech has over We the People. We actually need to FIX the internet for good. We need to throw the proverbial One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom by passing comprehensive data privacy legislation for all ages, and especially banning surveillance advertising. We need to audit the algorithms and make them public. We need to rein in the deliberately addictive features and "frictionless sharing" of these platforms. And of course, we need to go antitrust on Big Tech as well. Yesterday.
To the adults in the room: the life you save may very well be your own.
You're right that's not verbatim. What she writes is: "considerable reforms to these platforms are required, given how much time young people spend on them. Many of Haidt’s solutions for parents, adolescents, educators and big technology firms are reasonable, including stricter content-moderation policies and requiring companies to take user age into account when designing platforms and algorithms." So I probably should have written instead that she acknowledges teens spend a lot of time on social media and thus the platforms should be better regulated.
What really needs to be done is to pass comprehensive digital privacy legislation for all ages and ban surveillance advertising first before doing anything else. That would throw the proverbial One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom for good, as Big Tech would be forced to go on the DuckDuckGo model, which would take away the biggest incentive for deliberately creating and sustaining addiction. Also audit the algorithms and make them public. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. And changing the share button "Stop at two hops" would stop the problem of "frictionless sharing" of outrage and harmful content as well.
Manufacturing Madness, A History of Psychiatry & Big Pharma, a documentary by Gary Null (https://rumble.com/v42drbt-manufacturing-madness-a-gary-null-production.html) is a good place to begin an appreciation of the causes of mental illness. Psychiatric treatment is an abysmal failure and always has been. Psychology also affords little insight into true causation. The spectrum of unhappiness occupying the “mental illness” portion of the population curve is not addressable using statistical methods. The use of cellphones and social media is simply a choice people make, not a causative factor. Plenty of people make money on social media and by using their cellphones and consider themselves relatively happy, kids included. That there is correlation between phones, media, games and depression does not logically imply causation despite “the obvious explanation is the rise of smartphones and social media and the accompanying decline in sleep and in-person socializing.”
Unhappiness as suffering is the universal state of mankind. Some are merely more unhappy than others. This unhappiness is at root rightly understood as a spiritual matter. But in viewing those who are apparently most depressed we can find immediate causative factors in impaired physical health. The body and mind are not two separate entities, but one single manifestation arising in a conditional matrix of possibilities high and low.
Dysbiosis of the human microbiome is a principal causative factor in depression. And the science regarding the microbiome, which is a profound influence not merely in the gut, but whole bodily including the brain, is still in its infancy. However, the epidemic use of antibiotics and antivirals is a known principal cause of dysbiosis. A second more general cause is poor nutrition, especially the widespread consumption of seed oils, sugar, and processed food.
A weakened immune system is also a cause of depression. People are no longer exposed regularly to sunshine and natural environments which includes contact with animals, soil, including pathogens, allergens and other important challenges to the immune system from birth. This absence of a healthy and competent immune system results in chronic inflammation, neuropathies and neural degeneration.
There are a host of other real causes depression which may be addressed successfully at the gross material level of existence such that one’s unhappiness may then be addressed by self-understanding at more conscious levels without help from “therapists”. One of the most curious anomalies I have encountered is the level of unfamiliarity with happiness which characterizes those who practise psychology.
How about simply paying people of all ages to delete their social media accounts, or deactivate them for a certain amount of time? IIRC Haidt, Rausch. and/or Twenge had noted that many people would do it for $50 or less. Additionally, a smartphone buyback program similar to what they do with guns would also be a good idea.
As a girldad with a 5, 13, and 16 year old daughters, I have firsthand evidence of how not just social media, but screen time in general contribute to their feelings of numbness, depression, anxiety, a crippling FOMO, subtle comparison traps, toxic beauty culture, over sexualized content, and general feelings of a rudderless rudder in life.
I very much appreciate this piece. As a parent to a tween and a teen and observer of many friends whose teens are seriously struggling, I see Jonathan's Haidt's call to action as a much needed wake-up call that seems to be the right message at the right time. I work for one of the aligned organizations that he brought together last week on a Zoom call (you linked to the page - thank you!) and we are all seeing a huge influx of interest in our content and we are getting calls from school leaders asking for our help who a year ago felt luke warm to say it mildly about our recommendation to create a cell-phone free school policy. Am very much hoping in the process of all of this that the grown-ups re-examine their own relationships to smartphones and devices too.
I've found that many people resist the smart phone theory because it would mean examining their own cellphone habits. It's hard to ask addicts to be impartial about their addictions.
Indeed. The adults are NOT alright, it seems. THAT is the real elephant in the room.
Updated because a smart reader found a mistake in my food costs but I also forgot some other bills - student debt and gas/car maintenance - and probably some others I can't think of right now. Do you agree that inflation of 10-20% has outpaced wages 3-5% in last few years? Lots of data point this out.
Median income is around $37.5 grand per citizen in the USA - based on real gov data. Let's do a quick reality check on what this equates to in the real world 2024 cost of living. Average 1 bedroom apartment is 1700 a month * 12 = 20,400 per year year. Now let's just stick to the basics - no fun stuff like streaming tv, going out to eat occasionally, bowling, movies etc. - Food/drink/toiletries per week nowadays is at least 400 a month for one person*12 months=4800-5000 per year - Electric and Heat = around 100 a month *12 = 1200 averaged out (also different deals/combos in different locations in country). Some kind of sliding scale/work health insurance - 75 a month * 12 = 900 - Phone/wifi - 50 a month * 12 = 600. Car payment 250 per month*12= 3000 & Car Insurance 90*12 months + 1080. Car Gas and Maintenance per year 1500 minimum. Average student loan 250*12=3000. Okay - these are are the necessary basics to survive in the 21st century USA - no?
Now Let's add up per year bills for the basics in 2024 USA - Rent 20,400 + Food 5,000 + Electric & Heat 1200 + Health Insurance 900 + Phone/Wifi 600 + Car & Insurance 3180+Gas/Maintain 1500+College Debt 3000 +Another 5000 for Uncle Sam!= $40,780! And US Median income of 37,500 is Actually only 32,500 real pay median income after taxes and social security etc.! After all bills and taxes etc for only basics - the average citizen is short $8,280 for bare bottom existence and cheapest apartments in shady neighborhoods, cheapest car deals, cheapest insurance, phone/wifi etc. - Not only not enough to survive but not enough to have fun or ever get ahead or save any money for possible emergency or ever hope to have children - even one! Some are thinking better degrees equal more money - true but it's all relative - more money equals a nicer apartment for 2000 a month, car payment goes up etc. and more taxes too! Yeah! No wonder millions are forced to live with their parents! See Vox latest link below
https://www.vox.com/24115808/multigenerational-housing-us-families-personal-finance
My single Mother made 30,000 a year working as a social worker in the 1970's/80s and raised 4 kids with minimal child support from Dad and we had all basics and a little extra but those days are long over! But back then a decent 3 bedroom house sold for 30,000 - now 350,000 - a brand new car - 3000 - now 30,000 - a cucumber was a dime - now 1.25 - apple etc the same. So prices for coveted things like homes and cars have gone up by 10 times but wages have only doubled from 15-20,000 in 1980 to 35-40,000 now. This is reality. Please Stop manipulating data that disregards it!
Food, drink, and toiletries is $400/wk/person? By whose calculation? My family of 3 is right around the median income for our state, in a middling cost-of-living area, and we don’t spend anywhere near $1200/wk on food, drink, and toiletries.
Woops - meant 400 a month per person for food & toiletries in upstate NY which would mean 4800 a year - a difference of 9,600-2780=6820 surplus - but I also forgot to list college debt which averages sliding scale would be 250 a month at 12 = 3000 a year - and taxes minus another 3-5000 state & fed/social security etc. so extra is erased again! So again - no extra money for anything - to plan future anything - or go anywhere! Wait - Also forgot gas/oil change and repairs for car! On and on until the break of dawn.
Agree that phones and social media are in the top 3 causes of youth depression - but you are forgetting that many of these solid middle class youth are facing a future where they will not do as well as their Boomer and Millennial parents based on college debt, higher costs of living vs lower wages, Global Warming crisis and oncoming AI taking half of all jobs in 10-20 years. These are real concerns you continue to dismiss - why? Sounds like you are not only out of touch with the youth but defensive - because you grew up privileged? I am a High School teacher for 10 years in NYC and upstate NY and hear from the youth directly - not just small sample surveys which are cool but like polls - limited in their understanding of the big picture. Respect your work but feeling your privilege and denial biases in rejecting these very real causes of teen angst.
I agree there's a lot of negativity among Gen Z, but the "higher costs of living vs lower wages" idea just isn't true. Median incomes **adjusted for inflation** are at all-time highs for younger adults. See 25- to 34-year-olds in Table P10 here: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-people.html
As for global warming, why would that cause loneliness? That's not at all clear. Yet teen loneliness is up around the world.
Do you agree that inflation of 10-20% has outpaced wages 3-5% in last few years? Lots of data point this out. Also - median income is around $37.5 grand per citizen in the USA - based on real gov data. Let's do a quick reality check on what this equates to in the real world 2024 cost of living. Average 1 bedroom apartment is 1700 a month * 12 = 20,400 per year year. Now let's just stick to the basics - no fun stuff like streaming tv, going out to eat occasionally, bowling, movies etc. - Food/drink/toiletries per week nowadays is at least 400 for one person*4 weeks= 1200*12 months= 14,400 per year - Electric and Heat = around 100 a month *12 = 1200 averaged out (also different deals/combos in different locations in country). Some kind of sliding scale/work health insurance - 75 a month * 12 = 900 - Phone/wifi - 50 a month * 12 = 600. Car payment 250 per month*12= 3000 & Car Insurance 90*12 months + 1080. Okay - these are are the necessary basics to survive in the 21st century USA - no?
Now Let's add up per year bills for the basics in 2024 USA - Rent 20,400 + Food 14,000 + Electric & Heat 1200 + Health Insurance 900 + Phone/Wifi 600 + Car & Insurance 3180 = $40,280 - 37,500 median income = 2780 short for bare bottom existence and cheapest apartments in shady neighborhoods, cheapest car deals, cheapest insurance, phone/wifi etc. - Not only not enough to survive but not enough to have fun or ever get ahead.
My single Mother made 30,000 a year working as a social worker in the 1970's/80s. But back then a decent 3 bedroom house sold for 30,000 - now 350,000 - a brand new car - 3000 - now 30,000 - a cucumber was a dime - now 1.25 - apple etc the same. So prices for coveted things like homes and cars have gone up by 10 times but wages have only doubled from 15-20,000 in 1980 to 35-40,000 now. This is reality. Please Stop manipulating data that disregards it!
Those numbers have to have been cooked. Not only has inflation been understated for decades now (see Shadowstats.com), but the cost of living has risen unevenly, with things like rent, healthcare, and college tuition greatly outpacing the general price level. Also wages have lagged greatly behind productivity gains as well, at least wages at the bottom and middle, while skyrocketing at the top. If minimum wage had kept up with productivity since 1968, for example, it would be well into the $20s/hour by now. But the oligarchs at the top took nearly all of the gains for themselves. If that doesn't make the reader feel RIPPED OFF, check your pulse 'cause you might be dead!
It's worth mentioning, for sure, but if you look at the income graph, you see that kids with higher income seem even worse off. Which is probably due to: parents earning well but constantly on their phones for work, away a lot, and more access to tech due to better wealth in the home, etc.
A smartphone likely has an even more powerful effect due to another, earlier change: full time group daycare in early life (newborns)-- which only began in late 1980s and rapidly worked its way up to a third of kids. Emotional self regulation, internal locus of control, agency, sense of self are developed in toddlerhood via modeling, in relationship. Relational intimacy & trust (attachment) with your mom is later a great shield from the slings and arrows of bullies, etc. (Dr Gordon Neufeld's "place to cry.") Kids w this ballast can deal with painful experiences, including adolescence, in pro-social ways.
Indeed, Gen X were famous for being latchkey kids, of course, but at least they still (usually) had Mom around during infancy and early childhood when it is most crucial of all.
Thank you for responding to Odgers, the data speaks clearly on this one.
The teen that I know with the most issues with anxiety wasn't allowed to have social media or a smartphone for several years after she started having severe issues. Her family had overprotected her so much that she thought it was normal that a 14yo go to bed at 7:30 and not be allowed to play with neighbors because they were gifted. Then she started a large private high school and had a mental collapse that she's never recovered.
Updated because a smart reader found a mistake in my food costs but I also forgot some other bills - student debt and gas/car maintenance - and probably some others I can't think of right now. Do you agree that inflation of 10-20% has outpaced wages 3-5% in last few years? Lots of data point this out.
Median income is around $37.5 grand per citizen in the USA - based on real gov data. Let's do a quick reality check on what this equates to in the real world 2024 cost of living. Average 1 bedroom apartment is 1700 a month * 12 = 20,400 per year year. Now let's just stick to the basics - no fun stuff like streaming tv, going out to eat occasionally, bowling, movies etc. - Food/drink/toiletries per week nowadays is at least 400 a month for one person*12 months=4800-5000 per year - Electric and Heat = around 100 a month *12 = 1200 averaged out (also different deals/combos in different locations in country). Some kind of sliding scale/work health insurance - 75 a month * 12 = 900 - Phone/wifi - 50 a month * 12 = 600. Car payment 250 per month*12= 3000 & Car Insurance 90*12 months + 1080. Car Gas and Maintenance per year 1500 minimum. Average student loan 250*12=3000. Okay - these are are the necessary basics to survive in the 21st century USA - no?
Now Let's add up per year bills for the basics in 2024 USA - Rent 20,400 + Food 5,000 + Electric & Heat 1200 + Health Insurance 900 + Phone/Wifi 600 + Car & Insurance 3180+Gas/Maintain 1500+College Debt 3000 +Another 5000 for Uncle Sam!= $40,780! And US Median income of 37,500 is Actually only 32,500 real pay median income after taxes and social security etc.! After all bills and taxes etc for only basics - the average citizen is short $8,280 for bare bottom existence and cheapest apartments in shady neighborhoods, cheapest car deals, cheapest insurance, phone/wifi etc. - Not only not enough to survive but not enough to have fun or ever get ahead or save any money for possible emergency or ever hope to have children - even one! Some are thinking better degrees equal more money - true but it's all relative - more money equals a nicer apartment for 2000 a month, car payment goes up etc. and more taxes too! Yeah! No wonder millions are forced to live with their parents! See Vox latest link below
https://www.vox.com/24115808/multigenerational-housing-us-families-personal-finance
My single Mother made 30,000 a year working as a social worker in the 1970's/80s and raised 4 kids with minimal child support from Dad and we had all basics and a little extra but those days are long over! But back then a decent 3 bedroom house sold for 30,000 - now 350,000 - a brand new car - 3000 - now 30,000 - a cucumber was a dime - now 1.25 - apple etc the same. So prices for coveted things like homes and cars have gone up by 10 times but wages have only doubled from 15-20,000 in 1980 to 35-40,000 now. This is reality. Please Stop manipulating data that disregards it!
BINGO. Imagine if wages had kept up with productivity since the early 1970s. Minimum wage would be well into the $20s/hour by now But instead, the oligarchs took nearly all of the gains of that productivity. If that doesn't make the reader feel RIPPED OFF, check your pulse 'cause you might be dead!
The real elephant in the room is that the *adults* are NOT alright. Anyone who thinks that arbitrary age gating and other such band-aids are on philosophically stable ground will soon find themselves eating crow. So if we really want to solve this all-ages collective action problem, how about we officially declare a state of emergency and quarantine all social media for "just two weeks". Also have a smartphone buyback program like they do for guns. I am only half-joking about that.
(As for phone-free schools, fine. And how about phone-free workplaces as well?)
Of course, those are not permanent solutions, only enough to break the spell that Big Tech has over We the People. We actually need to FIX the internet for good. We need to throw the proverbial One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom by passing comprehensive data privacy legislation for all ages, and especially banning surveillance advertising. We need to audit the algorithms and make them public. We need to rein in the deliberately addictive features and "frictionless sharing" of these platforms. And of course, we need to go antitrust on Big Tech as well. Yesterday.
To the adults in the room: the life you save may very well be your own.
(Mic drop)
Is it really true that "Odgers acknowledges that teens spend too much time on social media"?
I do not see anything in the review when she admits it is excessive. Did I miss something?
You're right that's not verbatim. What she writes is: "considerable reforms to these platforms are required, given how much time young people spend on them. Many of Haidt’s solutions for parents, adolescents, educators and big technology firms are reasonable, including stricter content-moderation policies and requiring companies to take user age into account when designing platforms and algorithms." So I probably should have written instead that she acknowledges teens spend a lot of time on social media and thus the platforms should be better regulated.
What really needs to be done is to pass comprehensive digital privacy legislation for all ages and ban surveillance advertising first before doing anything else. That would throw the proverbial One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom for good, as Big Tech would be forced to go on the DuckDuckGo model, which would take away the biggest incentive for deliberately creating and sustaining addiction. Also audit the algorithms and make them public. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. And changing the share button "Stop at two hops" would stop the problem of "frictionless sharing" of outrage and harmful content as well.
Manufacturing Madness, A History of Psychiatry & Big Pharma, a documentary by Gary Null (https://rumble.com/v42drbt-manufacturing-madness-a-gary-null-production.html) is a good place to begin an appreciation of the causes of mental illness. Psychiatric treatment is an abysmal failure and always has been. Psychology also affords little insight into true causation. The spectrum of unhappiness occupying the “mental illness” portion of the population curve is not addressable using statistical methods. The use of cellphones and social media is simply a choice people make, not a causative factor. Plenty of people make money on social media and by using their cellphones and consider themselves relatively happy, kids included. That there is correlation between phones, media, games and depression does not logically imply causation despite “the obvious explanation is the rise of smartphones and social media and the accompanying decline in sleep and in-person socializing.”
Unhappiness as suffering is the universal state of mankind. Some are merely more unhappy than others. This unhappiness is at root rightly understood as a spiritual matter. But in viewing those who are apparently most depressed we can find immediate causative factors in impaired physical health. The body and mind are not two separate entities, but one single manifestation arising in a conditional matrix of possibilities high and low.
Dysbiosis of the human microbiome is a principal causative factor in depression. And the science regarding the microbiome, which is a profound influence not merely in the gut, but whole bodily including the brain, is still in its infancy. However, the epidemic use of antibiotics and antivirals is a known principal cause of dysbiosis. A second more general cause is poor nutrition, especially the widespread consumption of seed oils, sugar, and processed food.
A weakened immune system is also a cause of depression. People are no longer exposed regularly to sunshine and natural environments which includes contact with animals, soil, including pathogens, allergens and other important challenges to the immune system from birth. This absence of a healthy and competent immune system results in chronic inflammation, neuropathies and neural degeneration.
There are a host of other real causes depression which may be addressed successfully at the gross material level of existence such that one’s unhappiness may then be addressed by self-understanding at more conscious levels without help from “therapists”. One of the most curious anomalies I have encountered is the level of unfamiliarity with happiness which characterizes those who practise psychology.
How about simply paying people of all ages to delete their social media accounts, or deactivate them for a certain amount of time? IIRC Haidt, Rausch. and/or Twenge had noted that many people would do it for $50 or less. Additionally, a smartphone buyback program similar to what they do with guns would also be a good idea.
If you really want to fix the internet, do this first and instead:
https://www.eff.org/wp/privacy-first-better-way-address-online-harms
How do you respond to this one?
https://www.cityam.com/lets-be-honest-social-media-isnt-driving-a-teen-mental-health-crisis/
As a girldad with a 5, 13, and 16 year old daughters, I have firsthand evidence of how not just social media, but screen time in general contribute to their feelings of numbness, depression, anxiety, a crippling FOMO, subtle comparison traps, toxic beauty culture, over sexualized content, and general feelings of a rudderless rudder in life.
I very much appreciate this piece. As a parent to a tween and a teen and observer of many friends whose teens are seriously struggling, I see Jonathan's Haidt's call to action as a much needed wake-up call that seems to be the right message at the right time. I work for one of the aligned organizations that he brought together last week on a Zoom call (you linked to the page - thank you!) and we are all seeing a huge influx of interest in our content and we are getting calls from school leaders asking for our help who a year ago felt luke warm to say it mildly about our recommendation to create a cell-phone free school policy. Am very much hoping in the process of all of this that the grown-ups re-examine their own relationships to smartphones and devices too.