We are a decade into the largest epidemic of adolescent mental illness ever recorded. It’s time we started treating social media like automobiles and firearms.
I loved The Happiness Hypothesis and it pairs well with Descarte's Error and Thinking, Fast and Slow about how our emotions are like elephants and our reason like the rider. What we've done is shoot the rider and then feed the elephants meth so we end up just having Pink Elephants on Parade.
It's a fun topic I wrote more about here tying those three books together on Elephant Riding:
I soooo agree with this author on so many levels. I would only suggest the addition to this cause-and-effect analysis that the current rush to sex-change operations by so many youngsters and their long-suffering parents as another serious and significant effect of the shift to external locus of control and the depression and distortion of reality it causes. Therefore, I would propose another policy change: that sex-change surgeries be greatly curtailed and that the motivations for them be strongly scrutinized.
It is a powerful piece, an exclamation point on top of the Coddling book. The book itself has some powerful stuff hinted at in the notes mainly, not in the main text. (I finished reading Coddling on a long plane ride, so I had enough time to read everything, even the index.)
The title of this piece first sounded to me like an obscure rock song. Jonathan and the CBTs -- what do y'all think?
Well when parents fail to teach their kids some basic facts:
They’re ass holes who will always look to drag others down. Why? Makes them feel superior, think woke liberals. They have low self esteem and must join a click to feel better.
You are a target unless you learn that you and not your friends or faceless losers on social media control your life.
You must learn that someone’s opinion doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t improve or make you. It surely doesn’t pay your bills.
One should rejoice in standing up to others who are the true losers. You are the only you and must understand the vast majority of your life will not be with the HS or college crowd. It will be what you choose to make it.
Your parents and family should be who you care about and not random fools you must deal with.
Parents need to learn to instill that attitude and learning in their kids. If you can’t or won’t, then why did you have kids? It requires you the parents to take the time and effort to get them involved in things that promote self esteem and also take the time to care and LISTEN.
Bottom line, social media and just hanging is not parenting and it sure isn’t helpful for your kids. It’s not a 2 hour job, it’s 24x7, 365.
This makes so much sense. I think it is sometimes referred to as Occam's Razor. Destroying one's agency and empowerment will yield devastating results. As I write this, Stanford Law school is in the news with a kerfuffle about free speech and its harm, lead in large part by the DEI administration.
So much of this article made sense to me, when thinking of my own adult children and their peers.
"people who feel like they are the chief architects of their own life—to mix metaphors, that they captain their own ship, not that they are simply being tossed around by an uncontrollable ocean—are vastly better off than people whose default position is victimization, hurt, and a sense that life simply happens to them and they have no control over their response...Sixty years of research show that people with an internal locus of control are happier and achieve more. People with an external locus of control are more passive and more likely to become depressed."
This seemed to me to be the main point of this article. As a Christian, I looked at it through that lens, and I realized I have found myself to be the strongest when I have an external/internal locus: external - in God, who strengthens me, who is for me, not against me. Who is the lover of my soul, and is good, love personified, and all-powerful. When I am feeling not good or weak, it doesn't change His goodness or strength or love for me. As Corrie Ten Boom would say, ""If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest." That has encouraged me much in my days. But also an internal locus: God is in me also, giving me strength and wisdom when I seek it, belief and trust, hope and love. He has entrusted me with the power to make choices, and offers to help me choose well. I definitely prefer to have Him at the helm with me! God has made life a good (albeit trying!) adventure.
I liked the article, but it seems he just says that liberal girls use social media more heavily and this causes depression. But isn’t the obvious next question, “why do liberal girls use social media more heavily?”
Am I missing something? This article was doesn’t seem to provide an insight about why liberal girls are behaving differently than conservative girls.
You are missing something. He is positing that it is current strain of "liberalism" itself that works in conjunction with social media usage that creates the problem. The article is very clear about this, including citing research to this effect, although he ultimately disagrees with the conclusions that the researchers reach. But the data itself is instructive. In a nutshell, the belief in the attainability of a utopian society is the problem. That's a poor representation of the totality of his argument, so I urge you to re-read the piece and see if you can pick up on this thread. Also, The Coddling of the American Mind is an indispensable book length exploration of this phenomenon, if you want a lengthier and ultimately more fully argued explanation. Cheers.
And read the notes at the end of the book. The clear implication is that the current iteration of "liberalism" (not that it's liberal in any literal sense) was partly birthed by social media. You can't separate them. Much of 60s/post-60s liberalism -- different from the New Deal/WWII liberalism of the cinema/radio era, and 19th-century classical liberalism of the book/print/non-graphical era -- is unthinkable without the media of that era -- high-end magazines, influential national newspapers, television. That's the era that came to an end in the early 2000s with the collapse of mass broadcast advertising and the type of media it supported. A remnant of it persists, but heavily dependent on a narrow, well-to-do, bicoastal class of readers, non-profit foundations, etc. And it dances to the tune of social media, not vice versa.
Even media on the right has been affected by this new model; viz., Fox News, which aggressively panders to a narrow but intense and engaged/enraged minority of its viewers. Only a few old-fashioned hold-outs remain, like the WSJ and National Review.
Brilliant take as always - love The Free Press and it was a terrific surprise to see Haidt's name pop up, always enjoy his podcast takes and was unaware he had the Substack. Thank you The FP!
This is a brilliant article and I have a few more ideas to add. That conservative girls seem more stable should not be a surprise to devoted fans of The Righteous Mind. Being inclined to respond to three additional moral virtues than liberal girls is probably responsible. When your perception of your own identity has a link to your community, then your spirits may be buoyed up by a stronger, in group connection. Having respect for authority may help a conservative girl feel that her burden is shared by those who have more ability or power than she feels she is capable of. A connection to the sacred, via religion or not, may also lend her support that soothes some of her thoughts. The maintenance of any or all three of these moral virtues encourages more in-person contact which might explain the reduced social media usage by conservative girls. It would be interesting to learn if the reduced usage were from a larger portion of conservative girls that opted out entirely or if the same number of conservative girls used social media as liberal girls, but conservative girls just spent less time online.
I think, Bari, you yourself pointed to your faith and your connection to the cultural aspects of Jewishness as influences that countered those within the radical left environment of university. Perhaps a new drive to promote family values is in order.
An observation attributed to Plato: a consequence of great freedom is that a society fractures into mutually incomprehensible fragments. The Rosetta Stone that will allow leaders and followers to take into account all perspectives is the book “The Righteous Mind” by Haidt et al.
Those at the extremes are irrational but, perhaps unknowingly, depend upon rational products, services, and decision-makers for a beneficial lifestyle. Do you want a bridge designer to not bother to do the calculations that keep you safe? Haidt does a great job of skewering the notion that humans are innately rational, however that only adds to the preciousness of rational thought and its products.
Negotiation and strategy are rational processes, and those who are unable to access rational thinking will not find peace nor implement workable plans on their own. Have we not seen evidence from both the radical left and the reactionary right?
Competent leaders need to learn how to understand the fundamental needs of all people by listening but not fulfill their requests. Instead, competent leaders need to determine universally-beneficial solutions and refrain from picking sides and using alienating language. They will need to use their executive power to implement such universally-beneficial solutions over vigorous objections. Post implementation, this will not seem tyrannical if the solution addresses the concerns of all parties, and is communicated in a manner that addresses everyone on the spectrum. Using Executive Power to advance the goals of a subset of interests within a society is fuelling the fires of division. Have we not seen evidence of this as well?
Mr. Haidt and the Mr. Pinker types are the reason we should build the wall at the northern border. They cross from the great white north then lecture us. God bless anyone that made it through this rant of a gazillion words. Love your children, but don't be their friends. They are not your friends. Mr. Haidts Canadian brain suggest we can just reason with crazy people, utilize the central quasi fascists regime in DC whom many believe Matt T and Michael Shellenberger are not real journalists and are engaged in an exotic threesome with Barri Weiss. There is a role for local and state governments to determine what polices align with their values then take legislative action. Many may not like Chris Rufo, but unlike the endless droning of Mr. Haidt the activism of Mr. Rufo is moving the needle. If you are in State that just refuses to do that consider moving but in the interim, consider behaving like a responsible parent.
This is one of the most thorough and brilliant articles I have read in the last 10 years. Wonderful work! I forwarded it to every mental health professional, and school administrator, I know. Thank you for writing this.
You are correct and that is scary but my response to that is get a new pediatrician, especially one that is holistic and get a new school that shares your values or pull them out of the school system. We have more control than we think we have and we need to use it.
This was the longest ever written article on FP but well worth the time. My kids are Gen Z and sadly I see the effects of this on a daily basis. Unfortunately, my wife and I did not limit the access to social media because we didn’t fully understand the implications of the “anti-social” media. We weren’t on it so we didn’t know.
I loved The Happiness Hypothesis and it pairs well with Descarte's Error and Thinking, Fast and Slow about how our emotions are like elephants and our reason like the rider. What we've done is shoot the rider and then feed the elephants meth so we end up just having Pink Elephants on Parade.
It's a fun topic I wrote more about here tying those three books together on Elephant Riding:
https://www.polymathicbeing.com/p/elephant-riding
What a masterful way of manipulating humanity. “Victims” need a one-world government network to “protect” them from “the bad people.”
I soooo agree with this author on so many levels. I would only suggest the addition to this cause-and-effect analysis that the current rush to sex-change operations by so many youngsters and their long-suffering parents as another serious and significant effect of the shift to external locus of control and the depression and distortion of reality it causes. Therefore, I would propose another policy change: that sex-change surgeries be greatly curtailed and that the motivations for them be strongly scrutinized.
This is very insightful, although very long. Feels like this could have been broken into two pieces or even a series of pieces.
It is a powerful piece, an exclamation point on top of the Coddling book. The book itself has some powerful stuff hinted at in the notes mainly, not in the main text. (I finished reading Coddling on a long plane ride, so I had enough time to read everything, even the index.)
The title of this piece first sounded to me like an obscure rock song. Jonathan and the CBTs -- what do y'all think?
Well when parents fail to teach their kids some basic facts:
They’re ass holes who will always look to drag others down. Why? Makes them feel superior, think woke liberals. They have low self esteem and must join a click to feel better.
You are a target unless you learn that you and not your friends or faceless losers on social media control your life.
You must learn that someone’s opinion doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t improve or make you. It surely doesn’t pay your bills.
One should rejoice in standing up to others who are the true losers. You are the only you and must understand the vast majority of your life will not be with the HS or college crowd. It will be what you choose to make it.
Your parents and family should be who you care about and not random fools you must deal with.
Parents need to learn to instill that attitude and learning in their kids. If you can’t or won’t, then why did you have kids? It requires you the parents to take the time and effort to get them involved in things that promote self esteem and also take the time to care and LISTEN.
Bottom line, social media and just hanging is not parenting and it sure isn’t helpful for your kids. It’s not a 2 hour job, it’s 24x7, 365.
This makes so much sense. I think it is sometimes referred to as Occam's Razor. Destroying one's agency and empowerment will yield devastating results. As I write this, Stanford Law school is in the news with a kerfuffle about free speech and its harm, lead in large part by the DEI administration.
So much of this article made sense to me, when thinking of my own adult children and their peers.
"people who feel like they are the chief architects of their own life—to mix metaphors, that they captain their own ship, not that they are simply being tossed around by an uncontrollable ocean—are vastly better off than people whose default position is victimization, hurt, and a sense that life simply happens to them and they have no control over their response...Sixty years of research show that people with an internal locus of control are happier and achieve more. People with an external locus of control are more passive and more likely to become depressed."
This seemed to me to be the main point of this article. As a Christian, I looked at it through that lens, and I realized I have found myself to be the strongest when I have an external/internal locus: external - in God, who strengthens me, who is for me, not against me. Who is the lover of my soul, and is good, love personified, and all-powerful. When I am feeling not good or weak, it doesn't change His goodness or strength or love for me. As Corrie Ten Boom would say, ""If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest." That has encouraged me much in my days. But also an internal locus: God is in me also, giving me strength and wisdom when I seek it, belief and trust, hope and love. He has entrusted me with the power to make choices, and offers to help me choose well. I definitely prefer to have Him at the helm with me! God has made life a good (albeit trying!) adventure.
I liked the article, but it seems he just says that liberal girls use social media more heavily and this causes depression. But isn’t the obvious next question, “why do liberal girls use social media more heavily?”
Am I missing something? This article was doesn’t seem to provide an insight about why liberal girls are behaving differently than conservative girls.
You are missing something. He is positing that it is current strain of "liberalism" itself that works in conjunction with social media usage that creates the problem. The article is very clear about this, including citing research to this effect, although he ultimately disagrees with the conclusions that the researchers reach. But the data itself is instructive. In a nutshell, the belief in the attainability of a utopian society is the problem. That's a poor representation of the totality of his argument, so I urge you to re-read the piece and see if you can pick up on this thread. Also, The Coddling of the American Mind is an indispensable book length exploration of this phenomenon, if you want a lengthier and ultimately more fully argued explanation. Cheers.
And read the notes at the end of the book. The clear implication is that the current iteration of "liberalism" (not that it's liberal in any literal sense) was partly birthed by social media. You can't separate them. Much of 60s/post-60s liberalism -- different from the New Deal/WWII liberalism of the cinema/radio era, and 19th-century classical liberalism of the book/print/non-graphical era -- is unthinkable without the media of that era -- high-end magazines, influential national newspapers, television. That's the era that came to an end in the early 2000s with the collapse of mass broadcast advertising and the type of media it supported. A remnant of it persists, but heavily dependent on a narrow, well-to-do, bicoastal class of readers, non-profit foundations, etc. And it dances to the tune of social media, not vice versa.
Even media on the right has been affected by this new model; viz., Fox News, which aggressively panders to a narrow but intense and engaged/enraged minority of its viewers. Only a few old-fashioned hold-outs remain, like the WSJ and National Review.
Brilliant take as always - love The Free Press and it was a terrific surprise to see Haidt's name pop up, always enjoy his podcast takes and was unaware he had the Substack. Thank you The FP!
This is a brilliant article and I have a few more ideas to add. That conservative girls seem more stable should not be a surprise to devoted fans of The Righteous Mind. Being inclined to respond to three additional moral virtues than liberal girls is probably responsible. When your perception of your own identity has a link to your community, then your spirits may be buoyed up by a stronger, in group connection. Having respect for authority may help a conservative girl feel that her burden is shared by those who have more ability or power than she feels she is capable of. A connection to the sacred, via religion or not, may also lend her support that soothes some of her thoughts. The maintenance of any or all three of these moral virtues encourages more in-person contact which might explain the reduced social media usage by conservative girls. It would be interesting to learn if the reduced usage were from a larger portion of conservative girls that opted out entirely or if the same number of conservative girls used social media as liberal girls, but conservative girls just spent less time online.
I think, Bari, you yourself pointed to your faith and your connection to the cultural aspects of Jewishness as influences that countered those within the radical left environment of university. Perhaps a new drive to promote family values is in order.
An observation attributed to Plato: a consequence of great freedom is that a society fractures into mutually incomprehensible fragments. The Rosetta Stone that will allow leaders and followers to take into account all perspectives is the book “The Righteous Mind” by Haidt et al.
Those at the extremes are irrational but, perhaps unknowingly, depend upon rational products, services, and decision-makers for a beneficial lifestyle. Do you want a bridge designer to not bother to do the calculations that keep you safe? Haidt does a great job of skewering the notion that humans are innately rational, however that only adds to the preciousness of rational thought and its products.
Negotiation and strategy are rational processes, and those who are unable to access rational thinking will not find peace nor implement workable plans on their own. Have we not seen evidence from both the radical left and the reactionary right?
Competent leaders need to learn how to understand the fundamental needs of all people by listening but not fulfill their requests. Instead, competent leaders need to determine universally-beneficial solutions and refrain from picking sides and using alienating language. They will need to use their executive power to implement such universally-beneficial solutions over vigorous objections. Post implementation, this will not seem tyrannical if the solution addresses the concerns of all parties, and is communicated in a manner that addresses everyone on the spectrum. Using Executive Power to advance the goals of a subset of interests within a society is fuelling the fires of division. Have we not seen evidence of this as well?
Mr. Haidt and the Mr. Pinker types are the reason we should build the wall at the northern border. They cross from the great white north then lecture us. God bless anyone that made it through this rant of a gazillion words. Love your children, but don't be their friends. They are not your friends. Mr. Haidts Canadian brain suggest we can just reason with crazy people, utilize the central quasi fascists regime in DC whom many believe Matt T and Michael Shellenberger are not real journalists and are engaged in an exotic threesome with Barri Weiss. There is a role for local and state governments to determine what polices align with their values then take legislative action. Many may not like Chris Rufo, but unlike the endless droning of Mr. Haidt the activism of Mr. Rufo is moving the needle. If you are in State that just refuses to do that consider moving but in the interim, consider behaving like a responsible parent.
How do they know if they are liberal or conservative…they are too young to really understand politics?
This is one of the most thorough and brilliant articles I have read in the last 10 years. Wonderful work! I forwarded it to every mental health professional, and school administrator, I know. Thank you for writing this.
You are correct and that is scary but my response to that is get a new pediatrician, especially one that is holistic and get a new school that shares your values or pull them out of the school system. We have more control than we think we have and we need to use it.
This was the longest ever written article on FP but well worth the time. My kids are Gen Z and sadly I see the effects of this on a daily basis. Unfortunately, my wife and I did not limit the access to social media because we didn’t fully understand the implications of the “anti-social” media. We weren’t on it so we didn’t know.