The Coddling of the American Parent

The Anxious Generation | Jonathan Haidt

The Kids Are (Mostly) Alright: New Pew Study Deflates The Social Media Panic

A couple weeks back, Jonathan Haidt published another entry in his ongoing campaign to convince the world that social media is inherently ruining kids’ lives. This one was a victory lap title…

Despair and anxiety among UK youth

For years, the age profile of mental ill health was hump-shaped, peaking when people were in their late 40s or early 50s. But in recent years the mental health of the young has deteriorated to such an extent that, today, anxiety and despair peak when UK citizens are in their mid-20s. In most international surveys, adolescents in England, Scotland, and Wales are among the least happy in the world. This column focuses on one of the many likely contributory factors to young people’s mental health – the rise in social media, underpinned by the smartphone.

Are Cell Phones Really Destroying Kids’ Mental Health?

Jonathan Haidt once heralded an “ultrasocial” world. Now he’s one of social media’s most prominent critics.

The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?

The evidence is equivocal on whether screen time is to blame for rising levels of teen depression and anxiety — and rising hysteria could distract us from tackling the real causes.

The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?

The evidence is equivocal on whether screen time is to blame for rising levels of teen depression and anxiety — and rising hysteria could distract us from tackling the real causes.

The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?

The evidence is equivocal on whether screen time is to blame for rising levels of teen depression and anxiety — and rising hysteria could distract us from tackling the real causes.

Social media and youth mental health: Simple narratives produce biased interpretations.

Jonathan Haidt’s Claims On Kids & Tech Crumble Under Scrutiny From Top Expert, Candice Odgers

Jonathan Haidt’s incredibly well-timed decision to surf on the wave of a moral panic about kids and social media has made him a false hero for many parents and educators. In my review, I noted that…

Free Speech Experts: Jonathan Haidt’s Moral Panic Is As Old As Democracy Itself

We’ve been saying for years now that Jonathan Haidt’s crusade against social media and kids is a moral panic dressed up in academic robes, and that the evidence simply does not support …

Young people's mental health is improving. Tech alarmists take note.

Depression and anxiety are declining, adding yet more complications to the anti-smartphone and anti–social media narratives.

Why Protecting Kids from Social Media May Make Things Worse — Douglas Rushkoff

I’m supposed to give a talk next week about kids and social media and the need for more media literacy education, more regulation of platforms, and more substantive discussion about how to keep our kids from media-induced self-harm. The whole event is well-meaning, but is characterized by a sense of worry and protection. And for some reason, after years of making those sorts of arguments in my articles and documentaries, I have a strong impulse to pivot the other way.

Jonathan Haidt Started a Social-Media War. Did He Win?

When a study challenged his bestselling book’s thesis — that social media harms kids — the New York University psychologist fired back. That was just the beginning.

A Statistical Interrogation of “The Case for Causality, Part 1” by Rausch and Haidt – Matthew B. Jané

I don’t know anything about the literature on social media and mental health so my focus on this post is to interrogate the statistical approach taken by the article written by Zach Rausch and Jonathon Haidt (link here) and to some extent the original meta-analysis by Ferguson.

The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent

The question whether social media use benefits or undermines adolescents’ well-being is an important societal concern. Previous empirical studies have mostly established across-the-board effects among (sub)populations of adolescents. As a result, it is still an open question whether the effects are unique for each individual adolescent. We sampled adolescents’ experiences six times per day for one week to quantify differences in their susceptibility to the effects of social media on their momentary affective well-being. Rigorous analyses of 2,155 real-time assessments showed that the association between social media use and affective well-being differs strongly across adolescents: While 44% did not feel better or worse after passive social media use, 46% felt better, and 10% felt worse. Our results imply that person-specific effects can no longer be ignored in research, as well as in prevention and intervention programs.

Brett Scott (@brettscott)

Marshall McLuhan is famous for his observation that the form of a communication technology can shape our mind and society The age of the printed book, for example, carried with it a particular way of being. Regardless of the differing content of different books, all books required a particular mindset in which a thread is followed from the beginning to the end through an arc I feel the age of social media is like the age of a ripped up book, as if we were surrounded by torn shards and shreds of paper floating like confetti around us. We grab for them, hoping for some tiny insight, but not having any way of knowing where it fits in the overarching narrative This note is one such shard. You can toss it away now