Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation,” blames youth mental health issues on social media in a way that’s easy, wrong, and dangerous.
argued that parents are doing a real disservice to their kids by overprotecting them, rather than giving them more freedom and allowing them to make mistakes and learn.Haidt tries to address this obvious contradiction in his book with the standard cop-out of the purveyor of every modern moral panic: “This time it’s different!” He provides little evidence to support that.
To get around this unfortunate situation, Haidt seems to carefully pick which data he uses to support his argument. For example, Haidt mentions the increase in depression and suicide among teen girls from 2000 to the present. The numbers started rising around 2010, though they are still relatively low., the numbers were on par with what they were today in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when no social media existed.
Apparently, Haidt only cites the parts of Gray’s work that match his thesis, and not the parts that don’t. Similarly, Haidt argues that we should keep kids away from social media for the same reason: even if he’s wrong, the “cost” is minimal.The research has shown repeatedly that social media is valuable for many young people, especially those struggling in their local communities and families . Taking that lifeline away can be damaging.
The problem is that this shows a deep lack of understanding of how any of this works. Such a system still creates very real privacy problems.
Technology Anxiety Parenting Depression Smartphone Opinion
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