Social media and its associated subcultures have become a proxy for the in person socialization our human psyches actually require. But it isn’t an adequate substitute, by any measure. I posit adolescent girls have been the hardest hit by the worsening trend of social isolation, due to their specific developmental need for social connection and personal differentiation. What others have referred to as an epidemic of loneliness is not new to the smartphone era, though the last decade has exponentially worsened it, but is more fundamentally the result of generations of economic and social restructuring.
This is a great insight, Aaron! Have you read The Coddling of the American Mind? In it, Haidt and Lukianoff provide convincing evidence that the mental health of teen girls has declined especially severely in the last decade or so.
Some of your points about loneliness also remind me of Bowling Alone, which I never actually finished before having to return to the library, but made compelling points about the collapse of civic organizations. It came out around 2000, but I think the crisis has worsened since then. I'm currently reading Revolt of the Elites by Christopher Lasch, and it's also relevant to these challenges. It was written in the 90s, but Lasch mentioned how the decline of "third spaces" (neither home nor work) in communities prevented us from coming together and having rich conversations. I'm trying to stay optimistic that we'll all be more proactive about socializing in our communities now that the pandemic is waning, but I'm not certain about this.
This is a great insight, Aaron! Have you read The Coddling of the American Mind? In it, Haidt and Lukianoff provide convincing evidence that the mental health of teen girls has declined especially severely in the last decade or so.
Some of your points about loneliness also remind me of Bowling Alone, which I never actually finished before having to return to the library, but made compelling points about the collapse of civic organizations. It came out around 2000, but I think the crisis has worsened since then. I'm currently reading Revolt of the Elites by Christopher Lasch, and it's also relevant to these challenges. It was written in the 90s, but Lasch mentioned how the decline of "third spaces" (neither home nor work) in communities prevented us from coming together and having rich conversations. I'm trying to stay optimistic that we'll all be more proactive about socializing in our communities now that the pandemic is waning, but I'm not certain about this.
Yeees. 🙌🏽