His new book is not a careful study of psychiatric epidemiology; it is a social critique that emanates from a school of thought best described as Haidtism. Read on to find out what this means.
“The book argues that the last few decades have seen a shift from ‘play-based childhood’ to ‘phone-based childhood’. Generation Z (born after 1995) has experienced parental overprotection in the real world and a deluge of harmful information and connectivity online. This has led to phone addiction, loneliness, and a generally fearful demeanor that feeds anxiety and depression. And look, Haidt says, in 2012, just when smartphones with front-facing cameras became a thing, the lines of mental illness in teenagers started bending upwards! Moreover, in experiments where kids disable their social media apps for a few weeks, they end up feeling better. Ergo, social media have caused mental illness and need to be forbidden under 16 years of age.”
If this is what the book is about, then it sounds almost trivial. But many academics, nowadays, would need the most detailed, scrutinised, proof even for the fact that human beings need water—even if, they themselves, often do not provide such proofs in their own papers.
I don't agree. If you want to write, based on common sense, that social media are bad for mental health, that's fine, but don't pretend it's based on our highest standard of evidence. There are too many things we don't know yet to throw out our humility. This includes how banning social media might backfire. Banning drinking between ages 18 and 21, as a comparison, has enabled binge drinking and date rape on college campuses (frat party culture).
Water is a good example too because, surprisingly, drinking too much of it can kill you, and sense of thirst can be impaired in older adults leading to life-threatening situations. It is thus vital to study why and how humans need water.
“The book argues that the last few decades have seen a shift from ‘play-based childhood’ to ‘phone-based childhood’. Generation Z (born after 1995) has experienced parental overprotection in the real world and a deluge of harmful information and connectivity online. This has led to phone addiction, loneliness, and a generally fearful demeanor that feeds anxiety and depression. And look, Haidt says, in 2012, just when smartphones with front-facing cameras became a thing, the lines of mental illness in teenagers started bending upwards! Moreover, in experiments where kids disable their social media apps for a few weeks, they end up feeling better. Ergo, social media have caused mental illness and need to be forbidden under 16 years of age.”
If this is what the book is about, then it sounds almost trivial. But many academics, nowadays, would need the most detailed, scrutinised, proof even for the fact that human beings need water—even if, they themselves, often do not provide such proofs in their own papers.
I don't agree. If you want to write, based on common sense, that social media are bad for mental health, that's fine, but don't pretend it's based on our highest standard of evidence. There are too many things we don't know yet to throw out our humility. This includes how banning social media might backfire. Banning drinking between ages 18 and 21, as a comparison, has enabled binge drinking and date rape on college campuses (frat party culture).
Water is a good example too because, surprisingly, drinking too much of it can kill you, and sense of thirst can be impaired in older adults leading to life-threatening situations. It is thus vital to study why and how humans need water.