Top all-time · #6948
Jonathan Haidt
Personal blog · jonathanhaidt.com/essaysscienceculturepolitics
Jonathan Haidt's personal blog at jonathanhaidt.com covers science, culture and politics. Since 2023, 12 different Hacker News readers have linked it 12 times. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (12) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Jonathan Haidt's site as the reference for his work on social media and teen mental health, including his evidence reviews and his books, such as The Coddling of the American Mind.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 12 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Studying the effects of technological change on childhood, mental health, and democracy
Most-linked posts?
- /social-media/7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2024-01-29
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-08-05
What Hacker News says?
He explains the details in his book, https://jonathanhaidt.com/anxious-generation/ , but I think the gist of it is that his recommendations are reasonable and actionable . Below age 16 it seems quite possible, policy-wise and parent-wise, to keep kids off social media. But the older they get the more they would push back (being teenagers after all). Saying something like "no social media until 25" would immediately…
Comment linking /anxious-generation/
on “Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness”"The Coddling of the American Mind" by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff is a very good (and troubling) book that talks a lot about "safetyism". I can't recommend it enough. https://jonathanhaidt.com/ https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/the-coddling... https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Coddling-of-the-American-Mind...
Comment linking /
on “Stable Diffusion 3”Meta is currently on trial for antitrust. As was pointed out elsewhere in this post Jon Haidt has been railing about social media for a while now, and has written several books on the subject. https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/
Comment linking /social-media/
on “TikTok is harming children at an industrial scale”Haidt rails against the others too, but kids don't use Facebook, and Instagram is for their moms now. https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/
Comment linking /social-media/
on “TikTok is harming children at an industrial scale”It seems that all data on the subject of social media point emphatically to, Yes! It's terrible for adolescents[0] (and probably society writ large?). [0] https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/
Comment linking /social-media/
on “Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16”These authors have big Google Docs of evidence, https://jonathanhaidt.com/reviews/ . But if you read it, you will see the effect is (AFAICT) limited to certain populations. There is a significant fraction of students that do have trouble with executive function and staying on task and will fail to do their homework because of social media access. Then there are the other students that have no trouble staying off soc…
Comment linking /reviews/
on “The EdTech Revolution Has Failed”The effects are there for everyone to see. GenZ is depressed and can't hold a thought for more than a few seconds. No, it's not because of the housing or job market, it's the phones. Check e.g. Jonathan Haidt: https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/ And free speech: you don't need a mobile phone or tiktok to exercise that right.
Comment linking /social-media/
on “Rahm Emanuel says U.S. should follow Australia's youth social media ban”No one knows for sure, but if I take the perspective of a socially alienated young person who is angry, resentful, and feels a growing desire for revenge, I would say hours of screen time, social media dynamics [1], and widespread economic insecurities only worsen the situation. It is easy to become resentful and aggressive when you are isolated and feel left behind. Additionally, it is much easier to become radical…
Comment linking /social-media/
on “How Many School Shootings? All Incidents from 1966-Present”And social media is objectively and measurably harming children, see: https://jonathanhaidt.com/essays/
Comment linking /essays/
on “The EU moves to kill infinite scrolling”equating social media and the printing press is tempting but reductive. esp with massive profit incentives, social media is often built for retention and conversion rather than for informative purposes. esp within the modern context. it is not a black and white picture. social media can exist responsibly. just because a technology represents "progress" there is much we can and should pay attention to. just blanket d…
Comment linking /social-media/
on “Programming Still Sucks”Related: https://jonathanhaidt.com/ https://righteousmind.com/
Comment linking /
on “NYT: Are We the Baddies?”Here are Jonathan Haidt's counter arguments and evidence: https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/ He has compiled reviews over many studies which arguably should carry more weight than any single study.
Comment linking /social-media/
on “Study: Minimal evidence links social media, gaming to teen mental health issues”
