Since we're all applying our own anecdotes, I can tell you my kids have had unfettered and unregulated screen time pretty much their whole lives on account of I don't really believe Haidt's point of view. They have absolutely zero interest in any social media platform except YouTube which we all frequently watch together.
My son got inspired to cook by watching youtube. My daughter loves Vihart and wants to study math in college. I use Reddit and HN, but no Facebook or Tiktok. We also pretty much all have elevated levels of anxiety and it's all due to things happening in real life. Too much homework, annoying coworkers, annoying neighbors.
And I also observe that my kids and their classmates are just so incredibly good. There is nearly zero bullying. My son got picked on recently and his classmates jumped up and formed a circle around him like heroes. There is zero tolerance amongst even middle-school kids for anti-LGBTQ sentiment that was just basic banter for kids when I was in school. I hear this from a lot of parents. I think Gen Z and Alpha have anxiety because the adults in charge of the world are such worse people than they are.
>I think Gen Z and Alpha have anxiety because the adults in charge of the world are such worse people than they are.
I think this is an interesting insight and I wonder if the anxiety and cynicism is related to a significant miss-match between expectations and reality.
They were sold an bunch of ideals which are essentially maladaptive because the world operates so radically different than how they were told it does/should.
This is similar in concept to how Generation Y erroneously learned from watching TV shows like The Simpsons that a typical middle class lifestyle includes owning a 2,000 ft house, which was never the case. When the "promised" good never arrive, people are naturally outraged, angry, or jaded.
If Gen Z and A are taught that for the world to be good, it must be a place of peace an justice, their teachers have burdened them with a Sisyphean task, and doomed them to living miserably in an evil world.
I place the blame on the idealism and absolutism of earlier generations, which rejected realism, incrementalism, and compromise. In my opinion, to find happiness, people need to be able to come to terms with world as it is, and then accept that they can only incrementally improve it.
I know I would be anxious, depressed, and neurotic if I was told that the world was broken and evil, and it was my responsibility for the impossible task of fixing everything.
My son got inspired to cook by watching youtube. My daughter loves Vihart and wants to study math in college. I use Reddit and HN, but no Facebook or Tiktok. We also pretty much all have elevated levels of anxiety and it's all due to things happening in real life. Too much homework, annoying coworkers, annoying neighbors.
And I also observe that my kids and their classmates are just so incredibly good. There is nearly zero bullying. My son got picked on recently and his classmates jumped up and formed a circle around him like heroes. There is zero tolerance amongst even middle-school kids for anti-LGBTQ sentiment that was just basic banter for kids when I was in school. I hear this from a lot of parents. I think Gen Z and Alpha have anxiety because the adults in charge of the world are such worse people than they are.