RE: This Is Our Chance to Pull Teenagers Out of the Smartphone Trap by Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge
Saturday afternoon, I saw one of my favorite authors, Jonathan Haidt, share the following tweet:
I am one of Haidt’s biggest fans, and his book with Greg Lukianoff introduced me to the work of Jean Twenge. Although I loved The Coddling of the American Mind, I was instantly skeptical of Twenge’s research. Since then, I’ve seen many people I respect start to point out issues with Twenge’s research as well. So, when I saw that Haidt and Twenge collaborated on this piece in the New York Times, I decided to give it a read.
And for those of you who don’t know me, I always recommend you research for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Read This Is Our Chance to Pull Teenagers Out of the Smartphone Trap by Haidt and Twenge, and if you’d like more insight into Twenge’s research, I recommend reading some of her books. I’m a firm believer that if someone has taken the time to write an entire book, you should pay them the courtesy of reading it before forming a strong opinion.
With that said, what follows are my personal opinions as to why I feel this piece not only presented weak arguments, but I also feel that this narrative perpetuates the same alarmist behavior that I know Haidt and Twenge are against.
My Skepticism of Twenge’s Work
First, you should probably know why I was instantly skeptical of Twenge’s research.
It’s not fair to summarize the work of someone who has written multiple books, so please go read them. But, gun to my head, I’d summarize her main arguments being that the research shows smartphones and social media being the root of all that’s wrong with our youth.
This is an extremely hard sell for me, so when you make this claim, you need to come with some really strong evidence to convince me.
I was born in 1985, and I grew up with crippling social anxiety. To this day, I’m an introvert, but it’s taken me a lot of work just to have conversations with people. When AOL came around when I was transitioning from elementary school to middle school, it completely changed my life. I realized I was able to actually talk to people, and I could even flirt with girls. I could have conversations that were difficult in person.
We introverts really like to get to know someone before we feel comfortable around them, and that’s what the internet did for me. And at the risk of sounding lame, even as an adult, the internet became my primary way of meeting women. I met my son’s mom online as well as my current girlfriend who I’ve been with for years.
I’ll personally take getting to know someone through deep conversation via digital communication any day. It sure beats trying to pick up women at a bar or through random blind dates.
But aside from being able to meet people via AOL and later social media, I’ve always been a gamer. Some of the best friends I’ve had my entire life are people I met online in video games like Counter-Strike. Those same video games gave me the opportunity to begin a career in eSports and travel the world by age 20.
Now, as a father, I see how my son benefits from gaming. He has friends he’s been playing with for years from Nebraska. My son is also way more outgoing than I am, so he has a ton of friends in person at school as well.
And if you really want your mind to be blown, you should know that my son deleted TikTok on his own because he recognized the toxic aspects of social media.
In her new book How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes, Melinda Wenner Moyer was one of the only people I saw also explaining her skepticism of Twenge and showing contradictory evidence. As she explained on my podcast episode about her book, like anything else, there are pros and cons to screen time. It’s our job as parents to help with balance.
But what are the issues with this new piece from Twenge and Haidt?
For the Skeptics
As I was reading the article, I came to this part, and I was excited because they were going to address us skeptics:
One powerful argument made by skeptics is this: The smartphone was adopted in many countries around the world at approximately the same time, so why aren’t teens in all of these countries experiencing more mental health issues the way Americans have been? Where’s the evidence for that?
I’ve never personally used this argument, but they go on to draw some inferences from counter-data. Then, their argument fell apart.
But couldn’t the timing just be coincidental? To test our hypothesis, we sought data on many global trends that might have an impact on teenage loneliness, including declines in family size, changes in G.D.P., rising income inequality and increases in unemployment, as well as more smartphone access and more hours of internet use.
The data they collected to test their hypothesis was extremely limited. As someone who worked in mental health and addiction treatment for years, these wouldn’t be stats that I’d be looking for.
They go on to say:
These analyses don’t prove that smartphones and social media are major causes of the increase in teenage loneliness, but they do show that several other causes are less plausible. If anyone has another explanation for the global increase in loneliness at school, we’d love to hear it.
I’ve worked with thousands of people struggling with loneliness, depression, suicidal ideation, and addiction. Aside from loneliness being highly subjective, we must take into consideration instances of childhood trauma and forms of abuse within a household. Some of these may be correlated with trends Haidt and Twenge mentioned such as unemployment and income inequality, but they leap to smartphones instead.
As someone who grew up with an alcoholic mother and a workaholic dad, I can honestly tell you that smartphones weren’t the reason for my loneliness.
A major part of intellectual humility is recognizing that we don’t know what we don’t know. I don’t fault researchers like Haidt and Twenge, but when you’re not in the trenches, you’re just looking at numbers.
The Mental Health Argument
Last year, actress Gina Carano blocked me on Twitter.
I know. You’re probably wondering why since I’m a pretty nice guy.
Well, during the height of the pandemic last summer, Gina tweeted out that we need to re-open America because of the rising rates in depression, overdose deaths, and suicide.
I pointed out that all of these have been on the rise for years, so we can’t blame it on lockdown. Then, I was blocked.
Why do I bring this story up?
Since getting sober in 2012, I’ve been a mental health and addiction advocate. I spend a lot of time reading books, keeping up with news and trends, and I get involved with local events when I can.
There isn’t just one reason for mental health and addiction issues, but people constantly use it for their agenda.
I want you to ask yourself, “If it weren’t for wanting to re-open America, would Gina ‘just toughen up’ Carano care about these statistics?”
I don’t think Haidt and Twenge are anywhere in the same ballpark as Carano. I honestly think they care about what’s going on with our youth. Unfortunately, when you lock your sights on social media and smartphones, you neglect everything else going on.
As they say, when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
The Loneliness Epidemic
I always felt alone, and even though I have an amazing girlfriend who I’ve lived with for years and an incredible son, I can still feel lonely. I suffer from clinical depression, and even though I wish it wasn’t the case, I have been on antidepressants for years.
How can a guy like me who has friends and family who love him feel lonely? Is it because I spend all my time on a screen and neglect my loved ones? Absolutely not.
When I finally started working on my mental health, I realized I wasn’t alone. I met tons of other people who could feel completely alone while surrounded by people who care about them. The other thing I realized is that my loneliness was completely subjective. So, through years of therapy, a support group, meditation, and everything else, I keep the depression and loneliness at bay.
I respect the hell out of Haidt and Twenge because I truly believe they care, but I think they’re going after the wrong problem. Could smartphones and social media be a factor? Of course, but like many others, they have picked “their thing” and are hyper-focused on it.
Aside from Haidt and Twenge, there are many other incredible people out there writing books trying to figure out what’s going on.
Recently, Noreena Hertz released her incredible book The Lonely Century: How to Restore Human Connection in a World That's Pulling Apart and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released his book Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World. And it’s impossible to read any book on psychology or polarization without quotes from Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of these books and think each one has some great knowledge and wisdom. But by reading all the books I’ve listed in this post, you’ll see that much like every other issue, loneliness is nuanced and complex. In fact, Amy Chua was the first person to challenge Robert Putnam’s thesis in her book Political Tribes.
So, if no one is right, then what can we do?
I don’t know, but I think a good place to start is fighting loneliness on an individual level. Text a friend or family member and see how they’re doing. Talk to someone at work you’ve never talked to. Have a conversation with someone you disagree with. Anything.
As someone who was so lonely that I thought life wasn’t worth living, I can honestly tell you the most helpful thing was just knowing someone cared.
I’m always open for a conversation and to be shown what I might be missing or where I may be wrong, so feel free to email me at TheRewiredSoul@gmail.com
Hey Chris.
It's good of you to put your thoughts out there like this, with all the links and added points. You have good momentum, and there is a lot of it showing through in this writing. That graph sure is palpable, and the recently socialized global marketplace has created some big winners, and way more on the losing end. I have kept detailed track of the internet since the 90s, and most on the internet (and in person) have come to be situated in the fairly quiet long tail of connection.
Your swell momentum is creating its own ecosystem. We are the ones who make the solutions to things we don't see enough of.
Armen