The Coddling of the American Parent(thedailybeast.com)
thedailybeast.com
The Coddling of the American Parent
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-coddling-of-the-american-parent
7 comments
I didn't come away convinced by his recent appearance on Conversations with Tyler. Similar conversation on Ezra Klein podcast which I also found unconvincing. It seems like people are making themselves miserable with their social media addiction and want someone else to solve their inability to control their attentional problems.
> I can't stop myself from doom-scrolling. We should ban tiktok.
> I can't make my kids go outside. We should ban IG.
https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/jonathan-haidt-a...
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/opinion/ezra-klein-podcas...
> I can't stop myself from doom-scrolling. We should ban tiktok.
> I can't make my kids go outside. We should ban IG.
https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/jonathan-haidt-a...
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/opinion/ezra-klein-podcas...
Three paragraphs in and I knew this was garbage.
> argued that parents are doing a real disservice to their kids by overprotecting (coddling) them, rather than giving them more freedom and allowing them to make mistakes and learn.
Correct.
> This year, he’s back with a new book, The Anxious Generation, arguing the exact opposite
Incorrect, and proof the author hasn't read both books or is so against Haidt that this is what his cognitive bias has led him to.
> social media and smartphones have made kids under-protected, rewiring brains and increasing teenage depression rates.
Correct.
> Haidt tries to address this obvious contradiction in his book with the standard cop-out of the purveyor of every modern moral panic: “This time it’s different!” He provides little evidence to support that.
Going to need a source with context for this.
> argued that parents are doing a real disservice to their kids by overprotecting (coddling) them, rather than giving them more freedom and allowing them to make mistakes and learn.
Correct.
> This year, he’s back with a new book, The Anxious Generation, arguing the exact opposite
Incorrect, and proof the author hasn't read both books or is so against Haidt that this is what his cognitive bias has led him to.
> social media and smartphones have made kids under-protected, rewiring brains and increasing teenage depression rates.
Correct.
> Haidt tries to address this obvious contradiction in his book with the standard cop-out of the purveyor of every modern moral panic: “This time it’s different!” He provides little evidence to support that.
Going to need a source with context for this.
> Going to need a source with context for this.
Isn't this article the source & context? The author of TFA has several examples where Haidt cherry-picks data, and sometimes has no data at all other than gut feel.
Isn't this article the source & context? The author of TFA has several examples where Haidt cherry-picks data, and sometimes has no data at all other than gut feel.
Where did he say that? It seems too much like he's making that statement for Haidt.
Well the good news is that the problem may not actually exist.
> new guidance in the U.S. under the Affordable Care Act in 2011 that increased screening of adolescent girls for depression (the rise in depression rates for adolescent girls being key to Haidt’s argument), and a second change in instructing clinicians to record suicidal ideation differently than in the past.
And various experts can't find the correlation he uses to declare causation.
> new guidance in the U.S. under the Affordable Care Act in 2011 that increased screening of adolescent girls for depression (the rise in depression rates for adolescent girls being key to Haidt’s argument), and a second change in instructing clinicians to record suicidal ideation differently than in the past.
And various experts can't find the correlation he uses to declare causation.
fwiw, the author's previous book ("The Coddling of the American Mind") was ... featured ... on If Books Could Kill: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-coddling-of-the-am...
But that argument simply doesn't hold. The thing about "moral panics" is that you retroactively apply that term to things that groups were worried about that seem silly in hindsight. But people also worried a lot in the past about drug use and rising obesity, which both have turned out to be gigantic social problems.
Even leaving aside the validity of the studies (I think that Haidt overstates his evidence at times), I think people can come to conclusions just by introspection and observation as to whether the impact of smartphones/algorithmic content on society is more comparable to pinball or to a new drug.