This week the US surgeon general, Dr Vivek Murthy, did democracy a great favour by stating what surely must have been obvious to literally everyone for some time: social media is negatively affecting the mental health of teens.
Murthy’s comments signal that the fears expressed in the Atlantic’s blockbuster 2017 report that asks “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” have come true. Western teenagers are spending nearly five hours a day on social media on average and a third were staying up until midnight on week nights on their devices, Murthy said.
Is it a coincidence then that the recent world happiness report found that young people in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are now the unhappiest age group in their communities?
Have a look at the nearest teen’s phone and consider the relentless barrage of precision-targeted consumer manipulation, platformed bullying, gross sensationalism and naked propaganda they’re exposed to and form your own view.
radicalise the educated, the mature, the experienced. Just give your own personal social media feeds a glance and you’ll no doubt see “GLORY TO THE MARTYRS!” declarations or anti-vax conspiracies.
Wasn’t the take-home lesson of Australia’s failed Indigenous voice to parliament referendum the true extent of homegrown online whackadoo?
