All the people declaiming the wrongness of what Jonathan Haidt writes about the dangers of smartphones and social media don’t really understand the point he’s making and are being very disingenuous. And, as always, many of them are paid shills citing poor evidence, or tangential evidence.

They are calling it a “moral panic” akin to the Satanic Panic during the 1980s and such. I like Danah Boyd, but she’s wrong. The evidence is pretty clear that when smartphones and social media arrive on the scene, mental health takes a huge nosedive. Only if you cherry-pick and (as scientists love to do) control away anything relevant does this obvious fact disappear.

No, it’s not only social media and smartphones. But that is a substantial contributor. Answer me this, do all of you really think that we can in less than one generation completely alter how and where people relate, the information (and misinformation) they are exposed to, the frequency with which they are hit with it, and the means of its consumption, and this has no effect on people at their most pliable age?

Come the fuck on, what kind of doofy-ass disphits must you be to believe that kinda clown crap?

Smartphones and social media are a huge cognitohazard, and particularly so for those 10-18.