Jonathan Haidt, Social psychologist and author of The Coddling of the American Mind (2018), talks about alarming digital media trends that begin in 2012.
Some highlights:
“The creators of this technology do not let their kids have it. They know these things were made to be addictive, to grab eyeballs and not let go.”
“[The technologies] have gotten more and more addictive as they’ve evolved. Fortnite is an example of an extremely addictive game. If you’ve ever been to a casino and you’ve seen people sitting at those slot machines like zombies just hour after hour pulling that crank. . . There were psychologists working out the variable reinforcement schedule for the gambling companies. Psychologists helped the companies manipulate users. That’s happening to our kids, too [via social media and games]. They’re manipulated to stay on the device. . . Once we realize that these things are so attractive, that they crowd out all the other healthy activities like playing outside and playing with groups of friends, I think and hope we’ll set some reasonable norms.”