The most subversive media I ran into coming up in my early teens were the books of Stephen King, Troma films, the film Dead Alive, and worst among them, faces of death (most of it fake but that didn't matter). Just tapes passed around. Later, the group ICP made me a juggalo, then heavy metal (Testament, Megadeth, Priest, etc.) made me an outcast.
As a kid I had neighborhood friends, the forest, the creek, paintball, setting things on fire, so on). When the internet began it was the aol cds, 56k dial up. I remember trying to download gone in 60 seconds with a friend one night on napster. By the morning we had about 8 minutes.
Your essay paints a dire picture but I know parents personally that keep their children off of this poison. I think the push back is inevitable and already occurring. God works in mysterious ways. I'll be witnessing a slew of children at an easter egg hunt this weekend. Your essay will be top of my mind.
In a perfect world, everyone would have a mobile telephone and it could be used only to call home or dial 911.
The "connectedness" that phones have given us has snagged us like mites in a spider's web.
Donald Trump has done the nation a great favor by clarifying the fact that there are exactly two sexes - male and female. The fact that Ketanji Brown Jackson cannot figure that out is worthy of her impeachment from the Supreme Court.
One of the great ironies of this cultural moment is that despite the importance of these ideas being premised on the idea that young people support them, we're also in the middle of a realignment that are seeing young people abandon the Democrat Party for Trumpism. They don't necessarily like Trumpism. But they've been forced into a position where they either need to accept utterly meaningless platitudes versus someone who will at least recognize that serious problems exist in our society that can't be solved based on self-actualization alone. Trump somehow took the mantle of peace candidate just because he's willing to explicitly state that war is bad and we should try to have less of it instead of acting like diplomacy with Russia is morally equivalent to having diplomacy with a tornado.
I wrote a novel once speculating on what the next generation might be like, growing up in a world of nonsense that seems incapable of recovering from any genuine crisis. I doubt anyone will ever read it. But then, I wrote it more for myself than anything else. I wasn't aiming for likes. I wonder sometimes if we'll be the last generation to be able to fathom that it's acceptable to just not care what other people think about you.
This is a skilled and moving thesis on our current predicament. I read a while ago of one of the many risks to mental health from being online, spending too much time "doomscrolling" (presumably, with its own reinforcing algorithmic bubble effect). I've since noticed I'm doing more of it, but it doesn't seem to be a pathological activity rendering a warped world view, merely keeping abreast of the depressing reality of our cultural demise.
Given that the "maelstrom" of the online world swirls within a wider perfect storm of capitalist neoliberalism and climate crisis, I wonder if any discussion is of any value. Is this the way it all ends, general chaos and confusion (even with backwaters of intellectual analysis such as we find on Substack) while the rich fight over the remaining resources?
Anyway, assuming that is too pessimistic, and it's worth saying anything at all, perhaps my only criticism of this analysis is that I'm dubious about the suggested return to "religion" as one of the underlying values of a sane society. I would argue that what has been undermined for the woke world to dominate is scientific understanding and trust (largely because the mind virus was first injected into universities via a politicised bureaucratic power, undermining the leadership by seasoned experts and professors).
Gender ideology, for instance, could hardly take hold as is has without the torrent of mickey-mouse sociological, and even biological, papers published in once-respected journals. And what it and the wider woke truisms share with religion is their unscientific, baseless assertions, along with pressures (even self-moderated ones) to conform, to agree, and to spout their vacuous catechisms.
Somewhat associated with this issue is the danger of resorting to the shorthand Left-Right political spectrum to indicate particular social goods or ills. A wise society should weigh the value of each proposition independent of its current associations on a crude continuum (current, because there's good evidence many of them switch places over time).
Great essay Thankyou. Took me all morning to read in digestible chunks
I think things might be worse in the US. Much of Europe is still relatively socially conservative with emphasis placed on family and this holds true for the most part across communities so I think there are forces counterbalancing the post modern nihilism.
From what I've seen yes teens are engaged with the phones and at the same time still very much engaged with each other.
However I also find as a generalisation girls are more addicted to the phones and worse behaved. Invoking mental or physical illness - witnessed this last summer when a 17 year old volunteer fainted because she'd refused to eat or drink anything all morning. All attention on her instead of the client group.
Surliness, disruptive behaviour, attitude...all far more common from the girls. Having said that, its a minority and I for one am cautiously optimistic.
I have plenty of young female acquaintances who make me hopeful for the future.
I m just going to add...there's a park near me and its not uncomnon to see school age children, unaccompanied, playing some game or other, running / hiding in the bushes...this in an inner city so they'll be living nearby.
That's wonderful to hear. I suspect that even in your area there are struggling teens spending their entire lives on social media away from the eyes or awareness of adults but it cheers me to hear that kids still play outside. The same happens in PARTS of the United States... but it's increasingly rare.
You're correct I think: data seems to indicate that girls spend more time on social media and they suffer worse psychological effects, on average.
Great essay Thankyou. Took me all morning to read in digestible chunks
I think things might be worse in the US. Much of Europe is still relatively socially conservative with emphasis placed on family and this holds true for the most part across communities so I think there are forces counterbalancing the post modern nihilism.
From what I've seen yes teens are engaged with the phones and at the same time still very much engaged with each other.
However I also find as a generalisation girls are more addicted to the phones and worse behaved. Invoking mental or physical illness - witnessed this last summer when a 17 year old volunteer fainted because she'd refused to eat or drink anything all morning. All attention on her instead of the client group.
Surliness, disruptive behaviour, attitude...all far more common from the girls. Having said that, its a minority and I for one am cautiously optimistic.
I have plenty of young female acquaintances who make me hopeful for the future.
The most subversive media I ran into coming up in my early teens were the books of Stephen King, Troma films, the film Dead Alive, and worst among them, faces of death (most of it fake but that didn't matter). Just tapes passed around. Later, the group ICP made me a juggalo, then heavy metal (Testament, Megadeth, Priest, etc.) made me an outcast.
As a kid I had neighborhood friends, the forest, the creek, paintball, setting things on fire, so on). When the internet began it was the aol cds, 56k dial up. I remember trying to download gone in 60 seconds with a friend one night on napster. By the morning we had about 8 minutes.
Your essay paints a dire picture but I know parents personally that keep their children off of this poison. I think the push back is inevitable and already occurring. God works in mysterious ways. I'll be witnessing a slew of children at an easter egg hunt this weekend. Your essay will be top of my mind.
In a perfect world, everyone would have a mobile telephone and it could be used only to call home or dial 911.
The "connectedness" that phones have given us has snagged us like mites in a spider's web.
Donald Trump has done the nation a great favor by clarifying the fact that there are exactly two sexes - male and female. The fact that Ketanji Brown Jackson cannot figure that out is worthy of her impeachment from the Supreme Court.
One of the great ironies of this cultural moment is that despite the importance of these ideas being premised on the idea that young people support them, we're also in the middle of a realignment that are seeing young people abandon the Democrat Party for Trumpism. They don't necessarily like Trumpism. But they've been forced into a position where they either need to accept utterly meaningless platitudes versus someone who will at least recognize that serious problems exist in our society that can't be solved based on self-actualization alone. Trump somehow took the mantle of peace candidate just because he's willing to explicitly state that war is bad and we should try to have less of it instead of acting like diplomacy with Russia is morally equivalent to having diplomacy with a tornado.
I wrote a novel once speculating on what the next generation might be like, growing up in a world of nonsense that seems incapable of recovering from any genuine crisis. I doubt anyone will ever read it. But then, I wrote it more for myself than anything else. I wasn't aiming for likes. I wonder sometimes if we'll be the last generation to be able to fathom that it's acceptable to just not care what other people think about you.
This is a skilled and moving thesis on our current predicament. I read a while ago of one of the many risks to mental health from being online, spending too much time "doomscrolling" (presumably, with its own reinforcing algorithmic bubble effect). I've since noticed I'm doing more of it, but it doesn't seem to be a pathological activity rendering a warped world view, merely keeping abreast of the depressing reality of our cultural demise.
Given that the "maelstrom" of the online world swirls within a wider perfect storm of capitalist neoliberalism and climate crisis, I wonder if any discussion is of any value. Is this the way it all ends, general chaos and confusion (even with backwaters of intellectual analysis such as we find on Substack) while the rich fight over the remaining resources?
Anyway, assuming that is too pessimistic, and it's worth saying anything at all, perhaps my only criticism of this analysis is that I'm dubious about the suggested return to "religion" as one of the underlying values of a sane society. I would argue that what has been undermined for the woke world to dominate is scientific understanding and trust (largely because the mind virus was first injected into universities via a politicised bureaucratic power, undermining the leadership by seasoned experts and professors).
Gender ideology, for instance, could hardly take hold as is has without the torrent of mickey-mouse sociological, and even biological, papers published in once-respected journals. And what it and the wider woke truisms share with religion is their unscientific, baseless assertions, along with pressures (even self-moderated ones) to conform, to agree, and to spout their vacuous catechisms.
Somewhat associated with this issue is the danger of resorting to the shorthand Left-Right political spectrum to indicate particular social goods or ills. A wise society should weigh the value of each proposition independent of its current associations on a crude continuum (current, because there's good evidence many of them switch places over time).
I've written a similar article. Kindly check it out. Very well written. And it's heartbreaking to see the suffering of the mother, daughter
Great essay Thankyou. Took me all morning to read in digestible chunks
I think things might be worse in the US. Much of Europe is still relatively socially conservative with emphasis placed on family and this holds true for the most part across communities so I think there are forces counterbalancing the post modern nihilism.
From what I've seen yes teens are engaged with the phones and at the same time still very much engaged with each other.
However I also find as a generalisation girls are more addicted to the phones and worse behaved. Invoking mental or physical illness - witnessed this last summer when a 17 year old volunteer fainted because she'd refused to eat or drink anything all morning. All attention on her instead of the client group.
Surliness, disruptive behaviour, attitude...all far more common from the girls. Having said that, its a minority and I for one am cautiously optimistic.
I have plenty of young female acquaintances who make me hopeful for the future.
I m just going to add...there's a park near me and its not uncomnon to see school age children, unaccompanied, playing some game or other, running / hiding in the bushes...this in an inner city so they'll be living nearby.
That's wonderful to hear. I suspect that even in your area there are struggling teens spending their entire lives on social media away from the eyes or awareness of adults but it cheers me to hear that kids still play outside. The same happens in PARTS of the United States... but it's increasingly rare.
You're correct I think: data seems to indicate that girls spend more time on social media and they suffer worse psychological effects, on average.
Great essay Thankyou. Took me all morning to read in digestible chunks
I think things might be worse in the US. Much of Europe is still relatively socially conservative with emphasis placed on family and this holds true for the most part across communities so I think there are forces counterbalancing the post modern nihilism.
From what I've seen yes teens are engaged with the phones and at the same time still very much engaged with each other.
However I also find as a generalisation girls are more addicted to the phones and worse behaved. Invoking mental or physical illness - witnessed this last summer when a 17 year old volunteer fainted because she'd refused to eat or drink anything all morning. All attention on her instead of the client group.
Surliness, disruptive behaviour, attitude...all far more common from the girls. Having said that, its a minority and I for one am cautiously optimistic.
I have plenty of young female acquaintances who make me hopeful for the future.