Haidt Reveals the True Predator
The evidence is in: the experiment has harmed them. It is time to call it off- Jonathan Haidt
When we discuss predators on social media, we imagine adults lurking on roblox. But as Jonathan Haidt’s work has shown, there's one predator that too often gets ignored: the big tech companies themselves. In this article based on his Chapter for the World Happiness Report, he exposes the data big tech has been hiding from us. Despite the repeated insistence from the likes of Mark Zuckerberg that ‘correlation does not equal causation’, research from Meta themselves reveals this is false. In 2019, Meta conducted a high quality randomised control trial, which is the gold standard in terms of scientific research, able to establish causation. The study, which assigned one group to use facebook for a month and another to stop, found that those who stopped using it reported less depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison.
As Haidt detailed in his 2024 bestseller The Anxious Generation, the effects of social media are far worse is commonly believed. In fact, it is likely the key factor behind the unprecedented levels of ill mental health amongst Gen Z. The current article even points to research suggesting that the effect social media has on the risk of depression is as large as that of childhood maltreatment. In the report, Haidt says that TikTok, Snapchat and Meta know they are ‘harming children at an industrial scale.’ Those words reflect the cold truth: that our children are nothing more than money making machines in this failed social experiment. The young people themselves know this. In the report, Haidt has a whole section describing the regret and harm young people feel in relation to social media.
It’s not just the media itself that’s harmful. Haidt likens social media to a new candy bar, ‘designed to be addictive’ and ‘reducing consumption of all other foods.’ When the average teen spends 5 hours a day on social media, it takes away from other aspects of life vital to health and development. Sleep, socialising, studies, and sports are all impacted. This isn’t just having short-term impacts. Social media is particularly damaging for the developing brain, impacting self control, focus, and overall functioning. My research even revealed it impacts the value system of adolescents: with social media use, people become more narcissistic, a reflection of the subliminal message of media that centres around the self.
In the words of Haidt: ‘The evidence is in: the experiment has harmed them. It is time to call it off.’