Great essay. I found out the other day that in the US the annual suicide rate since 2000 correlates almost perfectly (0.97-0.98) with the incidence of Smartphone ownership and Social Media use. It falls well short of conclusive proof but new media do seem to create a sort of quiet havoc - like Hannibal Lecter whispering to Miggs. Nothing with a social dimension is exempt, it seems.
We will. And probably without much in the way of government intervention. It won't go away completely. Nothing ever does. It will just right-size itself. Which everything always does. Or at least that's how I feel about it this morning! On Monday morning I may feel differently.
I am comfortably confident that this too shall pass ( and be replaced by a new crisis/fear). In the late 60's, 70's the big panic was world overpopulation. Back then the current decline in fertility caused by short form video ( if it is that) would have been seen as a wonderful innovation. And I do think that the human race ( and the planet ) will do very well with fewer of us, as long as that state is not achieve by war, disease, or natural disasters.
Great, if depressing essay. My own sense is that there are at least enough people out there that still like human-to-human interaction that it's still possible to form a DnD group or discuss stuff on Discord with.
But, I do miss the memes. To cheer you up, let me share a couple of good websites with econ-memes, even if some of them are dead nowadays:
Great essay. I found out the other day that in the US the annual suicide rate since 2000 correlates almost perfectly (0.97-0.98) with the incidence of Smartphone ownership and Social Media use. It falls well short of conclusive proof but new media do seem to create a sort of quiet havoc - like Hannibal Lecter whispering to Miggs. Nothing with a social dimension is exempt, it seems.
At some point as a species we have to make it past this.
Like we all stopped smoking, we're gonna have to do the same with short-form content and modern social media.
We will. And probably without much in the way of government intervention. It won't go away completely. Nothing ever does. It will just right-size itself. Which everything always does. Or at least that's how I feel about it this morning! On Monday morning I may feel differently.
I am comfortably confident that this too shall pass ( and be replaced by a new crisis/fear). In the late 60's, 70's the big panic was world overpopulation. Back then the current decline in fertility caused by short form video ( if it is that) would have been seen as a wonderful innovation. And I do think that the human race ( and the planet ) will do very well with fewer of us, as long as that state is not achieve by war, disease, or natural disasters.
Great, if depressing essay. My own sense is that there are at least enough people out there that still like human-to-human interaction that it's still possible to form a DnD group or discuss stuff on Discord with.
But, I do miss the memes. To cheer you up, let me share a couple of good websites with econ-memes, even if some of them are dead nowadays:
Reddit's econ-memes: https://www.reddit.com/r/economicsmemes/ (sort by top). My personal favorite is this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/economicsmemes/comments/s3ni9v/how_true_is_this_do_economists_only_use_linear/
Daron Acemoglu facts (a spin on Chuck Norris): https://www.tumblr.com/daronacemoglufacts
Research in progress (funny gifs about academia): https://www.tumblr.com/researchinprogress
Research Wahlberg (pictures of Mark Wahlberg with statistical jokes): https://x.com/ResearchMark
I agree that we need more memes!
You left out gaming.
I fear AI and neuro-stimulation will lead to games that are so innately perfect, that they will be the end of mankind.
I don't think we will even make it to the bio-apocalypse or endstage global warming.