The Anti-Social Century -- January 29, 2025

Locator: 48435ARCHIVES.

Derek Thompson published an intriguing graphic in his essay one week ago in The Atlantic. Link here.

It was a very, very long essay, but, unless I missed it, Derek failed to "explain," or even discuss the sudden drop-off that began in 2010. I discussed the graph with a few folks, none of whom were interested. LOL. But it was driving me nuts. In general, Derek associated the "anti-social century" with technology, and it seemed, he put most emphasis on the iPhone. 

Perhaps I will post a narrative later, but I assume most folks can connect the dots.

Note:

• Derek's thesis: technology is responsible for "less-social teens." That's the pessimist's view.
• my thesis: an optimist's view. To be discussed in a different blot, maybe next week.

First, the graphic again, without annotation. These are twelfth graders, seniors, last year of high school. Surveys taken annually since 1975 -- "going out with friends two or three times per week":

Now, with annotations:

Napster: revolutionary!

Netflix, reaching its stride.

iPhone 4 -- FACETIME!

Something missing:

Finally, the writer did not discuss one fact. I may have missed it so I'm going back to the article but if he missed "this," it speaks volumes about the writer's ability to analyze this issue. Maybe next week, if not sooner.

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Original Post

Posted one week ago:

Locator: 44744TECH.

There's an interesting 12-page essay in the February, 2025, issue of The Atlantic.

The title: "The Anti-Social Century,"

Link here. 

The writer makes a lot of observations, raises a lot of issues and references, among others, Jean M Twenge, the author of the best-seller Generations, c. 2017. 

One of several graphs that piqued my interest. This is a survey of high school seniors (twelfth graders):

Unfortunately, the author notes the graph but does not do any satisfactory analysis, at least as far as I'm concerned.

I plan on coming back to this one but in the meantime spend some time on the graph.

The author's (and Ms Twenge's) thesis is that much of this is due to technology, e.g., the iPhone.

The trend is pretty much flat-lined for forty years (1970 - 2010) and then declines significantly over the next decade. It's impossible to miss this "hockey-stick" phenomenon. 

With regard to technology, name the top three technology breakthroughs that could explain this graph.

I'll provide the correct (LOL) answers later this evening if I don't run out of time.