Anti-Social Age
Notes on Derek Thompson's Essay for The Atlantic
Anti-Social Age
If the Amish approach to technology is radical in its application, it recognizes something plain and true: Although technology does not have values of its own, its adoption can create values, even in the absence of a coordinated effort. For decades, we’ve adopted whatever technologies removed friction or increased dopamine, embracing what makes lif... See more
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
Teen anxiety and depression are at near-record highs: The latest government survey of high schoolers, conducted in 2023, found that more than half of teen girls said they felt “persistently sad or hopeless.”
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
From 1985 to 1994, active involvement in community organizations fell by nearly half. The decline was astonishingly broad, affecting just about every social activity and every demographic group that Putnam tracked.
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
The MTV generation + videogames
The media theorist Marshall McLuhan once said of technology that every augmentation is also an amputation. We chose our digitally enhanced world. We did not realize the significance of what was being amputated.
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
In 2023, 74 percent of all restaurant traffic came from “off premises” customers—that is, from takeout and delivery
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
Most restaurants know are take out operations.
The real problem here, the nature of America’s social crisis, is that most Americans don’t seem to be reacting to the biological cue to spend more time with other people.
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
The pain of loneliness is not leading to a socialization response
But he found that two of the most important factors were by then ubiquitous technologies: the automobile and the television set.
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
Americans are more likely to take meetings from home, to shop from home, to be entertained at home, to eat at home, and even to worship at home. Practically the entire economy has reoriented itself to allow Americans to stay within their four walls. This phenomenon cannot be reduced to remote work. It is something far more totalizing—something more... See more
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
This is bad sign because it creates a bigger incentive for bigger houses = less efficient use of space = less mixed use buildings = less density = more housing shortages and higher cost of living = the frustration of people who are spending more time in their rented homes/places but can’t buy their own space.
The thing that has become even more important, the home, has become harder to reach precisely because of how important the home has become (so now it needs a yard, a balcony, gazebo, etc).
This neededness can come in several forms: social, economic, or communitarian. Our children and partners can depend on us for care or income. Our colleagues can rely on us to finish a project, or to commiserate about an annoying boss. Our religious congregations and weekend poker parties can count on us to fill a pew or bring the dip.
Derek Thompson • The Anti-Social Century
This is why I think the family as the primary atomic unit creates a foundational and necessary layer in society.