We want to talk about After Babel: The Great Deterioration of Local Community Was A Major Driver of The Loss of The Play-Based Childhood. Why kids growing up in close-knit communities are more protected from the harms of the phone-based childhood.
Intro from Jon Haidt:
When I was writing The Anxious Generation, I thought of it as a tragedy in two acts: In Act I, we took away the play-based childhood (1990-2010), and in Act II, we gave kids the phone-based childhood (2010-2015). Teen mental health plunged in the middle of Act II. But as Zach and I were finishing up the revisions of the book in fall 2023, and Zach was running additional analyses and making additional graphs, we began to realize that there was a third act, which predated Act I and caused it: the decline of local community, trust, and social capital.
This was charted in Robert Putnam’s 2000 masterpiece Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community and updated in his more recent book The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again. Building on America's long-standing associational spirit, which Alexis de Tocqueville praised in the 1830s, the extensive civic cooperation and institutional trust developed in the Progressive Era, and solidarity spurred by the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans had extraordinarily high levels of social capital in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s. But by most measures, these local relationships began to decline starting in the mid-1960s and accelerating afterward.
Decline of Local Community and Its Effects
Putnam points to generation changes as the largest cause of the decline: as the World War II cohort began to die off, the Baby Boom generation that replaced it had not shared their unifying experiences. The second largest cause of the decline was due to changes in communication technology. Television became a dominant force and changed patterns of local association. Technological innovations like the car, shopping malls, and home air conditioning drove families indoors, transforming communal spaces into isolated environments.
This shift significantly affected social capital. In an academic essay from 1995, Putnam described television’s social-capital-destroying effects as making communities wider and shallower. This shift to electronic forms of entertainment came at a social cost, seen today with the advent of smartphones, social media, and gadgets like VR goggles that allow for total isolation.
Why This Matters:
- Act I: The loss of local community (1960s to 1990s) contributed significantly to Americans becoming more protective and less trusting, leading to the confinement of children.
- Act II: This shift correlates with the growing allure of personal computers and the internet in the '80s and '90s, an alternative to outdoor unsupervised play.
- Act III: Finally, the phone-based childhood from 2010 onwards, foretold by Putnam, manifested fully, fueling the mental health epidemic among teens.
Kaplan's Insights and Real-World Communities
Seth Kaplan, an expert on fragile states, suggested that many of the youth mental health issues can be traced to the deterioration of local communities. His work led to key realizations:
- Religious, Conservative Communities: Teens in these environments appear less affected by the mental health crisis. These tight-knit communities remind us of old-school local networks that were replaced by individualistic technological advancements. They provide a sense of belonging and emotional support that virtual communities can't replicate.
Real-World vs. Virtual Communities:
Religious conservative teens are involved in more community-oriented activities and spend less time on social media compared to their secular, liberal peers. Tight-knit communities provide stable networks of trusted adults and peers, leading to better mental health.
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Remember these 3 key ideas for your startup:
- Foster a Sense of Community: Create a collaborative environment that can emulate the trust and support seen in close-knit communities. This can drive higher employee satisfaction and productivity. Tools like Edworking can help achieve this virtually.
- Balance Technology Use: While adopting new technologies, ensure they don’t isolate team members. Promote in-person interactions and holistic team-building activities to maintain social capital. For tips on boosting remote worker engagement, see how to tell if a remote worker is engaged at work.
- Involve Everyone in Community Building: Encourage all employees to engage in activities that build company culture and communal involvement, much like the Orthodox community Kaplan describes. This can involve volunteer activities, mentorship programs, and team outings.
Conclusion:
To combat the prevailing issues of isolation and mental health crises due to phone-based environments, startups and SMEs must intentionally cultivate their communities. Draw lessons from historically successful communal structures to establish a balanced, healthy, and productive work culture.
By learning from these environments, companies can foster a work culture that thrives on shared goals, social trust, and collective effort, avoiding the pitfalls of atomization caused by excessive reliance on technological isolation. For more details, see the original source.
