In hindsight the Covid pandemic was the world’s most extensive experiment to settle a centuries-old question that has befuddled scientists and philosophers alike – despite the guidance offered by the Church.
The apparent riddle for such lofty minds is whether human beings are primarily individuals who just enter society out of selfish needs, or are we social beings, hardwired to seek and enjoy the presence of and interaction with others?
Based on numerous studies conducted in the UK during and after the pandemic, a clear connection exists between prolonged periods of loneliness and depression, higher levels of anxiety, and lower personal well-being scores.
Meaningful and real (not digital) connections to other people are the “largest single factor in the overall well-being of most people,” according to Steven Crane at Stanford University in California.
Yet it would be a mistake to just blame Covid and lockdowns for the accumulation of mental health issues. It certainly has highlighted them, but it is questionable whether they truly are the primary cause. Especially among the members of so-called “Gen Z” (the generation born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, most of whom have only ever known an Internet-saturated world), the interplay of new technologies and changes in educational approaches has led to remarkable changes (often for the worse) in mental health-related issues.
In his most recent book The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt describes how a combination of overprotective parenting and the use of social media have detrimental effects on friendships and the mental health of young people, and that this trend had begun about a decade before the pandemic and its lockdowns. Another psychologist, Jean Twenge, has been tracking the psychological changes among the younger generation in her books The Narcissism Epidemic and Generations.
Our modern society seems to be experiencing a rerun of what was described and warned about by the 19th-century sociologist Emile Durkheim, who in 1897 wrote:
“Man cannot become attached to higher aims and submit to a rule if he sees nothing above him to which he belongs. To free himself from all social pressure is to abandon himself and demoralise him.”
Despite Durkheim’s fears, however, the 19th century was marked by a buzzing life of community and, in fact, nation formation. Most Western nations in the 19th century experienced a “golden age of associational life”, according to the historian Niall Ferguson. He points out that this communal life did not just benefit the rich: in 1911 the gross annual receipts of registered charities in Great Britain exceeded national public expenditure on the Poor Law, while the absolute number of cases of hardship reviewed by charities between 1871 and 1945 remained almost constant.
Across the Atlantic, Alexis de Tocqueville described with great enthusiasm the “art of association” as the main virtue of the young American Republic, and in Germany associations were formed that opened up society, including a culturally awakening working class.
The German philosopher Jürgen Habermas went so far as to claim that 18th-century bourgeoisie life resembled an energetic public sphere with widespread debates and participation, making it one of the most connected periods of human history.
The technologies of the 19th century such as the telegraph, mass printing of newspapers and the first global postal services fostered an environment in which communication seemed to become more commonplace, while not just being done at a distance all the time through those same technologies. Today, however, we seem to experience the opposite effect, especially as it relates to young people.
While social media creates the illusion of connectivity, in reality it can have the opposite effect. The virtual world can seem like it beats the real world, and once you create an online persona, revealing your true self could actually become something of a risk.
Look, for example, at the world of online dating. According to most recent data, in the United States online dating is the most common way in which couples meet, with about 40 per cent of survey respondents saying that the Internet was how they met their significant other. Parallel with this development, we also saw the rise of what is known as “dexting”, the habit of exchanging text messages with someone in a romantic fashion without ever meeting in person.
This is a similar phenomenon to what we have experienced with Facebook: study after study has revealed that Facebook “friendships” are not having the same beneficial psychological effects as face-to-face friendships, and if online connections drive out real connections, it is no wonder that negative health outcomes are skyrocketing. As Jonathan Haidt documents in The Anxious Mind, depressive episodes among girls have increased by 145 per cent and among boys by 161 per cent since 2010.
Durkheim’s worst fears seem to have preceded their actual manifestation by about 150 years. The slow and steady dissolution of social connections is a mushrooming problem. The younger generation especially feels it in the phenomenon of the si-called “social media trap”, where individuals would prefer to opt out of using TikTok, Instagram, and all the rest, aware of the problems and bad habits that are created; but their fear of missing out is worse than the anxiety that being online causes them.
So they chose the – perceivably – less painful option and remain on the social media platforms. But this is a lose-lose situation that cannot be resolved by the market place, especially given the fact that social media companies want young people to stay online.
So what can be done? Haidt and others have suggestions, ranging from phone-free schools to age limits for opening social media accounts. Yet I would argue that curtailing the supply side of social media would not be enough. We need to offer true alternatives: why not give extra credit at school for engaging in associations, for examples, whether it is the boy scouts or your local bowling league.
Even activities such as mandatory civil or military service should be reconsidered, not so much for their economic or defence purposes, but as institutions that could support real face-to-face interaction.
Neighbourhood associations that bring people together for a common purpose could have a similar effect.
There is clearly a public interest in creating the conditions for the healthy mental development of young people. So would it really be wrong if public policy set out to nudge society a bit more in this direction?
At the same time, there is a tendency towards libertarianism in social relationships – no bad thing after all the herd mentality and conformity we have witnessed during the pandemic and in reaction to so-called culture war issues.
We want (and need) young people to be able to think for themselves, and to be people who have an energetic and optimistic outlook on life.
Photo: The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage is a fantastic opportunity for bringing groups of young people together in a shared and meaningful endeavour. Photo by James Jeffrey.
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