“Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt on Meta Settlement

“People don’t see some of the damage until it’s too late – it’s already having a big impact on the lives of our generation,” she said. As Ms. Fernandini tried to sum up the amount of money the social media company should pay her for the tax on her own frayed attention span, Ms. Fernandini paused, then frowned: “Maybe $50,000?”

Admittedly, while the movement to challenge big tech is often compared to the suits against Big Tobacco in the 1990s, the results are unlikely to be so straightforward. As lawyers and scientists went after the cigarette companies, the proportion of Americans who smoked dropped from 42 percent to less than 10 percent. But Americans today aren’t abandoning their phones and social media in droves. There is a complex effort to find safeguards – restrictions on beauty filters, night blocks, age checks, two-hour time limits.

Few pretend that America’s addiction to social media is over. There is only so much that can be done to control the Meta because her power over our lives is so totalitarian. (“It’s a little more like someone putting nicotine in water,” said Jaron Lanier, a prominent tech critic.) This battle is less David versus Goliath and more David versus God. Even Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, testified at trial that there were “no silver bullets” to the problems described by the plaintiffs.

Mr. Haidt disagrees completely. Characteristically, the sanguine feels that the deal Meta has agreed to is only a fraction of the social changes that are likely to occur. “Now we see the dark side of digital technologies in a way that allows for a cultural rejection, a cultural awakening that we can’t live like this,” he said.

And for people of any age who have found themselves glued to their screens and unable to focus, the settlement has brought a moment of relief. Fixating on children’s addiction and attention to technology is also a way for some adults to grieve. If you can’t opt ​​out, maybe your kids can. After two hours.

“Two years ago, when I interviewed a journalist, they almost always started by saying, ‘I see it in my own children,'” Mr. Haidt reflected. “What would generally happen sometime in 2025 is that journalists would start by saying, ‘I can see that in myself.’