Yascha Mounk, taking note of the results of the recent “Understanding America Study”, posted the chart above and ruminated on it:
Decades of research have demonstrated that some of these traits are highly predictive of life outcomes; in particular, conscientiousness (“the tendency to be organized, responsible, and hardworking”) predicts everything from greater professional success to a lower likelihood of getting divorced. Extroversion (a tendency to be “outgoing, gregarious, sociable, and openly expressive”), is associated with better mental health, broader social networks, and greater life satisfaction. Meanwhile, neuroticism (understood as a propensity toward anxiety, emotional instability, and negative emotion) is strongly correlated with negative outcomes, such as higher rates of depression, lower life satisfaction, and poorer overall mental health.
He blames the Internet:
The internet was supposed to make us realize how much we have in common with those who are very different from us. It was supposed to make it easier to find romantic partners and friends. And all of that was supposed to turn us into better versions of ourselves.
The truth has turned out to be radically, and depressingly, different.
Despite making communication virtually costless to the average consumer, the internet has inspired a worldwide return to identity and tribalism.
While the development and pervasiveness of the Internet may be one among several factors I don’t believe it’s the sole factor and maybe not even the definitive factor.
In looking at the chart above I would point out that the three lines correspond to differing generational cohorts, e.g. Baby Boomers (“Age 60+”), Generation X (“40-59”), and Millennials and Generation Z (“16-39”). My interpretation of the chart would be that the Red Liners are aping and magnifying the divergence of their Light Blue Line parents from the old Dark Blue Liners.
If I had to encompass that divergence in a single word I think it would be “solipsism” and if I had to pick a single force it would be Sesame Street. To the best of my knowledge Sesame Street was the first educational program to introduce the style, pace, and tone of TV advertising to children’s television programming. Maybe an even better word would be “consumerism”. Only the very youngest Baby Boomers grew up watching Sesame Street but the majority of Gen X, Millennials, and Zoomers did.
Both Captain Kangaroo and Mr Rogers preceded Sesame street. Sesame Street was different in that it took on a more explicit educational role with its letter and number of the day stuff. In either 2015 or 2019 it went to HBO leaving PBS and it’s now just the 13th most popular kids show. I used to watch it with my older kid and not wirth my younger kid. I cant think of anything in the show that would have lead to what is shown above.
OTOH, access to the internet became common in about 2000. That means those in the 40-59 group would have been exposed to the internet starting at age 15 to 34. Given the smaller effect in this group I think it’s much more likely the internet. We dont have info going back before 2014 from this source but I would wager it was fairly stable and we see these very large drops starting in 2014. That suggests even more specifically social media. To be clear, that’s just mu guess and absent a longer timeline its hard to tell.
Steve
Declining civic virtue a grim sign for the future. Atomization, the desire to be free of fuddly duddy ideas, more time spent on issue of the day in school social studies, decline in membership groups (who has the time?) are some of the factors.
Hmmm. Any mention of changing demographics? Those traits all have a certain heritability.
Looking at the graphs; one question is why has extroversion gone down among all generations?
steve:
There were many children’s programs including children’s educational programs that predated Sesame Street but none used its distinctive format which was based on television advertising.
You’re right that a longer timeframe would be handy. The Internet was not a major factor until roughly 1996. The smartphone became a major factor around 2008.
Note that there is a major inflection point apparent in the graphs above around 2018 affecting neuroticism, agreeableness, and extroversion, particularly in the youngest cohort. That would suggest social media and particularly Snapchat as a potential explanation.
However, I’ll stick to my claim that lowered attention span, a foreseeable consequence of Sesame Street’s format, is a factor in conscientiousness.
Sesame Street didnt lower attention spans, it just recognized the attention spans that kids actually have. I am also not sure that an hour of Sesame Street a day would be the determining factor in child development. Cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Road Runner for that matter had 6 minute episodes interrupted by commercials. Kids back then watched many more cartoons than Sesame Street.
Steve
You’re wrong on the facts, steve. The typical attention span of an American was 12 minutes in 1970. Now it’s 7 minutes, a decline of almost 50%. Much of the decline has been among the younger cohorts—Gen X and younger. The decline began long before the Internet was a factor.
You could argue that the cause was television more generally and that Sesame Street is merely emblematic of that. That doesn’t explain why Baby Boomers don’t show as great a decline in attention spans as Gen X and younger. Boomers watched cartoons on TV, too. It practically defines them.
But blaming the decline on the Internet, which is Mr. Mounk’s argument, is also counter-factual.
BTW in partial support of the television hypothesis the first Bugs Bunny cartoon in 1939 was 8 minutes long. By 1964 that had declined to 6 minutes. I believe that was because it was cheaper to make a 6 minute cartoon than an 8 minute cartoon.
Steamboat Willie was about 8 minutes long.
I was talking specifically about children but if you want to say that TV in general had an effect that could be true. Also, link goes to significant critique of the FT piece and how it was portrayed. (I would also question your 12 minute number. I just ran through this at a number of sources and they list the average attention span as anywhere from 8 seconds to 25 minutes. I think the definitions and measurements vary quite a bit. I also am not sure there is really any correlation between attention span and conscientiousness.)
Steve
https://grimoiremanor.substack.com/p/no-conscientiousness-hasnt-collaped?r=un33&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true