Derek Thompson

This speaks to not just a loneliness crisis, I think that's misdiagnosed, but a phenomenon of chosen

aloneness, which seems very different and speaks to exactly what you found in this piece, not just maybe rising neuroticism, but certainly declining extroversion, right?

Less motivation to even put yourself out there in the first place.

So I, again, asked the psychologist, Lisa Damore, what do you think is causing this, right?

Like it's easy to say, blame the phones.

Maybe the phones are to blame, but it's certainly common to say, just blame the phone.

So what does an actual child psychologist think about this?

Here's what she told me, quote, in terms of what's causing this,

Here's an unsexy answer.

When it comes to a trend that is observed at the population level, I think we should assume there are many factors at work, some contenders.

One, the pandemic for the extroversion finding.

Two, the rise of a wellness industry that is often heavily focused on the self as opposed to being focused on others.

Three, algorithmically driven digital environments that readily create psychological silos.

So number three, I think we've covered.

Number one,

I think it's important to say here, and correct me if I'm wrong, the changes that you're observing might have been accelerated by the pandemic, but the beginning of those changes predate the pandemic.

This is a common phrase in lots of psychological and mental health changes that we've seen in the U.S.

But before I ask my actual question, is that right, that these changes both predated the pandemic and were mildly accelerated by them?

So let's focus on the second idea that Lisa suggested, which I think is really interesting and surprised me.

But it's one that I just started to think about a little bit more.