By Ian Leslie writing for The Ruffian Substack
From the article,
Jonathan Haidt does a good job of pulling together a lot of evidence and arguments into one master-narrative. Here are the social ills he blames on Facebook and Twitter and the others: political polarisation, a culture of moralistic bullying, the trivialisation of political debate, a decline in trust in government and other institutions, the spread of populism, the rise of misinformation, Donald Trump, cancel culture, conspiracy theories, identity politics, depression among teenagers. However, it’s easy to assume that the most recent change is the most important. If I had to name a mega-trend responsible for the deterioration of the social fabric in Western societies, I would pick the long-term decline of organised religion, over the rise of social media. I’m not a believer myself but it’s clear to me that religion is a major source of social solidarity and happiness and its retreat from the public realm is bad for everyone, including atheists.
Read the full article at The Ruffian Substack