Source: Marginal REVOLUTION
A new Irish study examining teen regret around social media usage offers empirical grounding for Jonathan Haidt's recent claims about generational smartphone harm, moving the debate beyond anecdote toward measurable psychological outcomes. The findings matter because regret that correlates with measurable mental health declines—rather than just subjective dissatisfaction—could inform how parents, platforms, and policymakers calibrate interventions, from design changes to screen time limits. The research connects the "anxious teen" narrative to platform accountability by treating quantifiable regret as a measure of whether social media's current form aligns with young people's actual preferences.