…by rewiring everything in a headlong rush for growth—with a naive conception of human psychology, little understanding of the intricacy of institutions, and no concern for external costs imposed on society—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and a few other large platforms unwittingly dissolved the mortar of trust, belief in institutions, and shared stories that had held a large and diverse secular democracy together.
At 8,000+ words, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” is a behemoth of an essay, but do yourself a favor and read the whole thing. There are still islands of wisdom floating in the soup of idiocracy, from James Madison to Martin Gurri, and Jonathan Haidt charts a course across them to make some sense of, well, this.
I also recommend subscribing to The Atlantic, which is an island of sense all by itself.