korrents

korrents · piece

Kids These Days

Paul Bloom · 31 Aug 2026 · smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net

3 korrents from this piece

Paul Bloom did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. But it does suggest that the popularity of despair can’t be taken as good evidence that this despair is warranted.
  2. I think it’s entirely plausible that screens have a real negative effect on teenagers, but studies can’t find them because (a) the effects need not be dose-dependent (maybe two hours on your phone isn’t worse than one hour), and (b) given that everyone else is on social media, giving it up can have a negative effect.
  3. the claim here is that arguments about smartphones, bullying, and homework are arguments about values, often moral values