What Paul Bloom thinks about social media

@paul-bloom · 23 positions · On ppll ↗

Psychologist at the University of Toronto and professor emeritus at Yale, author of Against Empathy and The Sweet Spot. He writes the newsletter Small Potatoes.

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Only Paul Bloom on social media. See everyone on social media

1 dated position, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Paul Bloom has said — not written or endorsed by them.

1 position so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

1. 31 Aug 2026

   Our readingSocial media may really be harming teenagers even though the studies find almost nothing, because everyone is exposed and the studies compare harmed children with harmed children.

   Their wordsI 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.

   ↗Kids These Dayssmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 2nd of 3 in this piece