Excerpted from Andrew Solomon, July 26, 2024
Are social media and a safety-first culture harmful to children?
There is nothing more alluring in polarized times than straightforward solutions to complicated questions. Much of the political and social turmoil of our time arises from the inclination to believe that overwhelming troubles can be resolved by partisanship. Authoritarianism reassures people who cannot figure out what to do and are relieved when someone else tells them. Such thinking has crept beyond the political to infuse daily life. Nuance entails uncertainty; in a confusing world it is easy to fall prey to almost any form of clarity.