I taught guitar lessons 10-15 years ago. It was during the apex of the guitar hero video game craze for those of you who remember. Students were signing up like crazy for lessons, often egged on by parents who were ecstatic that their kid might be showing some musical promise. There’s just one problem. Guitar Hero games were (like most video games) designed to be mastered in about two weeks time with a little focused effort. Learning to play an actual guitar is a slow, methodical, awkward, painful, years-long process. Once students realized playing an actual musical instrument was going to be much harder than mastering the video game version, they usually came to a rapid conclusion along the lines of, “this just isn’t my talent.” Students quit in droves as even more hopefuls were signing up. I did end up with a handful of long-term quality students from the guitar hero batch, but the attrition rate must have been over 90%.
This was the thing that got me thinking about the effect of digital media on the human brain. Well-meaning parents who just wanted their kids to be happy were paying game companies to reprogram their kids’ cognitive development for the worse. The discipline needed to develop actual skills, to learn, to exercise, to mature is at best the collateral damage of reckless digital media consumption. Tik Tok and services like it make the consumption even more mindless and broadly addictive than digital games. It’s very interesting to ponder how this dynamic might be weaponized, and how else it might fit into the geopolitics of our age.
Echoing others, this was brilliant. Thanks so much for the painstaking time to write it. You are right that the gut reflex to ban is not going to work. Shifting cultural norms, through the slow work of persuasion, is the only solution. I sometimes worry my kids are going to be weird or socially inept because we strongly resist screens, instant gratification (my 4yo complained the other day that she's the only kid that doesn't have a tablet!), but this re-upped my resolve that we're doing the right thing.
This was a solid analysis. What makes it rather more terrifying is the context in which it takes place. The assault on Western civilization arises not just from TikTok, but at every level: hormonal, pharmaceutical, sociological, economic. Worse, these assaults are not simply being launched from hostile foreign actors and passively enabled by our own feckless leadership class, but in many cases originate domestically. Cognitive conquest is a form of total warfare that is unprecedented in scope and sneakiness.
I agree that the most robust long term solution is cultural. Threat vectors such as TikTok, opioids, Tinder, endocrine disruptors, HFCS, and so on need to be identified, awareness propagated, and their use and abuse shamed and made low status. Unfortunately along the way many will be lost, but with our elite class being as cowardly, corrupt, and deceitful as it is, even if authoritarian solutions were optimal they are simply not open to us.
This is a fascinating, wonderfully written piece! I’m interested to see if the shares from the likes of Haidt and Rogan will bring more attention to your work. If so, I hope you won’t feel too overwhelmed, as that would be understandable. Best wishes, and thank you for doing what you do.
Excellent article, very well balanced and I can definitely see where you're coming from. I've been settling on the sofa most evenings being passive watching TV whilst my kids are on social media. I now have a better feel for what should be happening instead.
I'm a parent of two kids, and protecting them from insta-dope addiction is as much a priority for me as keeping them alive. We bought an iPad for our 4 year old to teach him how to read. He gets 30 minutes a day with an educational app, and he LOVES that 30 minutes, but we're ruthless about the boundary. We only watch movies on weekends. My wife and I are in constant battle with our own phones, yanking out compulsive tendencies like weeds in the gardens of our behavioral patterns. It's incredibly hard work. But the stakes are existential.
I'm 38 and when I was young I was hooked on video games and TV. But those didn't have real-time algorithmic optimization of content for purposes of attention highjacking.
Today's technology feels a lot different and more powerful
I taught guitar lessons 10-15 years ago. It was during the apex of the guitar hero video game craze for those of you who remember. Students were signing up like crazy for lessons, often egged on by parents who were ecstatic that their kid might be showing some musical promise. There’s just one problem. Guitar Hero games were (like most video games) designed to be mastered in about two weeks time with a little focused effort. Learning to play an actual guitar is a slow, methodical, awkward, painful, years-long process. Once students realized playing an actual musical instrument was going to be much harder than mastering the video game version, they usually came to a rapid conclusion along the lines of, “this just isn’t my talent.” Students quit in droves as even more hopefuls were signing up. I did end up with a handful of long-term quality students from the guitar hero batch, but the attrition rate must have been over 90%.
This was the thing that got me thinking about the effect of digital media on the human brain. Well-meaning parents who just wanted their kids to be happy were paying game companies to reprogram their kids’ cognitive development for the worse. The discipline needed to develop actual skills, to learn, to exercise, to mature is at best the collateral damage of reckless digital media consumption. Tik Tok and services like it make the consumption even more mindless and broadly addictive than digital games. It’s very interesting to ponder how this dynamic might be weaponized, and how else it might fit into the geopolitics of our age.
Jonathon Haidt's twitter sent me here.
EXCELLENT article, Gurwinder!!!
Echoing others, this was brilliant. Thanks so much for the painstaking time to write it. You are right that the gut reflex to ban is not going to work. Shifting cultural norms, through the slow work of persuasion, is the only solution. I sometimes worry my kids are going to be weird or socially inept because we strongly resist screens, instant gratification (my 4yo complained the other day that she's the only kid that doesn't have a tablet!), but this re-upped my resolve that we're doing the right thing.
This was a solid analysis. What makes it rather more terrifying is the context in which it takes place. The assault on Western civilization arises not just from TikTok, but at every level: hormonal, pharmaceutical, sociological, economic. Worse, these assaults are not simply being launched from hostile foreign actors and passively enabled by our own feckless leadership class, but in many cases originate domestically. Cognitive conquest is a form of total warfare that is unprecedented in scope and sneakiness.
https://barsoom.substack.com/p/cognitive-conquest
I agree that the most robust long term solution is cultural. Threat vectors such as TikTok, opioids, Tinder, endocrine disruptors, HFCS, and so on need to be identified, awareness propagated, and their use and abuse shamed and made low status. Unfortunately along the way many will be lost, but with our elite class being as cowardly, corrupt, and deceitful as it is, even if authoritarian solutions were optimal they are simply not open to us.
This is a fascinating, wonderfully written piece! I’m interested to see if the shares from the likes of Haidt and Rogan will bring more attention to your work. If so, I hope you won’t feel too overwhelmed, as that would be understandable. Best wishes, and thank you for doing what you do.
Brilliant. And self-evident. It’s the ultimate form of consumer culture. It’s quite literally consuming itself.
Absolutely brilliant piece. Congrats on the virality (haidt, rogan, Red Scare reddit, et al).
Excellent read, Gurwinder! Also a bit scary on how this is all panning out
Incredible piece man 🫡
Excellent article, very well balanced and I can definitely see where you're coming from. I've been settling on the sofa most evenings being passive watching TV whilst my kids are on social media. I now have a better feel for what should be happening instead.
Beautiful and educative article.
I'm a parent of two kids, and protecting them from insta-dope addiction is as much a priority for me as keeping them alive. We bought an iPad for our 4 year old to teach him how to read. He gets 30 minutes a day with an educational app, and he LOVES that 30 minutes, but we're ruthless about the boundary. We only watch movies on weekends. My wife and I are in constant battle with our own phones, yanking out compulsive tendencies like weeds in the gardens of our behavioral patterns. It's incredibly hard work. But the stakes are existential.
All I can say is... Wow, that was powerful and eye-opening. Thank you for your work Gurwinder
TikTok sounds like The Entertainment from "Infinite Jest".
I tried it once, and it didn't take. Maybe my attention span is too short even for TikTok.
Great article. Fun to read, yet full of information I can't use. ;)
Thanks for such a thoughtful and hard-hitting piece of writing!
I'm 38 and when I was young I was hooked on video games and TV. But those didn't have real-time algorithmic optimization of content for purposes of attention highjacking.
Today's technology feels a lot different and more powerful