Canadian psychologist and professor Jordan Peterson has been vocal about the dangers of social media, warning that people can become depressed if they use it too much, as well as claiming that sites like Facebook and Twitter have become mean-spirited. Now, he’s creating his own social media site, called “Thinkspot.” It’s being marketed as an “anti-censorship platform” that also will “monetize creators.” It will have minimum word limits for comments; theoretically, this system will require users to think about their responses.
“If minimum comment length is 50 words, you’re gonna have to put a little thought into it,” Peterson said on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “Even if you’re being a troll, you’ll be a quasi-witty troll.”
In honor of this new social media platform endeavor, let’s take a look at Peterson’s relationship with social media.
‘The more you use Facebook, the more depressed you get.’
Even though his career skyrocketed via YouTube, Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson took aim at other social media platforms at a 2018 Manhattan event, asserting, “It looks like the more you use Facebook, the more depressed you get.” And he says that Twitter is “powerful and … has utility, but it’s very mean-spirited.”
During a Q&A portion for a Young Leaders Circle lecture hosted by the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy, Peterson’s critique extended beyond just Facebook and Twitter, encompassing social media platforms as a whole. Although he praised social networks for increasing social connectivity, he also said, “Connectivity is not infinite utility.” The main problem Peterson identified with “platforms like Facebook and Twitter” is that “they’re unbelievably powerful, and we don’t understand them at all.”
Should children have social media?
Peterson also claimed that acting like life is an “advertisement” on Facebook correlates with depression for a wide variety of reasons and that children should be kept away from social media. The next generation should reckon with the growing power of Facebook, he suggested, by getting more intelligent and informing themselves.
In the context of Peterson’s overarching philosophy and recommendations in his book, “12 Rules for Life,” this warning comes as no surprise. He encourages his primarily young, male audience to “clean [their] room” and “sort [themselves] out,” emphasizing the kind of productivity that could be lost when the average American spends nearly 145 minutes on social media every day.
Peterson on social media culture
In his book, Peterson cautions readers against comparing themselves to others and lying, suggestions he might view as antithetical to the culture of vanity and envy and the exaggerated portrayal of personal life that some commentators say is characteristic of social media. And it could make sense that someone so opposed to postmodernism as Peterson could find fault with a platform meant to give equal exposure to all views, regardless of what objective merits they have.
Speaking from a platform
However, Peterson’s distaste for certain types of social media has not prevented him from enjoying its fruits. Peterson rose to fame through YouTube, where viewers can find his self-uploaded commentaries and videos of him debating a variety of partners. His most viral breakthrough online was his exchange with British Channel 4 News anchor Cathy Newman on modern culture and gender politics. His YouTube channel has more than 4.3 million subscribers; the Newman interview has more than 34 million views on the Channel 4 YouTube page. Whether he likes it or not, Peterson’s massive online presence could be keeping his fans glued to their screens to hear about cleaning their room instead of actually getting out of their seat to clean it.
Is Silicon Valley overwhelmingly ‘left’?
Peterson, who said at the event (and has publicly stated elsewhere) that he does not consider himself alt-right or even right, is currently more aligned with the Right than the Left. However, he said that if he thought the Right was suppressing speech on campus and elsewhere, he’d be just as vocal about calling that out, too. Fact-checking, deleting accounts, and more actions by social media giants have people wondering if a certain group is more at risk than the other.
Silicon Valley tends to have a left-leaning track record among employees, according to a 2017 study by Lincoln Network, indicating that conservatives in Silicon Valley have felt uncomfortable sharing their views at work. The money in Silicon Valley talks, too. According to Vox data, the San Francisco Bay Area gave 22% more to Democrats in 2020 ($199 million) than they did in 2016 (about $163 million). This is compared to the $22 million donated to Trump in 2020.
Twitter is another leftward giant. Although former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey denied accusations of intentional “shadow-banning,” Dorsey admits there have indeed been glitches causing prominent Republicans’ profiles to become less readily accessible. Dorsey is known for only donating to Democrats and, more controversially, personally promoting an article that denounced bipartisanship and called for Republicans to be “thoroughly defeated.”
Exodus from mainstream
Whether mainstream social media is biased or not, we’re seeing young people migrate to alternative media platforms, something that Peterson seems to endorse.
Despite his 2.1 million Twitter followers, 2.7 million Instagram followers, and 1.4 million Facebook followers, Peterson’s comments about social media and his place in the contemporary political environment seem to suggest that social media has its hold on society, and we just have to go with it.
This 2018 post has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
