Teen mental health is plummeting and social media is a major contributing cause [pdf]

The above is further amplified by communication between children and adult strangers being seen as a big no-no.

- impose a maximum limit on size, weight and fuel consumption of cars, ban SUVs and pickup trucks (and no, a tax won't work because the rich will simply buy their "freedom"). Exceptions only upon proof of need (e.g. commercial or farming usage).

- ban all inner-country flights of less than 2 hours duration (this one is not that applicable to the US but more towards Europe)

- improve passenger high speed rail networks in accessibility, affordability and speed

- improve (or, in some places, create) usable public transport systems to reduce the need for cars

- entirely ban naval cruise ships unless fueled by renewable fuel

- construct immense amounts of solar and wind electricity generation, invest into storage mechanisms and power-to-gas

- impose bans or limitations on concrete for construction (8% of global CO2 emissions result out of the manufacturing of concrete!)

- ban "fast fashion", impose durability requirements on clothing

- force all manufacturers to provide spare parts, 3D designs and tooling needed for repairs, no matter what kind of thing

- impose per-capita meat consumption quotas. Yes, this is communism-style, but we cannot sustainably continue with mass animal farming at the scale we are at.

If you think a car rapidly depreciates, try reselling your degree. You might be in for a shock.

Winner: The car.

> getting a decent college degree will pay dividends throughout your life in increased earnings power.

The data says otherwise. Wages have held stagnant through the rise of post-secondary schooling. You can't both have increased earning power and stagnant earning power.

The earning power of not being limited to a physically close job that a car affords did show some upward wage movement, however. There was clear wage growth seen during the rise of the automobile.

Winner: The car.

> According to govt estimates, the average lifetime earnings difference between someone with just a high-school diploma, and someone with a college degree is - on average $550,000.

Ouch. The opportunity cost of a four year degree is, on average, more than a million dollars. That's a nasty haircut.

And that's ignoring that your methodology is flawed. We know that different people are different. Of course the person with down syndrome, who just scraped by in high school and struggles in the workplace for the same reason, is going to have lower earning potential than the person who breezed through their studies at Stanford. These people are not comparable.

Which is why you actually want to compare people over time. Using a time vector maintains the spectrum of people from high functioning to low functioning. Over time, as more and more have attained degrees, incomes have held stagnant. There has actually been no economic benefit gained.

That said, I'd submit that what social media on the phone is for girls... video games are for boys. All encompassing, immersive, 24/7 focus stealer.

And Zuckerberg wants to make this markedly worse on both fronts.

We need a 'Butlerian Jihad' against this crap. And I say this as a person who came of Internet-age spending all my waking hours on MUDs & MOOs in the 90s. We need to resist the "metaverse" (the commercial weaponization of the "virtual") with all our strength.