Causes of Stupidification
Class Exercise: Slide Show
Interview on the Social Media "Rabbit Hole" Phenomenon
Objective: Conduct an interview to gather information for an illustration paragraph in one of your essay’s body paragraphs.---
Instructions:
Interview a classmate about someone they know who has “gone down the social media rabbit hole”—someone whose social media use has led them to make questionable decisions or adopt extreme viewpoints, potentially impacting their ability to think critically.
Use the following questions to guide your interview:
1. Identify Interests: What specific interest or topic tends to dominate this person’s social media consumption? How does this interest influence the types of content they engage with?
2. Content Selection: How does this person selectively engage with content? Do they “cherry-pick” information that supports their perspective, creating a personalized reality?
3. Reliability of Sources: Does this person rely on sources that might be questionable or biased? Can you share any examples?
4. Group Identity: Has this person aligned themselves with a particular online community or “tribe”? If so, how does this group identity influence their views?
5. Social Approval: What evidence suggests that this person’s sense of belonging or self-worth is tied to social media approval—likes, comments, or shares? How might this dependence affect their well-being?
6. Impact on Critical Thinking: In what ways have this person’s social media habits affected their ability to think critically or view issues objectively?
After your interview, summarize the responses and consider how they illustrate the impact of social media on an individual’s perspective and critical thinking. Use this information as an example to develop a well-rounded illustration paragraph in your essay.
To provide ChatGPT with your biographical information for writing assistance, you can simply include details about yourself within a conversation. For example, you could share a few sentences about your background, interests, writing style, specific goals, and any particular preferences you have for voice, tone, or content focus. Here’s a practical approach to help ChatGPT assist you better:
1. **State Your Writing Background and Goals**: Explain your background as a writer, including what kind of writing you do (e.g., essays, narrative non-fiction, technical writing), and mention what you aim to accomplish with ChatGPT’s help (e.g., honing a distinctive writing voice, brainstorming ideas, refining rhetorical strategies).
2. **Describe Your Preferred Writing Voice and Style**: If you have a preferred writing style or tone, such as humorous, formal, or conversational, share that with ChatGPT. For instance, you could say, "I enjoy a conversational, witty style but want my ideas to remain sharp and engaging."
3. **Outline Your Key Interests and Themes**: Give a list of themes or interests that often appear in your work. This could include topics like authenticity in writing, media analysis, educational practices, or philosophical inquiry. Mentioning these helps ChatGPT suggest ideas and frameworks that align with your ongoing projects.
4. **Add Biographical Context**: Provide relevant personal context if it’s essential for your writing. For example, you might note your profession (e.g., "I’m a college writing instructor focusing on critical thinking and rhetorical skills"), or a recent experience shaping your perspective.
5. **Mention Specific Writing Challenges or Needs**: Highlight any challenges you face, such as maintaining a strong writing voice, avoiding cliches, or generating fresh rhetorical strategies. This will guide ChatGPT in tailoring suggestions to meet these needs.
If you’d like to make these details a standing part of your interaction, I can remember relevant biographical information that you provide to reference in future conversations, helping me assist you more effectively over time. Let me know if you’d like me to remember specific information.
Here are 10 ways AI can elevate teaching and learning in college writing, each suitable as a standalone chapter:
- Personalized Feedback
With the right tools, AI provides detailed, individualized feedback on grammar, style, and structure, allowing students to revise their work iteratively and improve with each draft.
- Enhanced Revision Skills
By guiding students in specific, targeted revisions—such as experimenting with tone, clarifying arguments, or tightening prose—AI helps them learn how to polish and refine their writing in ways that strengthen their unique voice.
- Mastering Argumentation and Counterarguments
AI can help students practice creating compelling counterarguments, exploring nuances in their claims, and understanding opposing viewpoints, which makes for more sophisticated, balanced essays.
- Dynamic Brainstorming Support
With AI-generated prompts, ideas, and questions, students can break through writer’s block, explore diverse angles, and develop richer, more original essay topics.
- Developing a Distinctive Writing Voice
By analyzing student writing patterns, AI can provide guidance on avoiding clichés and overused phrases, encouraging students to cultivate a more authentic and powerful authorial presence.
- AI-Enhanced Research Skills
AI can help students develop research questions, suggest relevant sources, and teach them to synthesize information effectively. It aids students in summarizing and analyzing research material, turning data into well-crafted, research-driven essays.
- Close Reading and Textual Analysis Practice
Through exercises with AI-generated close reading prompts, students can improve their analytical skills, learning to parse complex texts and interpret deeper meanings with precision.
My Prompt:
I’m trying to teach my college writing students the strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT in regards to close textual analysis. Write a one-paragraph analysis of Jonathan Haidt’s “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” in which you provide 4 signal phrases to introduce quotations or paraphrases.
ChatGPT Response:
In “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” Jonathan Haidt argues that social media has fundamentally weakened American society by intensifying polarization and eroding the foundations of trust. Haidt claims that “social media’s design encouraged tribalism” by creating echo chambers that promote hostility over dialogue. Furthermore, he observes that platforms “rewarded extreme behavior” through algorithms that favor sensationalism, effectively sidelining moderate voices and fostering a culture of outrage. According to Haidt, this shift toward extreme content has been disastrous for democracy, as it undermines shared narratives and “weakens the connective tissue” of society. He suggests that while social media initially offered promise as a means of connection, it has ultimately become a “weaponization of the social” that leaves users more isolated and divided than ever before.
***
My Prompt:
I’m trying to teach my college writing students the strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT in regards to close textual analysis. Write a 5-paragraph essay that shows the mental breakdown of Lacie Pound in Black Mirror's "Nosedive" through an analysis of Jonathan Haidt’s “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.”
**Title: The Social Media Spiral: Lacie Pound’s Mental Breakdown in *Black Mirror’s* “Nosedive” Through the Lens of Jonathan Haidt’s “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid”**
In *Black Mirror’s* episode “Nosedive,” Lacie Pound's mental breakdown reflects the toxic effects of a society governed by social media ratings, where every interaction affects one’s societal status. Lacie’s desperate drive to increase her social rating echoes the modern-day dilemmas described by Jonathan Haidt in his essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” Haidt argues that social media has created a world where popularity and superficial approval are prioritized over genuine connection, encouraging behaviors that ultimately harm individuals and society as a whole. By examining Lacie’s breakdown through Haidt’s perspective, we can see how the compulsive pursuit of social approval leads not only to a loss of personal identity but to a broader societal fragmentation and loss of meaning.
Haidt argues that social media’s emphasis on “likes” and ratings creates an environment where superficial behavior is rewarded, ultimately leading to emotional instability. In *Nosedive,* Lacie becomes obsessed with raising her social rating to gain approval and access privileges, losing herself in the process. Haidt suggests that social media “reward[s] extreme behavior” by encouraging people to curate their lives around approval metrics, rather than genuine human connection. Lacie’s breakdown begins when she chooses to prioritize this online approval over authentic self-expression, reshaping her personality and behavior to meet societal standards. The resulting anxiety and paranoia she experiences mirror Haidt’s warning that the pursuit of social validation on these platforms encourages people to sacrifice their individuality, reducing them to personas rather than authentic selves.
Haidt also discusses how social media promotes tribalism, where loyalty to one’s “tribe” supersedes critical thinking, often leading to personal and societal harm. Lacie’s world operates on a similar principle: her high rating would grant her access to an elite social circle that she believes is the key to happiness. Desperate to join this group, she abandons her own values and desires, a move that accelerates her psychological unravelling. Haidt claims that “loyalty to the tribe” replaces individual judgment and encourages people to act in irrational ways to align with group norms. For Lacie, loyalty to the “tribe” of high-rated individuals forces her into uncomfortable, degrading situations that erode her mental stability. Her fixation on pleasing this group drives her to betray her own best interests, resulting in her emotional and physical breakdown.
Furthermore, Haidt argues that social media’s focus on popularity over substance fosters a shallow culture where people prioritize appearances rather than genuine interactions. In “Nosedive,” Lacie becomes so concerned with projecting the “right” image that she begins to behave in exaggerated, insincere ways. Haidt warns that social media drives people to “become caricatures of themselves,” sacrificing depth and complexity for simplicity and appeal. Lacie’s exaggerated politeness, forced cheerfulness, and performative friendliness reveal the extent to which she has become a caricature—a reflection of what society deems likable, rather than a representation of her true self. Her breakdown culminates in the collapse of this “character,” leaving her raw and exposed when her carefully curated façade inevitably shatters.
In his essay, Haidt also highlights how social media creates environments where people are “addicted to outrage” because it drives engagement, promoting behaviors that lead to hostility and division. Lacie’s frustration and despair spiral into anger when her rating declines, causing her to lash out irrationally at those around her. Haidt explains that social media often “weaponizes” negative emotions, amplifying people’s anxieties and insecurities to sustain engagement. Lacie’s final breakdown is triggered when her desperation for validation turns into uncontrollable rage, alienating her completely from the society that she once sought to join. This aligns with Haidt’s assertion that, in a social media-driven culture, negative emotions such as outrage and jealousy fuel a self-perpetuating cycle that harms both individuals and their relationships with others.
Ultimately, Lacie Pound’s mental breakdown in *Black Mirror’s* “Nosedive” serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of a society driven by social media validation, echoing the concerns raised by Jonathan Haidt in “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” Haidt’s insights into the ways social media erodes individuality, encourages tribalism, fosters superficiality, and amplifies negative emotions provide a clear framework for understanding Lacie’s self-destructive journey. Her tragic story highlights the risks inherent in living for social approval, illustrating how an obsession with ratings and appearances can strip individuals of their identity and humanity. By comparing Haidt’s analysis with Lacie’s experiences, we see the profound costs of a world where social media becomes the ultimate measure of self-worth, transforming society into a landscape of isolation and self-deception.
Jonathan Haidt's Take on Stupidification
Stupidification
Last night, I binged Depp v. Heard, Netflix’s three-part exposé on the circus that was Johnny Depp’s lawsuit against Amber Heard. The setup? Depp, wealthy and strategic, takes his ex-wife to court over her Washington Post piece labeling him an abuser. The footage? Pure spectacle: Depp unhinged, violent, chemically altered, a man teetering on the edge. But in the gladiatorial arena of social media—populated by fervent fans and an army of bots—the narrative twisted until Depp morphed into a tragic hero, and Heard became the hapless villain. Billions of clicks, likes, and comments later, the verdict wasn’t just in the courtroom; it was a global judgment where “tribal loyalty” beat truth by a landslide.
Watching it unfold, I realized we live in a dopamine-saturated wasteland. People cling to whichever tribe can satiate their cravings faster, morality be damned. It’s no longer about being right; it’s about who can make your thumb swipe up again. The same mindless, dopamine-fueled allegiance drives politics, too—people addicted to “us vs. them” narratives, with critical thinking sacrificed for fleeting gratification. In the end, truth gets steamrolled while the dopamine junkies cheer.
Part 1: 8 Common Traps for Writing with AI
Part 2. Social Media and Stupidification
Part 3. Conclusion for Your Essay?
Should you discuss solitude in your conclusion paragraph as a sort of solution to the social media problem?
Selling Solitude to Your Students: Google Slides
In-Class: For Your Conclusion Paragraph, Interview a Student about Solitude:
Here are four discussion questions for your students, along with guidance on how they can integrate their insights into a body paragraph about the destructive effects of social media:
Discussion Questions
1. What activities would you include in a daily solitude practice, and why do you think these activities are beneficial?
2. How do you feel after spending a significant amount of time online, compared to after a period of intentional solitude?
3. In what ways do you think solitude can improve your ability to be authentic, rather than performative, in social interactions?
4. Do you believe social media impacts your mental focus or emotional well-being, and how might daily solitude help counterbalance these effects?
Instructions for Writing a Conclusion Paragraph Using an Interview
In your conclusion paragraph, you'll draw on insights from an interview you conducted with a peer about the impact of social media and the value of solitude. Follow these steps to craft a compelling conclusion that reinforces your main points:
1. Summarize the Key Insight: Begin by briefly summarizing one or two key insights your interviewee shared about solitude as a remedy for the negative effects of social media. For instance, if your peer emphasized how solitude helped them feel more authentic and focused, highlight this observation.
2. Reflect on the Broader Implications: Next, relate your interviewee's reflections to the broader argument of your essay. Show how their experience reinforces the dangers of social media you discussed, such as its impact on mental health, focus, or authenticity. This helps connect individual experiences to universal issues.
3. Introduce a Call to Action: Encourage readers to consider incorporating solitude into their own lives as a way to counteract the negative effects of social media. This could be as simple as suggesting they take time each day to disconnect or reflect.
4. End with a Forward-Looking Statement: Conclude by acknowledging that while social media isn’t going away, adopting practices like daily solitude can empower people to use it more mindfully.
Comments