A recent article on The Ringer observes that the trend inaugurated by The Social Network (2010) may have crested. Over the next few weeks, three new series about the rise and fall of various tech entrepreneurs will premiere, starting with Showtime’s anthology series Super Pumped. In its first season, Super Pumped will focus on former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who, after a number of tumultuous years, definitively (and unceremoniously) broke from Uber in December 2019. Just as The Social Network reminded viewers that Facebook was born out of misogynistic bitterness—a far cry from Facebook’s often twee usage today—so do shows such as Super Pumped show that Silicon Valley’s problems are more systemic than aberrent. Elizabeth Meriwether, an executive producer on Hulu’s upcoming series The Dropout, puts it this way: “I think we’re at a moment where we are questioning a lot of the stories that these tech companies have been telling us. I remember buying into the idea that this was the future, and that the future was going to make everyone’s lives better.” It appears, then, that Big Tech is entering its postmodern moment. The “metanarrative” that information technology has saved us from the darkness of the pre-Internet era is now outdated. We have learned too much. We see the damage, including alarming rates of suicide among young people1. The irony, however, is that shows such as Super Pumped may be too late to change the minds of Gen Z. As I argued in “The YouTubing of the Self,” recent surveys indicate that digital tech is not just keeping young people from reading (or praying or learning the piano or playing pickup basketball). The viewership for movies and TV is also facing a steep decline: “18-34-year-olds spent almost three times as much time using apps and the web on smartphones alone than watching traditional TV.” Alas, the realization that Big Tech is not a savior means little if the very question of salvation is forgotten amid a cascade of TikTok videos and YouTube stunts
From Nicholas Carr’s 2010 book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains: “Smartphones have skyrocketed; app stores have proliferated; elementary schools have rushed to put iPads in their students’ hands; and the time we spend in front of screens has continued its seemingly inexorable rise. We may be wary of what our devices are doing to us, but we’re using them more than ever. And yet, history tells us, it’s only against such powerful cultural currents that countercultural movements take shape.”
From a 2021 report by the U.S. Surgeon General: “Between 2007 and 2018, suicide rates among young people ages 10 to 24 increased by 57%.”