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Cancel the Play Date: Make a Family Date Instead

Science, politics, and tech now agree: Family matters more than phones or friends

Joseph Serwach
The Partnered Pen
3 min readJan 9, 2025

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A new consensus: Family matters more than friends or phones.

“The Anti Social Century,” a massive new, detailed cover story in The Atlantic, concludes. “Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.”

“I think people feel uncomfortable in the world today,” “Washington, D.C. restauranteur Steve Salis tells The Atlantic. “They’ve decided that their home is their sanctuary. It’s not easy to get them to leave.”

Young parents increasingly see the importance of building stronger families and the dangers of letting kids drown in the desperate distraction of technology and other outside forces keeping them alone in their rooms.

“And when I grow up, I’m gonna look up from my phone and see my life,” Phoebe Bridgers sang during the pandemic.

The song finally sank in.`

From the Anxious Generation to The Collapse of Parenting

Lawmakers and parents alike responded to psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s massive bestseller, The Anxious

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The Partnered Pen
The Partnered Pen

Published in The Partnered Pen

MPP friends writing about life, love, and everything else in between together.

Joseph Serwach
Joseph Serwach

Written by Joseph Serwach

Story + Identity = Mission. Leadership Culture, Journalism, Branding Education. Inspiration: Catholic, Polish. https://medium.com/@serwachjoe

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