The rise in mental illness in developed countries could be attributed to their “astonishing rate” of technological change, according to biologist Richard Dawkins.
The iconic 83-year-old British author and evolutionary scientist theorized that we are evolving too slowly to keep up with our environment, creating an imbalance that disrupts our sense of well-being.
He launched the theory in a podcast appearance Sunday, echoing years of research that have linked social media use to depression among young people, among other modern ailments.
“A lot of people are worried that the pace of change is such that we are no longer well adapted to living in it,” Dawkins told podcast listeners. “That’s worrying.”
Yet despite these seemingly common-sense concerns, the debate over the relationship between technological progress and human well-being continues: a study led by the Oxford Internet Institute found no compelling evidence linking the two.
The rise in cases of mental illness in developed countries could be attributed to their “astonishing rate” of technological change, according to biologist Richard Dawkins (above)
The iconoclastic 83-year-old British author and evolutionary scientist launched the theory on the TRIGGERnometry podcast on Sunday, echoing years of research that have linked the use of big tech and social media to depression among young people, among other modern ailments.
“Certainly the rate at which we’re evolving genetically is minuscule compared to the rate at which we’re evolving non-genetically, culturally,” Dawkins told the hosts of the TRIGGERnometry podcast.
“And a lot of the mental illness that affects people may be because we’re in an unpredictable and constantly changing environment,” the biologist added, “in a way that our ancestors weren’t.”
But Dawkins — who has fostered a combative relationship with cultural trends on gender, religious belief and other political issues that he sees as contrary to evidence-based scientific reasoning — was reluctant to fully endorse this theory.
“I actually think it’s amazing how resilient we are,” said the author of groundbreaking books such as The Selfish Gene (1976) and The God Delusion (2006).
“Most of us seem to be coping pretty well with the astonishing pace of change that my life has seen,” Dawkins said.
A large international study published last November in the journal Clinical psychological science The study, which used data from two million people aged between 15 and 89, would appear to reinforce Dawkins’ argument for optimism.
The researchers, whose cohort of two million subjects spanned 168 countries, found smaller associations than would be expected if the Internet or online social networking were causing widespread psychological harm.
Professor Andrew Przybylski of the Oxford Internet Institute, who led the research, also published a similar study on Facebook usage last year.
In that study, published in the journal Royal Open Science SocietyHe and his co-authors used data on rates of anxiety, depression and self-harm from 2000 to 2019 in about 200 countries.
Well-being was assessed using data from face-to-face and telephone surveys conducted by local interviewers, and mental health was assessed using statistical estimates of depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and self-harm.
“We looked very hard for a smoking gun that links technology to well-being and we didn’t find it,” Przybylski said.
A major study published last November, using data from two million people aged 15 to 89, appears to reinforce Dawkins’s optimism. It found smaller associations than expected if the Internet were causing widespread psychological harm.
“I actually think it’s amazing how resilient we are,” said Dawkins, author of groundbreaking books such as The Selfish Gene (1976). “Most of us seem to cope pretty well with the astonishing pace of change that my lifetime has seen.”
“The popular idea that the Internet and mobile phones have a widespread negative effect on well-being and mental health is probably not correct,” Przybylski said.
“There may be smaller, more important things going on, but any general claims about the negative impact of the Internet on a global level should be treated with a high level of scepticism,” the Oxford academic concluded.
However, her research contradicts multiple studies that purport to show that social media and this bewildering era of technological change have worsened the mental health of middle-aged people and millennials, as well as young people.
Dawkins said that human genetic evolution was not occurring as rapidly as cultural evolution. Above, a model of a DNA chain
In his appearance on the podcast, Dawkins expressed more direct concerns about other aspects of the impact of human technology on evolution: climate change and basic self-sufficiency in the face of a new Dark Age.
“The Internet is a huge change, a gigantic change,” he said. “We have adapted to it with astonishing speed.”
“If we lost electricity, if we suddenly lost the technology we’re used to,” Dawkins worried, humanity might not be able to even “begin” to adapt in time, without massive social disruption and death.
The biologist held similar views on global warming due to climate change, but cautioned that this was not his area of expertise.
“It’s probably a dangerous problem,” Dawkins said on the podcast, “and it needs to be solved.”
But as someone who has studied evolution in a variety of wildlife throughout his storied career, he commented more forcefully on humanity’s impact on other life forms on Earth.
“Man-made extinction,” he said, “is as serious as any other. I think it’s tragic.”