BREAKING: in recent weeks, some DNC members have privately discussed trying to force Chair Martin out of the job, according to three people familiar with these conversations. The idea was put on hold after members failed to identify an alternative candidate willing to step into the role. scoop from @Lauren_V_Egan thebulwark.com/p/new-drama-i…

My hottest take on this subject is I don't think social media is creating a "loneliness crisis." I think America's social crisis is, in some ways, the opposite of loneliness. The evidence that loneliness is rising for all ages that use social media is surprisingly weak. If we understand loneliness narrowly as something like "an experienced gap between our felt and desired social connection," then loneliness is kind of good, in small doses. Loneliness is social motivation. And we'd expect that a shock of social isolation—like, say, COVID—would lead to strong efforts among people to socialize more. But the data shows something closer to the opposite. Face-to-face socializing continued to decline between 2021 and 2024 and alone time increased, for almost all groups. I think a bunch of factors—incl., comfortable homes, ample entertainment, an on-demand delivery economy, and the dopamine-exhausting effect of non-stop phone use—are overriding, or fundamentally altering, people's desire to be physically around other people. The crisis is aloneness. And it's being partly caused by, in a weird way, our *inability* to connect with the healthy feeling loneliness