Plain English with Derek Thompson Plain English BEST OF: The Modern World Is Changing America’s Personality for the Worse
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Jan 13, 2026 
In this insightful discussion, John Burn-Murdoch, a savvy data journalist known for his sharp analysis on social trends, dives into the alarming shifts in American personality traits. He presents compelling data indicating declining conscientiousness and rising neuroticism, connecting these trends to smartphone distractions. John explores how changing social dynamics, especially the decline of team sports and the rise of individualism, contribute to growing anxiety and loneliness. He also speculates on how future tech could reshape these challenges.
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What Conscientiousness Actually Predicts
- Conscientiousness measures planning, reliability, organization, goal-setting, and follow-through rather than moral conscience alone.
- Low conscientiousness predicts worse life outcomes like lower income, shorter lifespan, and less stable relationships.
Validate Survey Signals With Outcomes
- Use external validity checks like income correlations to verify personality survey signals over time.
- John Burn-Murdoch found conscientiousness stayed positively tied to income and that relationship strengthened recently.
Distraction And Displacement Framework
- Burn-Murdoch frames smartphone impacts as distraction plus displacement undermining focus and conscientiousness.
- He suggests abilities may be unchanged but deployment of cognitive and focus capacities has been reduced by digital competition.
