First up, personality analysis can feel vague, and you might well ask why it even matters? On the first of those, the finding of distinct personality traits is robust. This field of research has been around for decades and holds up pretty well, even across cultures.

On the second, studies consistently find personality shapes life outcomes. In fact, personality traits — esp conscientiousness and neuroticism — are stronger predictors of career success, divorce and mortality than someone’s socio-economic background or cognitive abilities.

Highly conscientious people (dependable, disciplined, committed) fare best of all. They live the longest, succeed at work, their relationships last. This makes sense. Life isn’t just about knowing what you should do or having the resources to do it, it’s about following through.

Conscientiousness is especially critical in the modern world. Life today is full of temptations. From hyper-engaging digital media to online gambling, the ability to ignore it all and put long-term wellbeing ahead of short-term kicks becomes a superpower.

Generative AI could supercharge this dynamic. A high-C student might use an LLM as a personal tutor to strengthen their knowledge of a concept; their low-C counterpart might task the same LLM with writing their essay, foregoing knowledge acquisition altogether.

So, that’s conscientiousness. At the other end of the spectrum, people high in neuroticism (anxious, often tense, feel emotions very strongly) tend to face more challenges in life. Relationships break down, work life is difficult, stress can bring health problems.

That’s what makes this chart so important. People are changing in ways that decades of research suggests will lead to worse life outcomes, and this is particularly true of today’s teens, twenty- and thirty-somethings.

If the headline terms still feel fuzzy, we can dig into the more detailed traits they’re made up of. Here are some of the sub-traits inside conscientiousness: Young people say they increasingly struggle to make plans and follow through on them. They feel distracted, careless.

They also say they feel less outgoing and talkative (true of everyone, but especially young adults). Young people also report feeling less helpful and less trusting, as well as more argumentative. Again: these are people’s own self-assessments, not others’ descriptions of them.

These detailed traits lead me to point the finger at the digital world. Ubiquitous and hyper-engaging digital media has led to an explosion in distraction, as well as making it easier than ever to either not make plans in the first place or to abandon them last minute.

To put it another way: distractions derail our intentions. And we’re now more distracted than ever. Distraction is toxic to conscientiousness.

As @kylascan has written, the sheer convenience of the online world makes real-life commitments feel messy and effortful https://kyla.substack.com/p/ec... The in-person world encourages conscientiousness. The digital world gives you an opt-out.

The rise of time spent online and accompanying decline in face-to-face interactions mean less social policing of bad behaviours like “ghosting”. See @_alice_evans here: https://www.ggd.world/p/why-is... If you’re low-C on the internet, you don’t pay the price. Not immediately, at least...

And note the timing of that steep young adult dip in extroversion: The pandemic years when young people bore the brunt of restrictions on socialising in order to protect others from harm. Long the most extroverted group in society, young adults are now the most introverted.

But I want to end on a more empowering note: Unlike parental background and genetic make-up, there is a wealth of evidence that personality is malleable — what has been eroded can be rebuilt.

Conscientiousness will separate those who just survive from those who thrive in the 21st century. We can each decide which half of that divide we fall on — but ironically that will take some dedication. Here’s my article in full: https://www.ft.com/content/5cd...

@jburnmurdoch conscientious : it's bad that many people are less responsible and less hardworking Neuroticism : Ya I would expect this in the degenerate society we live in. We are essentially in rat utopia Agreeableness : I think this is actually great this is down Extroversion: Neutral

@jburnmurdoch This is the result of the far left extremist politics that have been shoved down our throats. It’s not the internet.

@jburnmurdoch Here are the weeds you should be getting into. Read the items people responded to👇, completely out of any context, on the internet, using only the responses they were provided. Now explain to everyone how doing so can predict, for any given participant, how their life will

@jburnmurdoch Imagine tweeting a chart that starts in 2014 and making the argument “the internet is guilty of…”

@jburnmurdoch Internet does not cause it, just enables us to see it.

@jburnmurdoch Yes, but we'll do nothing about it. The internet has captured the elites. Every. Single. One. The privacy setting spelled their doom. They serve and protect the internet, not kids, not society.

@jburnmurdoch Can extroverts stop assuming that their mode of functioning is the default for society? For much of human history, people lived in agrarian societies and didn't come into much contact with other people beyond a few family members and friends. Extroversion and outgoing are more

@jburnmurdoch So crazy assholish slackers? I think this is the result of family breakdown and the rise of single mother homes.

@jburnmurdoch its the transaction economy:) trump embodies the least zero conscientious:) , ultimately till we get capital or power, why the fuck will young give a fuck beyond a point :)

@jburnmurdoch The country is getting exponentially less white in that time. Our demographics are dooming us.

@jburnmurdoch Internet played a role but much worse has been the ‘fragility culture’. Great books on this topic -> The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt is that a culture of

@jburnmurdoch @brilant_kras I don’t think the internet is the root cause of neuroticism - I think it’s the rise in exposure to modern university education. The metro educated liberals in my UK and US research studies all exhibit higher neuroticism relative to conservatives. We’re just making more of them.

@jburnmurdoch @threadreaderapp unroll

@jburnmurdoch how much is due to demographic change?

@jburnmurdoch GPT-5 pro’s take: Short version: treat the “decline in conscientiousness” story as low‑confidence. The cited study relies on brief self‑ratings (BFI‑44) and finds only small average dips in 2021–22 vs pre‑COVID, roughly one tenth of a standard deviation overall and about one

@jburnmurdoch @threadreaderapp unroll

@jburnmurdoch Lockdowns

@jburnmurdoch F—— shocker. A generation provided with the internet, social media and IPhones … Thank God the research think tanks crunched these numbers and provided us this data. How many tax dollars do you think went to funding this brain surgery revelation?

@jburnmurdoch Neuroticism up? Maybe because we've all become professional overthinkers ! ⛏️🤯 Time to log off and touch grass!

@jburnmurdoch Great thread. Didn’t realize there were very tangible personality changes at this level within the population. Concerning!