The year 2026 has been an expensive one for social media platforms. Since March, YouTube and Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, have settled or paid out in multiple lawsuits to the tune of more than US$17 billion for allegedly acting negligently, deliberately designing their platforms to hook kids and misleading the public about safety and privacy. More legal action targeting social platforms may follow, while countries around the world are looking at social media bans for minors. But Carnegie Mellon scholar Ari Lightman writes that early research shows bans might not be the answer.

When the utopian ideals of the American Arts and Crafts movement began to splinter against the hard realities of a growing post-war industrial society, a fascinating cultural initiative was initiated by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Disheartened by the machine age but still yearning for a lasting connection to the handmade, she brought together a group of makers who redirected their focus toward a pastoral view of America’s colonial past. By 1926, Val-Kill Industries—a bold p...