Welcome to the thirteenth edition of Airplane Mode, where less is more and the WiFi is always off.

Every week, we curate 3 impactful ideas for you to stop and ponder, taking you away from the algorithm and putting you back in control of your most valuable resource: your attention.

Use this newsletter as a signal to pause, breathe, and think, helping you realign with your purpose and clear out the ‘scroll pollution’ that clouds our brains every day.

Thank you for flying with 99 Lives 🐆✈️

This is the most alarming thing I’ve ever written in Airplane Mode so far.

New insights from a massive research project, published in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities concluded that if you owned a smartphone before the age of 13, you’re far more likely to struggle with mental health well into adulthood.

This is what researchers found after analyzing data from more than 100,000 young adults worldwide. They used something called the Mind Health Quotient (MHQ), which measures social, emotional, cognitive, and physical wellbeing.

The MHQ score is simple to understand: the higher the score, the better the mind health, and vis versa. For anyone using a smartphone or tablet before 13, the results were brutal.

The earlier the ownership, the steeper the decline in mental health outcomes: suicidal thoughts, aggression, detachment from reality, low self-worth, poor sleep, and diminished emotional resilience. And this wasn’t just a specific cultural issue, it was consistent across countries, languages, and cultures.

Researchers argue we’re at a “now or never” moment. Just like alcohol or tobacco, smartphones may need regulation for kids. That means restricting access before age 13, enforcing real social media age limits, rolling out digital literacy programs, and even considering “graduated access” models where kids gain features in stages rather than all at once.

The gender effects were striking too. For girls, early ownership was tied to lower self-image, confidence, and resilience. For boys, it predicted lower empathy, calmness, and emotional stability.

The researchers finished the study by stating: “Our evidence suggests childhood smartphone ownership, an early gateway into AI-powered digital environments, is profoundly diminishing mind health and wellbeing in adulthood with deep consequences for individual agency and societal flourishing.”

The conclusion: Early exposure wires kids for fragility, not resilience. And the longer we delay action, the bigger the generational mental health bill we’re writing.

Two weeks ago, we looked at the kind of leaders most people want: competent, communal, and only mildly assertive. Today, I want to look deeper at leadership styles, to understand what types of humans prefer the opposite, harsh & more antagonistic leadership.

New research using a set of seven studies explored this recently, asking why do some people praise tough, abrasive leaders while others see them as incompetent or harmful?

The answer it seems, comes down to our worldview.

If you see the world as a competitive jungle (cutthroat, zero-sum, survival of the fittest) then you’re more likely to view harsh, antagonistic managers as competent and effective.

If you see the world as cooperative and trust-based, you’ll see those same behaviors as toxic and self-defeating.

The research showed this pattern across fictional scenarios, experiments, and even looking at people’s own IRL bosses. Employees with a competitive worldview (CWV) didn’t just forgive antagonistic behavior, they often rated those managers as more competent and were more likely to stay working for them. In fact, competitive employees often end up sorting themselves into teams led by harsh bosses, reinforcing the cycle.

One interesting finding in all of this was the realization that a competitive worldview isn’t fixed. When researchers temporarily “primed” participants into a competitive mindset, they immediately judged harsh leaders more favorably. That means context, stress, scarcity, inequality, can nudge entire groups toward tolerating or even rewarding tough, domineering leadership.

The conclusion: Harsh leaders don’t succeed because they’re universally effective, they succeed because enough people’s worldview makes them look that way. Which means the real question isn’t just who your leader is, but how you, and your team, see the world.

For years, psychologists thought personality traits were mostly fixed. Turns out, they’re not, and loneliness might be one of the forces that bends them.

A massive study following people over eight years has discovered that persistent loneliness doesn’t just hurt, it changes who you are.

Here are the 4 ways loneliness begins to change us over time:

It creates a brutal feedback loop: loneliness breeds traits that make new connections harder, which deepens loneliness. Neuroticism, in particular, predicts future loneliness, locking people into a cycle that gets harder to escape over time.

What’s important here is that loneliness is not just another negative emotion. Even after controlling for sadness, anger, or distress, loneliness had unique, lasting effects on personality. Chronic loneliness (2-3+ months) predicted consistent declines across the Big Five personality traits, while short-term loneliness (days or weeks) didn’t leave the same scars.

The researchers call this a “downward spiral,” and the long-term risks go beyond personality: higher dementia risk, accelerated aging, and shorter lifespans. The brain even starts scanning for rejection cues everywhere, seeing threats where none exist.

But the flip side is hopeful. Because personality is malleable, interventions that build social skills, emotional regulation, and healthy connections don’t just treat loneliness, they can actually reshape the traits that keep loneliness alive.

The conclusion: Loneliness isn’t just about being alone. Left unchecked, it rewires who you are. But with intentional effort, connection can do the exact same thing, remake you in the opposite direction.

Thanks for reading the thirteenth edition!

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