Scott Galloway: The Three-Legged Crisis Facing America

When Governor Spencer Cox of Utah called recent events a “watershed moment in American history,” Scott Galloway agreed — but with a caveat. “Whether it’s a watershed moment or not,” Galloway said, “depends on whether it leads to tangible action.”

Galloway, the professor and co-host of the Pivot podcast, is known for cutting through noise with blunt diagnoses. In this conversation, he sketched out what he sees as the three legs of the stool driving America’s current instability: attention-driven algorithms, young men in retreat, and America’s uniquely lethal gun culture.

Leg One: Attention and Rage

“Our economy is basically — our stock market’s being driven by 10 companies who are in the business of trafficking attention,” Galloway said.

We once believed “sex sells.” But today’s platforms have discovered something more powerful: rage. Algorithms designed for engagement push users to extremes, tweet by tweet or TikTok by TikTok. With two-thirds of Americans now getting their news from social media, Galloway argued, “the temperature has just gone up.”

The outcome is a society where outrage is monetized, polarization is rewarded, and truth is drowned out in favor of anger that keeps people scrolling.

Leg Two: Young Men Sequestering

The second leg is what Galloway calls a crisis among young men.

“We have young men in this country who have a lack of opportunities… sequestering from society… up against the deepest-pocketed, most talented companies in the world with godlike technology.”

Time spent with friends has been cut in half. Fewer are attaching to school, work, or relationships. In that vacuum, algorithms and online communities offer a simulacrum of life — but also a pathway to radicalization.

“They’re increasingly vulnerable to be radicalized online,” Galloway warned. The costs are already showing up in isolation, addiction, and violence.

Leg Three: Guns

The final leg of the stool, as Galloway put it, is the simplest and most brutal: guns.

“I’m in London right now. Over the next 12 months, there will be 30 people killed by guns in the UK. Since Charlie was assassinated yesterday, there’s likely been about 120 deaths just in the U.S. from gun deaths.”

The contrast underscores the uniquely American dimensions of the crisis. Social decay meets easy access to lethal weapons — and the results are predictable.

Where the Country Goes From Here

If these three legs hold the current moment in place, is there any hope of change? Galloway thinks so — but only if we act.

Among his prescriptions:

• Remove Section 230 protections for algorithmically elevated content, making platforms liable when harmful content is pushed to users.
• Apply antitrust enforcement to make big tech more competitive and less monopolistic.
• Ban phones in schools, a move already gaining traction in 19 states and correlated with dramatic test score improvements.
• Age-gate social media as we do pornography, cigarettes, and military service — restricting access for those under 16, or even 18.
• Expand economic opportunities and role models for young men, who are four times more likely to kill themselves, three times more likely to suffer addiction, and 12 times more likely to be incarcerated.

Galloway’s larger point is that the complexity of these problems is overstated. “The illusion of complexity is weaponized by the incumbents,” he argued. “Big tech doesn’t want to take responsibility for common-sense solutions. Neither does the NRA. We fall into this illusion that it’s a democracy. It’s not. The passive majority has been bested by special interest groups that are well-organized and well-funded.”

That’s the fight, in Galloway’s telling: not just algorithms or isolation or guns, but the structures that prevent common-sense fixes from being enacted.

“Is this a watershed moment?” he asked. “We’ll see.”