--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Frankly, the overwhelming majority of…" description: "\"“Frankly, the overwhelming majority of academics have ignored the data explosion caused by the digital age. The world’s most famous sex researchers sti..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/seth-stephens-davidowitz-10761_digital-age_frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-aca_2735564.jpg" --- # Frankly, the overwhelming majority of academics have… ![“Frankly, the overwhelming majority of academics have ignored the data explosion caused by the digital age. The world’s most famous sex researchers stick with the tried and true. They ask a few hundred subjects about their desires; they don’t ask sites like PornHub for their data. The world’s most…” quote by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/seth-stephens-davidowitz-10761_digital-age_frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-aca_2735564.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/seth-stephens-davidowitz-10761_digital-age_frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-aca_2735564.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/seth-stephens-davidowitz-10761_digital-age_frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-aca_2735564.jpg) > ““Frankly, the overwhelming majority of academics have ignored the data explosion caused by the digital age. The world’s most famous sex researchers stick with the tried and true. They ask a few hundred subjects about their desires; they don’t ask sites like PornHub for their data. The world’s most famous linguists analyze individual texts; they largely ignore the patterns revealed in billions of books. The methodologies taught to graduate students in psychology, political science, and sociology have been, for the most part, untouched by the digital revolution. The broad, mostly unexplored terrain opened by the data explosion has been left to a small number of forward-thinking professors, rebellious grad students, and hobbyists. That will change.”” [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Academic fields lag behind digital data opportunities, limiting insights from massive online behavior. **In simple terms:** Academics ignore big data. Key Takeaway Integrate digital data into research. Themes research technology innovation Mood reflective critical Type analytical inspirational When to use this quote - Social science studies - policy analysis - market research Key Concepts big data methodology digital humanities Questions to Reflect On - What barriers prevent data-driven research? - How can ethics guide data use? A Different Perspective Data privacy concerns may restrict access. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Academics Ignored](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/academics-ignored-2988095/) [Data Explosion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data-explosion-2988094/) [Digital age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/digital-age/) [Digital revolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/digital-revolution/) [Graduate student](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graduate-student/) [Graduate students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graduate-students/) [Political science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-science/) [Sex Researchers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sex-researchers-2800810/) ## Related quotes > [Most of the people who are engaged in the subjects that I look into are pretty interesting. Whether its sex researchers or someone who's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-roach/most-of-the-people-who-are-engaged-in-the-subjects-that-i-look-into/) [Mary Roach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-roach/) > [Because there are now online databases of federally funded research, and these databases are searchable by keyword, sex researchers have to be careful how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-roach/because-there-are-now-online-databases-of-federally-funded-research/) [Mary Roach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-roach/) > [I cast people from right around me. I was at my alma mater. It's special to have most of the graduate students in it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kalup-linzy/i-cast-people-from-right-around-me-i-was-at-my-alma-mater-it-s/) [Kalup Linzy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kalup-linzy/) > [I didn't study writing in school, I studied biology as an undergraduate and graduate student. So I think that I write fiction in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/i-didn-t-study-writing-in-school-i-studied-biology-as-an/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [“Much is at stake. In giving Hochschild its Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Award in 2008, the American Historical Association claimed that King Leopold’s Ghost “broke…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-gilley/much-is-at-stake-in-giving-hochschild-its-theodore-roosevelt-woodrow/) [Bruce Gilley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-gilley/) > [It's difficult to get a job and people stay in school longer because they're employed as teaching assistants or instructors by their schools, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-menand/it-s-difficult-to-get-a-job-and-people-stay-in-school-longer-because/) [Louis Menand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-menand/) > [“He began to think, here, of local intellectuals such as the pulavar and of his friends in the Readers’ Circle, as keys to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-p-whitaker/he-began-to-think-here-of-local-intellectuals-such-as-the-pulavar-and/) [Mark P. Whitaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-p-whitaker/) > [When a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/when-a-professor-insists-computer-science-is-x-but-not-y-have/) [Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/) > [I think there are ways that graduate students can fact-check their work. I think there are ways that we can do this that don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-desmond/i-think-there-are-ways-that-graduate-students-can-fact-check-their/) [Matthew Desmond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-desmond/) > [I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople. The concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-believe-that-we-can-still-have-a-genre-of-scientific-books-suitable/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [I learned quickly, as I tell my graduate students now, there are no answers in the back of the book when the equipment doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-lewis-perl/i-learned-quickly-as-i-tell-my-graduate-students-now-there-are-no/) [Martin Lewis Perl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-lewis-perl/) > [“The other component was to build cadres through political education. Republicans sought out wealthy donors to set up foundations and think tanks as safe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-lilla/the-other-component-was-to-build-cadres-through-political-education/) [Mark Lilla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-lilla/) > [Political journalists love graduate student intelligence, the ability to make clever allusions in seminars, and in 1999-2000 they hassled George W. Bush for not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-olasky/political-journalists-love-graduate-student-intelligence-the-ability/) [Marvin Olasky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-olasky/) > [As a graduate student at Oxford in 1963, I began writing about books in revolutionary France, helping to found the discipline of book history.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-darnton/as-a-graduate-student-at-oxford-in-1963-i-began-writing-about-books/) [Robert Darnton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-darnton/) > [“They're not people at all, they're graduate students, there's a difference. They fuck like bunnies and drink like fish and stay up late worrying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-canty/they-re-not-people-at-all-they-re-graduate-students-there-s-a/) [Kevin Canty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-canty/) ## More by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz > [“I am now convinced that Google searches are the most important dataset ever collected on the human psyche. This”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/i-am-now-convinced-that-google-searches-are-the-most-important/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“DIGITAL TRUTH DIGITAL LIES • Searches • Social media posts • Views • Social media likes • Clicks • Dating profiles • Swipes”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/digital-truth-digital-lies-searches-social-media-posts-views-social/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“Allowing us to zoom in on small subsets of people is the third power of Big Data.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/allowing-us-to-zoom-in-on-small-subsets-of-people-is-the-third-power/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“Facebook is digital brag-to-my-friends-about-how-good-my-life-is serum. In Facebook world, the average adult seems to be happily married, vacationing in the Caribbean, and perusing the Atlantic.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/facebook-is-digital-brag-to-my-friends-about-how-good-my-life-is/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“Sometimes new data reveals cultural differences I had never even contemplated. One example: the very different ways that men around the world respond to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/sometimes-new-data-reveals-cultural-differences-i-had-never-even/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“Netflix learned a similar lesson early on in its life cycle: don’t trust what people tell you; trust what they do.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/netflix-learned-a-similar-lesson-early-on-in-its-life-cycle-don-t/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“Milan Kundera, the Czech-born writer, has a pithy quote about this in his novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being: “Human life occurs only once,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/milan-kundera-the-czech-born-writer-has-a-pithy-quote-about-this-in/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“... I was shock aplenty by what the internet reveals about human sexuality...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/i-was-shock-aplenty-by-what-the-internet-reveals-about-human-sexuality/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“And it is certainly possible that lying played a role in the failure of the polls to predict Donald Trump’s 2016 victory. Polls, on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/and-it-is-certainly-possible-that-lying-played-a-role-in-the-failure/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“... I was shocked aplenty by what the internet reveals about human sexuality...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/i-was-shocked-aplenty-by-what-the-internet-reveals-about-human/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“Newspaper readership, on average, tilts a bit left. (They have data on that.) And newspapers, on average, tilt a bit left to give their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/newspaper-readership-on-average-tilts-a-bit-left-they-have-data-on/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“Why is the presence of rich people such a powerful predictor of poor people’s life expectancy? One”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/why-is-the-presence-of-rich-people-such-a-powerful-predictor-of-poor/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“The next Freud will be a data scientist. The next Marx will be a data scientist. The next Salk might very well be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/the-next-freud-will-be-a-data-scientist-the-next-marx-will-be-a-data/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“Clark Benson is the CEO of ranker.com, a news and entertainment site that relies heavily on A/B testing to choose headlines and site design.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/clark-benson-is-the-ceo-of-ranker-com-a-news-and-entertainment-site/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) > [“Do you think the United States is currently a united or a divided country? If you are like most people, you would say the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/do-you-think-the-united-states-is-currently-a-united-or-a-divided/) [Seth Stephens-Davidowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) [Explore all 63 Seth Stephens-Davidowitz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/) ## More Digital age quotes > [To bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans, the FCC needs to make it easier for companies to build and expand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ajit-pai/to-bring-the-benefits-of-the-digital-age-to-all-americans-the-fcc/) [Ajit Pai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ajit-pai/) > [“Humans are the biological bootloader for AI.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/utpal-nandi/humans-are-the-biological-bootloader-for-ai/) [Utpal Nandi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/utpal-nandi/) > [I do think there's something about the digital age that is increasingly dehumanising us. We're in this very weird place where we're being pulled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-j-abrams/i-do-think-there-s-something-about-the-digital-age-that-is/) [J. J. Abrams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-j-abrams/) > [There are no boundaries or borders in the digital age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karim-rashid/there-are-no-boundaries-or-borders-in-the-digital-age/) [Karim Rashid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karim-rashid/) > [“We live in the most ‘connected’ time ever… yet loneliness is everywhere.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roche-uccello/we-live-in-the-most-connected-time-ever-yet-loneliness-is-everywhere/) [Roche Uccello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roche-uccello/) > [“The late-afternoon light was thick and orange and she passed four different couples taking photos of themselves on the same cobblestoned block, all their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-lacey/the-late-afternoon-light-was-thick-and-orange-and-she-passed-four/) [Catherine Lacey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-lacey/) > [“We believe that information is an enlightening agent, but I can assure you it is not. We consume information, but we can’t read. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-f-georgy/we-believe-that-information-is-an-enlightening-agent-but-i-can-assure/) [R.F. Georgy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-f-georgy/) > [Human beings can be redeemed. Empires cannot. Our refusal to face the truth about empire, our refusal to defy the multitudinous crimes and atrocities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hedges/human-beings-can-be-redeemed-empires-cannot-our-refusal-to-face-the/) [Chris Hedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hedges/) > [“We built machines to answer every question, but forgot to ask what it means to be human.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-nault/we-built-machines-to-answer-every-question-but-forgot-to-ask-what-it/) [Lawrence Nault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-nault/) > [There are myths about kids spending time online - that it is dangerous or making them lazy. But we found that spending time online…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mizuko-ito/there-are-myths-about-kids-spending-time-online-that-it-is-dangerous/) [Mizuko Ito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mizuko-ito/) > [“We didn’t grow up with the internet — we grew up inside it. Every friendship, every mistake, every secret lived in pixels and chat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liam-doe/we-didn-t-grow-up-with-the-internet-we-grew-up-inside-it-every/) [Liam Doe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liam-doe/) > [The experience of reading a printed comic book will never change, but now, thanks to the digital age, there are many different ways to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stan-lee/the-experience-of-reading-a-printed-comic-book-will-never-change-but/) [Stan Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stan-lee/) > [“The Matrix can feel like a pretty hopeless place. I get that. Nobody in his or her right mind (a tiny minority, admittedly) wants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sol-luckman/the-matrix-can-feel-like-a-pretty-hopeless-place-i-get-that-nobody-in/) [Sol Luckman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sol-luckman/) > [The thing that concerns me most is that, in the digital age, if we fail to make efforts to maintain the value of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/satoru-iwata/the-thing-that-concerns-me-most-is-that-in-the-digital-age-if-we-fail/) [Satoru Iwata](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/satoru-iwata/) > [“Customers in the digital age are not passive consumers but nodes within dynamic networks—interacting and shaping brands, markets, and each other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-l-rogers/customers-in-the-digital-age-are-not-passive-consumers-but-nodes/) [David L Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-l-rogers/) [Browse all 214 Digital age quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/digital-age/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Frankly, the overwhelming majority of academics have ignored the data explosion caused by the digital age. The world’s most famous sex researchers stick with the tried and true. They ask a few hundred subjects about their desires; they don’t ask sites like PornHub for their data. The world’s most famous linguists analyze individual texts; they largely ignore the patterns revealed in billions of books. The methodologies taught to graduate students in psychology, political science, and sociology have been, for the most part, untouched by the digital revolution. The broad, mostly unexplored terrain opened by the data explosion has been left to a small number of forward-thinking professors, rebellious grad students, and hobbyists. That will change.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Seth Stephens-Davidowitz" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-academics-have-ignored-the-data/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Digital age" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-academics-have-ignored-the-data/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/seth-stephens-davidowitz-10761_digital-age_frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-aca_2735564.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/seth-stephens-davidowitz-10761_digital-age_frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-aca_2735564.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a81/seth-stephens-davidowitz-10761_digital-age_frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-aca_2735564.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Frankly, the overwhelming majority of academics have ignored the data explosion caused by the digital age…” — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Seth Stephens-Davidowitz", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-stephens-davidowitz/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Frankly, the overwhelming majority of academics...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-academics-have-ignored-the-data/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-stephens-davidowitz/frankly-the-overwhelming-majority-of-academics-have-ignored-the-data/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```