For many centuries, the writings of Plutarch of Chaeronia (c.46-119CE) were at the heart of elite humanistic education in the West. We can see the influence of his Lives of Eminent Greeks and Romans and the philosophical essays in his work Moralia in early modern authors from Michel de Montaigne and Francis Bacon to William Shakespeare.

Many of Plutarch’s essays also have a practical focus that can seem very timely in our social media age. He writes about how to cool the desire to gossip and pry into other people’s lives and how not to be taken in by salacious stories.

He gives advice about how to avoid being triggered by others’ provocations and how to benefit from disagreement. He advises on how to speak about ourselves without boasting or self-advertisement, how to tell friends from conmen (or flatterers) trying to sell us something, and how to pay attention so our minds are not overloaded and scattered.

It almost seems as if Plutarch was peering into the 21st century and responding to the mental health challenges our commercialised social media is producing at scale.

The reality, as journalist Max Fisher outlines in his book The Chaos Machine, is that social media companies have identified the same psychological vulnerabilities Plutarch hoped to help readers to correct, recognising them as effective ways to “maximise user engagement”.

Change begins with seeing the problems

Plutarch belongs to the ancient Greco-Roman culture in which philosophy was not conceived solely as a theoretical pursuit, but was linked to the pursuit of happiness. In this tradition, which long predates the advent of modern psychology, philosophers could take on the role of therapists, proffering advice on life’s challenges.

Plutarch’s practical ethics in the Moralia propose two ways to help people to live happier, more serene lives.

The first is to highlight the bad consequences of cultivating bad habits as a way of invoking shame and a desire to change. People who are constantly comparing their lives with others, for........

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