Jonathan Haidt - "The Anxious Generation" | The Daily Show

Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and professor of ethical leadership at NYU, joins Jordan Klepper to discuss his latest best-selling book “The Anxious Generation,” which theorizes how the “rewiring” of childhood may be impacting young people’s mental health. They talk about the influence of cell phones and social media, the loss of risk in childhood, and four norms that can give Gen Z kids a chance to have “a real human childhood.” #DailyShow #JonathanHaidt #GenZ
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[@BrooklyKnight]

I still do feel like part of the reason why a lot of kids feel lonely these days it's because we've removed all of the places in person where they can hang out with each other freely and we've made online an unsafe place for them to be.

[@stefrost4029]

Exactly. Because this guy thinks the stock market doing well means everything is great. Never mind the average person being worse off and everything from playgrounds to youth clubs to sports facilities etc. closing down.

[@cdglynn1276]

Justice for third places!

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

I'm not sure online safety is that big of an issue. My nieces are fairly clear on how to handle strangers online. Human instincts may not be satisfied without the full spectrum of human senses being at play when hanging out with friends. ... And there's just too much choice. And that makes the individual friendships also, less meaningful. Our inner lives are also more different than before. Like, we watch different shows at different times - compared to the past where everyone was watching the same thing. Which is kinda similar to everyone you know being the same religion... You have more in common, and thus more trust.

[@jlbueno0611]

Which places have been removed ? Because everything is there...kids don't wanna do the outdated stuff you did as a kid , they are a smarter generation and are doing better things than we did. You jut don't see it or are oblivious to it. ✌🏼

[@enigmagnetic]

@@jlbueno0611I don’t think they’re smarter, they’re just full of information and don’t understand the difference between information and experience.

[@chrisking6413]

I would add a 5th point, which is to move away from a car based society and build places where people can walk around safely. Kids need places they can get to themselves.

[@Waitwhat469]

I agree 100% its why I argue for bike path specifically designed around getting to school and parks where I live. Setting your own schedule is a valuable and empowering thing for a kid

[@justintime4466]

We used bikes, skateboards, rollerblades etc to get around when we didn’t have a ride.

[@clubberlang186]

Yeah , its not like cars existed in the 90s

[@ChristopherBiresBoulderCityHS]

This is a point made in Dr. Haidt's book.

[@SuperVANessab]

How climate would benefit as well makes this an important thing to consider realistically

[@NeighborhoodOfBlue]

In order for this to be successful, we need to make "third spaces" more available again. Playgrounds and other places that actually encourage people to be there. This would benefit people of all ages!

[@Roanmonster]

I don't think this contradicts what the guy is saying

[@Daneki]

"the third space" triggers ptsd flashback from my starbucks days... iykyk

[@Matthew10950]

If we are going to allow kids to hang out places, we need a re investment in public safety. No one is going to let their kids play on the park which is full of homeless tents and drug addicts.

[@ForestRaptor]

@@Matthew10950 I am sorry, but third place is important, but more important, is just allowing the kids to play again in front of the house. As a millenial, this is something that was allowed because the parents or neighbours could "hear us in case of something". It allowed other kids to join in, we made friends this way, we solved our disputes and sometimes even hit each other and that's when "out of thin air" an adult would pop out seemingly out of nowhere and get the situation under control real quick. We got hurt, we got to laugh, we got to create memories with people we can't forget because they were phisically there either standing by, helping or even going against our shenanigans (sports, make believe, water fights, hide n seek, etc etC) The thing that I noticed having disapeared is that. the spontaneous play and spending time with people on the streets.

[@firstlast8258]

Speak for yourself

[@jenniferbitton1027]

I am a school principal and am 100% in agreement with you on the phone free schools. Our biggest challenge and fight with this is the parents. They complain constantly and are always finding a reason why their kid should have their phone. The fight is draining and leaves me wondering if it's worth it. We NEED the parents on board for this to work!

[@ChristopherBiresBoulderCityHS]

+1 from fellow educator. We lack the stamina to fight with the helicopter parents that insist they need to be in constant communication with their kids.

[@13ullseye]

My impression of teaching in the present day is that the parents nowadays are as much of a hurdle and difficulty as the kids ever are. Lots of "my darling baby couldn't possibly be wrong" type sentiment.

[@mariomario1462]

They arent kids and his claims are not true

[@susansherman9149]

Just do it. We did it 5 or 6 years ago. Caught with your phone between 8 and 3? 1. Teacher holds until 3. 2. It goes to the office. 3rd time parent must come get it.

[@billofrightsamend4]

You need to work in a prison. Our educational system is pretty much that anyway. I would compromise with the parents and only allow flip phones.

[@shannonconnor3697]

The ability of Jordan to inject comedy into a serious discussion while not derailing the interview or undermining the argument. Basically disguising journalism as a funny haha show. Brilliant

[@compedium]

eh...I like how he toned it down as the interview went on. He was trying to hard to zing in the beginning imo

[@flyingartgirls1]

That's the point of the Daily Show! :D Agree, he is great at it!

[@MrMonsster]

He was pretty off a couple of times, but okay

[@jasoncraig2281]

I usually like him plenty, but I thought his flippant sarcasm here was out of step, especially in the first half.

[@erikamonahan]

This was I think the most I’ve ever seen Jordan Klepper’s “comedian mask” come off. And for such an important issue-that guy is solid. Well done!!

[@aldenwelsch6354]

I really love that Jordan is normalizing atheism by casually remarking on his atheism. We need more of this. And I also really appreciate the acknowledgment of the need for community among secular people, since that’s the main valuable thing that religion provides.

[@alig3841]

Yes I feel for many years atheists treated science as the opposite of religion. Science is just a logical tool for problem solving, it does not provide a philosophy, community or ethos. Atheism is not a world view, it is the absence of one. We have mostly failed as a society to figure out a way to fill that hole and it is left up to the individual to find meaning and purpose and community in their life. Many simply never do.

[@shadowhunterartemis]

I feel like the best way we could support real childhood for all is by implementing social programs to give families more security.

[@brandybobandy2194]

And to give that security to ALL families, not just those of straight, cis, married parents.

[@thorshammer138]

I’m sure Haidt would agree with you, but he wrote this book assuming there would be no government intervention, given that we don’t have a functioning congress.

[@kimberlyemerson2754]

Communities can implement social programs - we have that power. Unless you are talking about more government intervention ..? That makes no sense - why would you want that?

[@advocacynaccountablity]

YYYEEEESSSS!!!!!!!

[@alig3841]

That’s great but a totally separate issue. This is happening to wealthy and middle class kids too. Obviously poverty makes everything worse, but pretending a social program is going to fix this is delusional.

[@Gpenguin01]

People born after 1994 would have been around 13-14yo when the Financial Crisis hit and then followed by the Great Recession. These kids would have grown up watching their parents and relatives lose their jobs and homes - and they would have seen their parents and relatives struggle to make ends meet for years. When hope is gone, despair takes over. It’s not surprising to see the cohort of kids born after 1994 grow up with a sense of hopelessness after witnessing their parents’ American Dream crumble before their eyes.

[@LP-zn8sc]

Nah dude it's definitely just phones, therapy and coddling. It has nothing to do with living in a crumbling economy and watching the state send billions to fund genocide.

[@Lordcamilli]

And slowly but surely come to the realization that sooner rather than later they'll be meeting, in the best of cases, the same scenario.

[@janschulte8434]

I think the Financial Crisis is an offen overlooked factor when it comes to people's view of the world. Add the climate crisis to that. People born after 1990 grew in a world with rising global temperatures and many adults gaslighting them by telling them that there is no climate change.

[@itsjeninMass]

They also saw 9/11, and I'm sure that and its aftermath have had a huge impact. US culture in particular changed A LOT.

[@carolroberts1280]

Also, add in 9/11 and being lied into 2 long and expensive wars by George W Bush. Plus, Bush's "No Child Left Behind" with its focus on defunding & destroying public education; parents often also began needing more than one job (each), meaning less time spent with kids; homes, jobs, and pensions were lost from the financial crash, which started in the U.S. but quickly hurt the rest of the world. Wall Street recovered before Main Street, which many still haven't recovered from; and the ban on automatic weapons ended in 2004, and the number of mass shootings increased substantially. Older people never had to do mass shooting drills. Parents used to leave work for the day and go home and spend time with the family -- few did job-related tasks at home or on vacation. And, parents weren't so stressed out (before W Bush) --- and kids pick up on their parents' emotions. I've always thought things changed when W Bush took office (not bc he won, but bc the Republican-appointed justices on SCOTUS put him there). Clinton left a surplus at the end of his time in office, which Bush squandered and put largely in the pockets of the already rich. Plus, we had the rise of the far-right and the Tea Party. To leave out politics, war, mass shootings, and the economy seems odd.

[@adammckay9109]

Born 1990. My folks would let me just go when we were kids. Leave at 11am, play until dinner. Just rode bikes, played in the woods. Had flip phones and stuff in high school. I can't imagine having an iPhone and social media before college. These kids don't stand a chance.

[@patchez058]

Agreed.

[@mariomario1462]

Nah most people are fine

[@minutemeditations14All]

You don't know my kids.

[@EvantidePhotographyBellingham]

Kids are incredible!! I have a feeling that parents with phones is the ‘smoking’ of our time. Kids will react to their parents.

[@LP-zn8sc]

I had both. I still went outside. It's not just the kids, we as a population are all becoming more illiterate and impoverished. When you place yourself above what's happening you'll never be able to confront the core issues. Big tech is damaging all of us due to their lack of regulation.

[@neojason8349]

It's an easy solution. Give young people a safe place to interact outside the school system.

[@user-dj6hu9gq4t]

A few years ago my brother in law hosted a birthday party for his teenage daughter, she was turning 13. He and I stood on an elevated bandstand and had full view of the kids. We noticed the boys formed a group and the girls grouped together. What we also noticed was they all were looking at their phones. He commented, sure wasn’t like this when we were their age. That was decades ago. ✌️

[@flyingartgirls1]

But who does the giving? The policing of these safe spaces? It gets complicated if mom&dad want childcare. I strongly believe schools should not be in place of childcare! Part of what overstresses schools, which are meant to be about disciplining the mind! You wouldn't believe what they have to spend on kids who do not want to be there. Discipline, special accommodations, the list goes on& on. Perhaps a better and cheaper idea that would cover all of these issues- from playtime to phone time would be to RAISE MINIMUM WAGE so one parent could afford to stay home& parent !

[@LP-zn8sc]

​@@flyingartgirls1 exactly this, everytime people talk about these types of issues and how parenting is worse they fail to mention how parents are overworked due to economic conditions. My parents wouldn't be able to spend the amount of time they did with me nowadays cause they have to work more. And how is my generation supposed to care for a family when most of us will die before 75 which is our now proposed retirement age.

[@h.neubert8770]

Are schools a safe space to begin with

[@jeanlucdiscard]

That is actually not an easy solution, not in America

[@arualblues_zero]

Just a few seconds in, but this famous argument about "playing outside, unsupervised" is not a generational experience, its a location one. Millions of kids who are now my age did not grow up like that, we were tucked in some crowded city apartment, most of the time indoors, very supervised, stranger-danger and all that (I'm almost 50). We also spent hours in front of a screen, a TV screen. Older generations complained about us not "playing outside like in the old days" all the same.

[@arualblues_zero]

A few more minutes in, "let them get hurt so they learn how not to get hurt" is an awful mentality. Let's not implement safety measures until someone dies. What kid doesn't benefit from a broken bone or worse, huh?

[@TylerWilkinson-jm5cd]

Glad to see someone older than 40 using their brain on this one. Thank you for pushing back against this bs

[@arualblues_zero]

Or.... perhaps instead of religions, we could aim to help kids find a sense of community that is less judgmental and constrictive to thought than most of the main religions? I'll take an online troll over a pervy priest (or pastor) any day.

[@arualblues_zero]

YES, of course. Raise your children, who are growing up and will have to be adults in this social media era, and raise them fully and utterly unprepared for it. What a pile of steaming 💩 Instead, parents should LEARN to know how to guide their children to find the balance that their lives need between the screens and physical activities, social and otherwise. Parents should learn to navigate these online spaces and teach kids to be safe, instead of ranting like every single generation did before us.

[@arualblues_zero]

@@TylerWilkinson-jm5cd And for the record, I didn't drink water straight from a garden hose (just another stereotype from my generation, repeated on FB by classmates who, I know for a fact, did not do this either lol)

[@abbysberry]

Born in 2000… I agree that something 100% happened from 2012-2013. But from 2004-2010 I was still ridding my bike and playing outside everyday as a kid.

[@prachisharma8237]

Born in 1999, I agree with this! I also grew up across the world and not just USA and I do recall that I was playing outside until I was 13-14 and then it has been downhill.

[@Palidine4M0O]

Blaming phones is bad, the timing doesn't line up, but the fear based rhetoric in this is just common. Even plato said people shouldnt learn to read because they'll forget how to remember things and interact with people... they said the same thing about the radio, tv, records, taps, cd's, videogames, computers... this rhetoric is a lie meant to shape how this person's supporters want to regulate. We should have more public spaces, and more social support. Look at the graph for loss of public mental hospitals and the prison inmate populations... they're inverted. There's direct obvious items out there, we just need to look

[@azzy9358]

@@Palidine4M0O What about the brain changes? If you give people different environment, they will be different.

[@ThomasErwin-zw9tw]

Right, it wasn't equally applied or constant. The overall idea is that it started happening in the 90s and got worse over time.

[@olorin4317]

Sandy Hook happened in 2012, it felt like that changed a lot. I think it shook a young generation of parents who grew up during Columbine. And the phones and social media definitely too.

[@elizabethschell1441]

Love how the whole story is the "kids" are in their phones too much but very little mention to the Adults who also spend too much time on their phones.

[@bobwheeler3220]

While adults are also on phones too much, his point about kids is in relation to brain development / neurowiring at that age, which makes makes things exponentially worse. You do have a point though, in that we as adults need to do a better job of modeling better habits.

[@Nicolas-fo8qd]

..because adult's brains are already fully developed? It's not relevant to the discussion

[@smooshiebear80]

Children imitate their parents. If the parents are glued to their phones, especially during meal times the kids will be, too… and there will be fewer meaningful discussions about handle stress, etc. than those who actually have to communicate with each other while they eat.

[@CRAG710]

His talk is about brain development. Too much screen time is bad for everyone. But it’s poison for children. Sorry, children have 100% priority on that one.

[@CRAG710]

@@smooshiebear80 Not necessarily. Children tend to rebel against certain parent’s behaviour.

[@yesreneau]

Hearing the words "cat in a blender" made my heart drop. That is so beyond sad, I can't even process it.

[@E-d1d3]

I know! That's what the Cuisenart is for!

[@shomitam]

Can't get my mind off it! It's so horrible

[@aleejones7508]

but you made a great pun

[@grittybunny]

Pre-emptive comment to animal activists: Yes, I do eat meat. (I don't eat the meat of factory farm animals, and I don't eat a lot of meat.) Feel free to shame me about how ridiculous it is to get upset about this cat business when I eat dead animals every week. This is not news to me, I think you have a point, but I also think there are other arguments involved, not the least of which is that it is ridiculous to assert that the level of cruelty a person must possess to eat a steak is anywhere near the level of cruelty a person must possess to put a cat in a blender.

[@debbeleigh1930]

I loved playing on the merry-go-round spinner! It was scary but fun!

[@The_R-n-I_Guy]

I hated those things. I've always been a control freak 😊

[@Ivartshiva]

there's a Twilight Zone episode

[@OsirisMalkovich]

Notice how he keeps talking about the symptoms of the problem without ever naming the actual issue - living in late-stage capitalism. Older people didn't grow up in a world where every aspect of our lives was a financial transaction, and we didn't live surrounded by predatory businesses actively surveiling our every move to extract money from us. The technology is not the problem. _Capitalism is._

[@kaiisth]

Nailed it, this is a symptom, not a cause, this distinction needs to be made

[@najawin8348]

They've been calling it late stage capitalism since Marx. Perhaps, just perhaps, you've confused late stage capitalism for a general sense of ennui.

[@Seajack64]

Yes, but it's the cars. Capitalism pushes for car-oriented living at the expense of walkable living, public transport, and natural spaces. This guy spends a lot of time focusing on removing phones from children, but barely touches on what children would do with their time instead and how to make that happen, just that "it would take about a year". Children are choosing phones over outside because outside has been made worse. Children aren't interested in car-oriented, anti-walkable spaces that all look the same with a few specks of managed greenspace, and are either devoid of nature or the nature is too polluted to enjoy. "Climb trees"? Where? Does he mean the ones surrounded by concrete? If metropolitan/suburbian areas were redesigned to prioritise walkability, cyclability (the main way children used to travel distances), and unpolluted natural places, you'll certainly find more children interested in outside... It'd take a lot more than "about a year" to do that, though.

[@enemyspotted2467]

@@Seajack64Here we go, another arm chair urbanist… By every measure, the outside has been made exponentially better than it was 30+ years ago. You must not know about leaded gasoline or all the litter dotting the side if the road back in the day. The mountains behind LA were permanently obscured by smog, schools there had “smog days.” Most american cities have better public transit infrastructure now than they did in the ‘70s and ‘80s. America was more car dependent then than it is now. You urban planning “experts” somehow find a way to make building more trains the solution to every problem. Go watch some more NotJustBikes

[@Seajack64]

​@@enemyspotted2467 Old problems have been replaced with new problems. Developments/infrastructure/outcomes are different now than they were then, for better and for worse. My childhood suburb was isolated and poorly integrated to road infrastructure, no public transport, but was cyclable and surrounded by pristine bush and creeks; over the decades it has become connected and well integrated with road infrastructure, has public transport (buses only), but is no longer cyclable and nearly the entire bush has been cleared for housing development and the creeks are covered in oil and litter -- if I were to grow up there nowadays, I wouldn't be catching tadpoles, climbing trees, or building poorly constructed treehouses in the bush because it's gone. The suburb has significantly improved for a car-oriented life for adults who drive everywhere, but over the same timeframe has degraded outside and become worthless for children and a train wouldn't change it. This is happening all over the place.

[@laurachristianson1688]

I love it that in my small townhouse community the kids are out in full force in the afternoons, I love sitting on my balcony and watch them play. Sometimes I feel like the gramma of the neighborhood.

[@judithshultes1474]

I love that too...glad to hear!

[@leashade4079]

As a 42-yr-old, I am SO happy I grew up in a world before cell phones, when my sister and I could ride our bikes and take walks, knowing when dusk occurred, we were expected home for dinner.

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

On the other hand, children today can experience things that we didn't. And in 50 years, they'll probably have access to things that humanity in its entire history has never imagined possible.

[@SoullessScythe]

as a 26 year old, im so happy i have had and owned a computer since i was 7. i know so much, an unfathomable amount of information has been at my finger tips for 19 years of my life and i can accumulate and use it as my needs require. i can hold conversation with people twice my age and outsmart people 3 times my age if i want to prove im more intelligent than a 50 year old i just give them all the parts to build a computer and i say "heres all the parts, just put it together" and when they cant and i can, i say "age isnt everything huh?" because it isnt, and nor is your personal life experience, theres a particular belief called darwinism, meaning that the environment you grow in will teach you how to exist in the environment you live in. and if you cant do that, then your purpose is simply to teach everyone else how not to be. and thats what youre doing. teaching everyone else how not to be. stuck in their way, and thinking their way is best. quite frankly. i know how to make clay, i can make a phenobscot bow from scratch, i know how to clean unpure water through distillation, i know how to make alcohol through distillation aswell, i know how to make vinegar, and can pickle foods with homemade vinegar, i know how to build a grain mill, i know how to blacksmith, sew, embroider, knit, skin an animal (do you even know what tallow is?), i know how to forage for plants and mushrooms and which ones not to grab, i know how to make gunpowder and thermite, and while were talking chemicals, i can make myself soap from lye and animal fat. i even know some pretty complex rocket science. i know how to program a computer in 7 different programming languages, i have programmed 3 videogames in my life, i can build a wind, water, steam and gas generator from scratch and understand how it works, i know absolutely everything our ancestors died to figure out, because thats what our ancestors deserve from us. and right now im writing a book on how to rebuild civilization should it ever fall. so when my knowledge saves the entire human race. dont try telling me your way is best. my brain is an encyclopedia and just because yours isnt doesnt mean you get to be jealous. every generation after you IS your successor, so act like a predecessor and get out of the way. if you reply, im literally gunna hit you with the full list of things i taught myself to do with this $6000 computer i built myself that is sitting right in front of me. i reccomend that you, and your entire generation make like our predecessors, and dissipate. because if you dont make space for the future youre going to suffocate my generations world in your generations toxic oil plumes.

[@LindaC616]

​@@SoullessScythe*divine

[@Michelle-bn1fu]

Just because you have information doesn't mean you are kotr intelligent. You sounf arrogant actually, and need someone to pat you on the back to confirm your intelligence. It is sad actually. You missed the whole point of this interview. Based on what you are saying you missed out on the opportunities to learn socilization skills. Being on a computer all day is no equivalent.

[@arualblues_zero]

I feel like this nostalgic view of the world "back then" does not apply to kids who grew up in cities. I'm almost 50 and my life (and the lives of all my class mates) didn't include bikes and walking around unsupervised. Parents complained that we spent too much time in front of the TV just like now y'all do about smartphones. If we had had a PC or a smartphone to diversify what we were watching, instead of being limited to whatever was on TV, it would have been fun for us, but no real difference in the way we spent our days.

[@julielunda887]

He makes a lot of great points, but I greatly question the claim that people are receiving "too much therapy". How about address all of the ROOT CAUSES that give people reasons to need or want therapy? What a concept...

[@ricardoferral4553]

I think that proves his point even more! It’s great that we all have more access to therapy, but why are we not fixing the root causes? That’s the point he’s trying to make!

[@ajsharma8869]

​@@ricardoferral4553nah I think he was just being incendiary on purpose, he had a huge "own the sjws" vibe at this part of the convo

[@alyxander8420]

@@ajsharma8869 That was a pretty soft and inquisitive way of "owning" anyone. Haidt has been a lifelong liberal and lands progressive on just about every issue at a policy level. Read his first book...he dances around this issue about as gracefully as possible, while still trying to confront the takeover of many progressive movements from within, into this weird hyper-personalized trauma-off that keeps capsizing the greater social justice agendas. Universities are supposed to be the mental gymnasium for conflicting ideas. They were safe spaces by design, for young people to engage in what is often confrontational discourse. Asking for course material to be dropped because it makes someone uncomfortable, or the speaker you disagree with to be barred from speaking misses the entire point. Personally, as a college student from 2005-2009, I used to get almost as excited to protest and confront the political speakers who would come to speak in the student center as I did to go see those I agreed with. I was a punk, an atheist, a socialist (still am), and an extreme progressive. But I wanted to confront the crazy right wing speakers, who at the time, were marinating daily in Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly. My friends and I held what we believed and wanted to protest, question, and confront that world...not be shielded and insulated from it.

[@itsjeninMass]

This is one of the key areas where I disagree with him.

[@tjt5055]

Doesn't change the fact that people turn to therapy because they weren't equipped to handle adulthood during adolescence. On top of that, you now have a culture where people seek labels to describe how they're feeling. And unfortunately, it's not "I'm feeling anxious", which is a normal human emotion. It's "I have anxiety", which means you think you're a permanently flawed human being who cannot escape your fate.

[@aletheist2709]

When I became an atheist, I became much happier. There was a time where I was on the fence that was kind of stressful and anxiety inducing, but once I made the break, it was a big relief.

[@michaelhutchings6602]

All the data shows religious people are happier and healthier in every way compared to the non-religious. This is a large open secret in science.

[@aletheist2709]

@@michaelhutchings6602 if a country or a person's community has a negative attitude towards atheists, do you think that might have an effect on this data? The happiest countries in the world have relatively large populations of atheists and agnostics. If I am a Swedish atheist, I am going to have a much better time than if I am a religious belt atheist in the USA.

[@razdchamp]

@@aletheist2709 yep

[@darrenjackson4646]

​@@michaelhutchings6602 what's the cause of that unhappiness? For me personally it's seeing that like 50% of people are so blind and scared they would rather live in make believe than actually be productive and help those around them.

[@CRAG710]

@@aletheist2709 You can’t compare a Swedish atheist with an American religious person or vice versa. The comparison is made within the communities they are inserted - so a Swedish atheist and a Swedish religious person (that are on average both happier than the average American). This research has been replicated in various countries with similar results.

[@kategosson3104]

1991, I used to climb/fall out of trees and sneak through peoples backyards in the neighborhood. Then in middle/high school, not being in someone’s top 8 on MySpace gave me more fear than ripping open my knee on a broken tree branch in Mr Allen’s garden

[@wisdomsleuth77777]

Thank you for saying that and it's true it's physically addictive as well I didn't think I was addicted to anything ever I didn't have my phone for 5 days then I realized what addiction really was

[@yhnoh89]

This and scott galloway's ted talk of the us destroying the future of young people have been the best videos I've seen this week

[@flyingartgirls1]

Agree!

[@alex_advanced]

And Andrew Yang's TED Talk

[@doko3000]

I didn't know that Scott had a TED talk will definitely look it up. Can't post a link to it or it'll be caught in KZbin's spam filter

[@henrietta1066]

Brilliant...

[@Yacob88481]

Born in 2001 & I definitely agree with his analysis. Everything changed after 2011, touch screen phone, social media giants & a phone based society. He’s 100% right, I’ve seen the affects on myself & the people around me.

[@shalini_sevani]

Im in my 50s and some of my friends are their 60s and 70s. Social Media has made many if them crazy. They soend hours each day going down internet rabbit holes and they're getting angrier and angrier. It would be interesting to see a study of how social media effects the mental health of the elderly.

[@grittybunny]

You are so right. I struggle with it.

[@gunnarcolleen2400]

Watching this makes me realize how few intellectually interesting interviews we see in media today. I really appreciate that the Daily Show is here as a platform for this kind of content.

[@DishonestTrack6]

I don't think he takes into account how much information kids consume these days and what little hope that leaves them for the future. (Especially when he mentioned the trickle up economy that's doing great) Yes what he states can be a factor but for many his concerns are only a side issue.

[@rabblerousin8981]

That’s a big part of it, but I think he’s looking at nature/nurture and arguing that the technologification of childhood has so profound an effect on the developing mind that we’re less equipped to manage in the hellscape we’re also dealing with. Multiple monster bosses at once.

[@MonLeyva-fn7fl]

The despair as an adult is trickling down to the kids... It's trickle down despair-onics...

[@isabellas2]

10:40 A key component he’s overlooking is that rates of anxiety and depression are based on self-reported data, and there tends to be greater stigma around sharing mental health struggles in some religious environments. Those kids are likely experiencing far higher rates of anxiety/depression than they’re letting on, while the secular kids may be feeling more comfortable to share what’s actually going on in their heads.

[@wanderingwizard1361]

A big piece of the argument here is that a hyper fixation on mental health is causing young people to search out ways in which they are damaged. There is a social cache that comes with having a disorder of some kind as well. In short, young people are constantly being told that they might have a disorder or trauma and that if they decide that they do they will then be told they are brave and mature and will be awarded with positive attention from adults and peers. Take two kids with the same level of anxiety. Put one of those kids in a traditionally religious family that downplays it and at most will have the kid talk to a pastor. Put the second kid in a very liberal modern family that will have the kid in therapy in kindergarten and will constantly talk to the kid about every single one of their negative feelings. You can probably see the downsides for the kid raised in the religious family but if you can't see the potential downsides for the second kid then you are not understanding the argument being made here. You can't make the world safe for children. You need to make children strong enough to handle the world.

[@Porpentein]

@@wanderingwizard1361 The fact that they are getting better access to treatments and can find the words to describe what’s wrong now, doesn’t mean the treatment and spread of knowledge is the problem

[@Porpentein]

It’s a teenager. They haven’t learned to regulate these new thoughts and emotions yet. Of course they are going to be even more anxious about their own issues. They always have been.

[@wanderingwizard1361]

@@Porpentein "Better access to treatments" --- The problem here is that there are seriously bad ways of doing therapy. The end result of therapy should be the person being capable of moving on from their problems and living a full life. It's easy for people to use mental distress or trauma as an excuse to no longer need to try to get better. "I have social anxiety so I cannot do a public speaking event" or "I have ADHD so I can't complete an assignment." There's a lot of indulgence for that kind of thinking and it is making university kids fragile. I agree that the problem is also going to be the main problem, but obsessing over trauma or problems and treating them as if they are part of your identity is actually something that proper therapy is suppose to teach you not to do.

[@jeffwhite2511]

Phones and social media are just the symptom and are often a distraction from an empty, superficial life in a society obsessed with materialism, status and competition. Improve the quality of life, help make kids lives more meaningful and end wage slavery (aka corporate greed) and the insanity of economic insecurity and you will see huge benefits.

[@FirstNameBunchANumbers]

He lost me once he started talking about the protests. The student that said "if Harvard cares so much about my mental health" was commenting on Harvard claiming that the protests were bad for students' mental health. The student was saying that the protest isn't what's hurting mental health, it's knowing that the institution they're paying is contributing to death in Palestine

[@Sweatervest42]

And even that particular argument he cherry picked. That is NOT the general argument being articulated in these demonstrations. They know that "mental health" will earn them no points. They're banking on colleges unmasking themselves in their desperation to remove them, showing that the institution THEY pay to be in prioritizes foreign policy and kissing political rings over their students direct safety.

[@enemyspotted2467]

I had that thought as well. Unis go above and beyond to “care” for their students and pretend to be progressive, to stop doing arms research for israeli contractors, in the case of some of the schools, or otherwise supporting the genocide

[@fawzy76]

Me too. They refuse to bring up the genocide. They want to make the people protesting the genocide as the weird or troubled ones.

[@FirstNameBunchANumbers]

@@fawzy76 Hank has spoken (still way too briefly) about Gaza and I believe ran a KZbin donation fundraiser on his video(s) on Hankschannel. I do worry about the fact they haven't spoken on the main channel and specifically that John hasn't spoken at all My generous (and still not great) guess is that it has something to do with John being on the Board at Partners In Health. I haven't looked into their statements on Palestine as an organization, but I wonder if John isn't supposed to say certain things publicly -- Again massive speculation

[@wanderingwizard1361]

Look at what you just did right here. Because you think Harvard is wrong to be invested in Israel, you are writing off years of Haidt's careful, substantiated research. You have a tangental disagreement so you can't understand the larger point he's making. Harvard, parents, educators have made young people fragile so that it's expected that they will need mental health help when they get to Harvard. If you didn't understand that point this should be a wakeup call for you in terms of your critical thinking abilities. You can always learn something from people you don't like or disagree with -- and you can at least understand what someone who you disagree with is thinking.

[@Roguerebel297]

He’s onto something. But it’s so much more because even as an adult I feel like there’s still nowhere to go because everyone is broke and everything costs soooo much now. For example I cant even window shop because it costs me $3 an hour to park in my local downtown. Like instead of spending a day it’s like you’re on the clock because they do have heavy parking enforcers who will ticket you the second your late back to your car.. unless you shell $21 to park for the day. It’s just not worth it anymore, we’re all just waiting for the older people to die. And that in itself is a pretty messed up mentality to be feeling. Watched a ted talk on the great wealth transfer from young to old. That sums it up with a bow pretty much

[@franjkav]

Some restauranteurs bought a local cafe near the university years back and turned it into a haughty vegan restaurant. It still makes me so mad because it was open as late as bars (previously even later than that) but much better as it was quieter and wasn’t oriented around alcohol. I live in a large Midwest city and there are no places to hang out in the evenings that exclude or deemphasize alcohol. It’s just bars.

[@billseddon9060]

You have the wrong mindset. You can change your situation. Figure it out. Sitting around waiting for people to die just makes you older and in the same situation you're in now, but many years later. You've adopted the mindset that Mr. Haidt is discussing.

[@wanderingwizard1361]

You have a mentality that you can't have fun and socialize without money. Question that. My rural family of my mother's generation around the 60's would gather together for a home cooked meal and would play cards. It's not like it's either a choice between spending money to hang out with friends or being on social media all day.

[@princessresinista9080]

I just saw this live. Its interesting because a nearby park has a merry go round and my kid loves it.

[@minutemeditations14All]

Same it's one of the old school ones too.

[@xazrael]

k

[@LP-zn8sc]

This guy is a hack. I grew up in the 2000s we still played and spent our time outside. Yeah there's a little more oversight, of course there is, lots of kids died when they were just let loose for hours. Our anxiety comes from the crumbling of western society that we're being forced headfirst into.

[@ForestRaptor]

@@LP-zn8sc did you grow up in the 2010? =-=

[@LP-zn8sc]

​​​​@@ForestRaptor 2000-2018 I would've been part of the data set used. I went outside almosy every day, even in the winter. What this guy is talking about is only a partial truth. He's using *some* real research about phones and social media and *some* statistics to throw in conjectures that are untrue. It's a classic rhetorical move for grifters, you say something that is true, add some decently trustworthy research or public opinion, and then weave your rhetoric and false arguments inside it under the radar. Hence why I call him a hack. The idea that the financial crisis, and material conditions, and political shifts aren't a root cause of the mental health crisis is ignorant. Plus saying the protests on American campus are cause of "muh mental health" is laughable.

[@Mikerille]

We have a reason to be anxious. We were born during a financial crisis, that never got better, where I can’t even live as a Certified Phlebotomist on my own.

[@E-d1d3]

Maybe Doc Martin can slip you a few quid for other ... chores.

[@Mikerille]

@@E-d1d3 idk who doc Martin is 😂 and what chores is a man gonna do for an extra quid

[@eatprayloveify]

​@E-d1d3 Are you referring to the British comdey Doc Martin?

[@eatprayloveify]

I think that's part of his point. There a people born from certain generations who didn't develop an ability to cope with everyday situations and anxiety in life. Today's technology just feeds that anxiety.

[@LP-zn8sc]

​@@eatprayloveifyit's not though, he literally says the financial crisis has nothing to do with it. He basically is saying that all of our issues stem from cultural sources in childhood. As if we don't have enough research that points to economic issues as the largest contributing factor to poor mental health and declining iq.

[@angeladoll9785]

You will never get parents to stop sending their kids to school with phones until code red drills are no longer necessary. They get thru that almost monthly trauma by texting with loved ones. Heaven forbid it be the real deal & they can't text their parents they love them. I agree with everything else but my kid won't go to school without a lifeline to mom.

[@enemyspotted2467]

Get her a flip phone then if it’s truly a lifeline. That’s also a ridiculous argument, that phones shouldn’t be prohibited because they might not be able to text their parents they love them in the extremely unlikely event of a shooting? Hogwash

[@thorshammer138]

I don't know if he's advocated for flip phones in this interview, but in other interviews he has. The phone in and of itself is not the problem; it's the internet to which it's connected.

[@kylevanzandbergen3285]

Man this guy seems super out of touch. He’s just making the same points as people made about video games, and before that tv, and before that radio, and before that…. He says no one has offered an alternative besides phones but increasing loss of third spaces and increased class tension and lack of upward mobility are absolutely being talked about, I think he’s just got his thing and he’s sure that’s the answer.

[@multiverserift]

It's the same talking points over and over again. It's s populist's approach

[@Mankam168]

This is a complex situation. I do think we should build young people to be able to survive in the real world. We need to brin g back the aspect of the "village." The "village" is where people look out for one another, regardless of if you are biologically related or not. Nobody would have to seek validation from toxic centers such as the "red-pill syndicate." Balance of spiritual and practical activities can really work that are rooted in culture and tradition, while being conscious of different aspects of communities.

[@ForestRaptor]

YES. (though I don't understand the redpill syndicate bit ^^")

[@Seajack64]

You lost me on that last part. That took a turn for the culty really fast.

[@EdwardLindon]

The problem with "the village" is that it has a tendency towards bigotry.

[@CRAG710]

What Haidt says is so obvious and common sense that he manages to get the two extremes of the media to agree with him. I really respect his ideas.

[@EdwardLindon]

The "so obvious" part should ring alarm bells.

[@TaoMoksha]

I definitely believe that education about social media and the effects of addiction to devices such as cellphones would give a huge benefit to the youth. Something parents and schools can participate more in….but the day regular school starts teaching kids actual life skills instead of a bunch of other info they’ll never use….is another huge problem.

[@sherylallen2962]

My kids are in their late 48 and 50 and they had great yrs growing up! No cell phone no Social media played outside everyday with friends had time limits for bed and slept well and life was great! About the time they were 10 or 11 we started having problems with Halloween and people were slowing down the door to door d/t things being out in the candy so for a couple yrs we did Halloween parties at home etc but the kids still had great fun! Adapting to changes is key to keeping kids happy and unknowing of all the horrible changes going in the world!

[@caseywhisler665]

no one actually put anything in the candy. Just local news "stories" based on myths and rumors.

[@user-iy6ly3rp6v]

It's not that they don't know how not to get hurt .... Everyone gets hurt... It's the lack of getting hurt that leads to a lack of ability to deal with getting hurt.

[@peterlouis712]

My siblings and I have great memories about being spun so fast by our father on the playground spinner. My brother even puked. Such great memories.

[@ballparkjebusite]

Couldn’t be clearer Jordan is the one to continue Jon’s legacy

[@burgermind802]

What happened to Jon?

[@simplenough]

Yeah, that’s why his own show was such a success right?

[@ballparkjebusite]

@@burgermind802 have you been missing for the last decade?

[@chrisvainio]

@@ballparkjebusite Jon has been doing Mondays. I was also wondering where he is today. It was a valid question. But Jordan is fantastic.

[@tclm]

I agree. He does the research, reaches across his own comfort zone.

[@wesleystreet]

Learning how to be friends with people who are different from you was a quintessential lesson for people born before the 1990s. Your friends were the people in your neighborhood and you had to learn to like things you wouldn't normally like or you'd be lonely. The Internet didn't just rewire brains, it rewired your social circles.

[@franjkav]

You’re assuming online communities are like completely homogenous

[@user-fay1987]

I think a lot of parents want their kids to have a phone at school in case there is an emergency

[@isabellas2]

Although I don’t downplay the impact of social media, I also wonder how much of the rising rates are due in part to more frequent reporting and awareness of these symptoms. I sometimes get frustrated by policymakers’ sole blame on the phones because the increased social media is filling a gap caused by systemic issues that also need to be addressed in tandem.

[@captnpunch99]

Sounds great, but how do you do that when both parents work full time? The kind of childhood we had, that he wants to go back to, requires some parental availability to take the kids on playdates, especially urban kids who don’t have yards and can’t just run off into the woods. It was easier back when you could actually support a family on one salary.

[@FoxOfTheAmulet]

His arguments are severely flawed. There's a lot of factors he's missing.

[@jonatanduncker1101]

The point is that the kids can go on playdates by themselves. Give them bikes. Or for urban kids they can take the public transport.

[@captnpunch99]

@@jonatanduncker1101 yeah no i’m not letting my 8yo ride the NY subway on her own, that would just be foolish and completely irresponsible

[@jonatanduncker1101]

Oh yeah 8 is quite young. But New York is a huge place so I would expect some same age kids living in the same block / around half a mile walking distance. Walk the route once or twice to their friends place and the kid will learn it! When they are like 10-11 they can start taking the subway on their own. Especially with friends!

[@enemyspotted2467]

That’s up for you to figure out my guy. A potential flaw in a very specific scenario doesn’t invalidate the entire argument

[@user-he8sc4ib7e]

While still under eight, our favourite place to play was a lake in an abandoned stone quarry. We'd play there all day, a couple of miles from home. My parents never even asked where we'd been so long as we got home for dinner. Nobody died. We got scrapes and bruised knees and elbows, occasionally fell in the water. I could never imagine parents being so hands-off today.

[@ForestRaptor]

Don't worry, they certainly knew because the other kids also went and somebody was made aware. Wether or not they "fished it out of you" was something else. When we are kids we are so very blind to what the adults can actually see and tell. Like my nephew and his friends seem so surprised when I can deduce and figure out what happenned or what was going to happen when I talk to them over an accident (for example). Some adults I am aware are very "head in the clouds" but the observant ones are there, making sure the kids don't get too hurt.

[@wesleystreet]

My dad was a general contractor and I played on construction sites as a kid. It wasn't safe but it wasn't a quarry either. I didn't know any kids who died from playing, even if the play was dangerous. At most, a broken arm from tackle football without pads or a fall from a tree. Maybe a goose egg from a getting hit with a rock...

[@christinacorkern5381]

It’s nice to hear people actually admitting to being an atheist today. I do admit I miss the community I had when I went to church. We need atheist support groups. lol

[@beddythecorgi4269]

They are called gyms? And basically any group that wasn't church affiliated. They are out there. They just aren't as stable as churches bc churches also set the morality and rules for the group vs say a bowling league won't tell you not to f your brothers wife.

[@Danbecker000]

When I was in school teachers would take your phone from you if they saw you on them. Fast forward about ten years: I tried substitute teaching for a minute after college and they told me that kids were just allowed to use their phones and have them out. Try teaching a room full of students on their cellphones; it's like forcing a cat to take a bath. I completely understand why some teachers are quitting.

[@final_catalyst]

That's the difficulty, use of a phone responsibility is what we need to teach and enforce. The phone is a great tool and is something we are going to need/actually be using out side of school. It's just a matter of how and what you use it for.

[@Valadit]

@@final_catalystI do not believe in my years of teaching thus far that any child in 7th grade and below are mature enough to know the time and place for phones to be used. They are extremely defensive of their phones in-class, and so many parents are in the camp of “you don’t touch my property” when it comes to phone confiscations that it’s not worth trying to take them. The same parents will then wonder why their students are behind in their math and reading.

[@ateamfan42]

"When I was in school teachers would take your phone from you if they saw you on them." Teachers and staff would confiscate ANY electronics, toys, or games. We weren't allowed food or drinks outside the cafeteria either. Even a drink of water was forbidden in classrooms.

[@anthonyhewetson5086]

My two reservations about phone free schools have to do with safety. A) How many situations happening at schools were brought to the attention of the authorities by students with phones? B) How many bad things happening at schools have been documented by students with phones that would otherwise be swept under the carpet?

[@bobbyburch3517]

He said keep flip phones, just do away with “Internet” phones

[@SamJCopeland-gj1vg]

It’s been the people who OPPOSE the protests who want conversations shut down because they feel unsafe and fragile.

[@carlosmiranda5871]

Right.

[@ForestRaptor]

@@carlosmiranda5871 Indeed they tend to lean towards that furthest right....

[@troypropes1182]

The truth.

[@Friendo1231]

Funny how that works, isn’t it?🤔

[@sub-harmonik]

protester-types often want to be in an echo chamber or to dictate, often they aren't interested in listening or conversation

[@craigwynne8209]

He makes some valid points, but trauma and mental health are real issues. I feel we're trying to get better at addressing them. That said, we do spend way too much time on phones and social media and not enough in person.

[@Nazgul100]

trauma and mental health are of course real issues, but his theory is that one of the big reasons that we have had such a big surge in young people experiencing trauma and bad mental health is exactly BECAUSE they were not equipped to handle it in thier upbringing. This IS him trying to adress the issue.

[@jonathanhill6064]

Some of my favorite memories as a child started with Mom shouting "Inside or outside! Pick your day!" Inside was Sega, Outside was my friends and I terrorizing the small town we lived in. Wonderful times.

[@user-wk4ee4bf8g]

Jordan is the best main host to have when John bows out again

[@TheCalicohorse]

As a high school teacher, implementing a no-phone policy is not as easy as Haidt makes it sound, not the least of which is that it's work-flation for teachers to monitor, collect them, etc. Our district is really struggling to come up with a policy that is workable for all. Side note: my students are not always on their phones during class and they do listen to instruction.

[@wanderingwizard1361]

I work at a middle school with a working no-phone policy. It is impossible for one classroom teacher to make it work on their own. Our kids know that when the phone is collected that it goes to the office and then their parents have to get it or it stays there. It took some time for our admin to "break" parents into this idea and a lot of them still throw fits about it but they decided it was a fight they were willing to have.

[@waunke56]

born in 87' I can relate to the kids of this era because even though I had access to the things they speak of I never engaged in it due to trauma, bullying, and physical abuse. I hid in an online world because it was the only place where it felt safe to be able to actually be myself without being treated so horrid. This was at 18 years of age. almost 20 years later and now i can relate to the problems because even online doesn't feel safe anymore. You play any online game and not only is there not respect, its just outright horrid how people are treated and allowed to be treated. We continue to just turn a blind eye and its hard to see if its going to stop because it makes money. I just hope it changes someday and............... I cant really say im able to be hopeful anymore.

[@thegardenerspolemic]

Haidt observes that churches are beneficial because we are evolved to thrive as part of a community. It seems to me a bar, a cafe, or a playground within walking distance of your home could do the same. Rather than being built around a common mythology, such a community would result from proximity, like in the tribes we evolved to thrive within.

[@ForestRaptor]

That is exactly what is being said. The "community" aspect, shared activities and social mixing of different families, kids and so on and so forth.

[@dmitryspivak4586]

Of course. Objectively, the happiest countries in the world (according to every single survey out there) are also the least religious: Nordic countries, northern Europe, Australia / New Zealand. The key isn't a made-up sky daddy, although in a pinch that's useful, but actual sense of community and caring about each other.

[@alcg3981]

Nothing said about strong FAMILY! That can happen in a non-religious family too! Im proof. And parents actually talking with kids around the dinner table. Start that tradition!

[@ForestRaptor]

@@alcg3981 Family is just one unit of the whole equation. A disfunctional family can still have "healthy" outcome if the community can support the individuals in that broken unit. You follow?

[@danperez2297]

One of the failures of this argument is assuming that mental health crises began circa 2012. Also, we must consider the effects of more testing rather than “self-diagnosis,” since it’s more socially acceptable to say you have depression now than it was 20 years ago. Heck, we can see evidence of this in media during the early episodes of The Sopranos, and how they tackle depression and anxiety.

[@enemyspotted2467]

If it were a truly a product of more testing, suicide rates would have stayed the same.

[@EdwardLindon]

Spot on. "Shell shock", anyone?

[@AlexFlannagan]

I agree with a lot of Haidt’s points but I think we collapse too readily into “either/or”. At 5 mins in, he said “you have to put kids in a situation where they could get hurt.” And that’s a dangerous sentence. Let’s plan for safety and minimize risk while still not coddling our youth.

[@Steampunkkids]

Agreed. Dr. Haidt keeps thinking that the world is how it was when he was a child. The world has changed. Dr. Haidt’s views are still stuck in some 1950’s idea of what the world is like. That world doesn’t exist anymore. It hasn’t existed in a really long time. Today’s world is more dangerous than when he was a kid. In stand your ground stat4s, you get killed just for walking on someone else’s driveway. The stakes are higher. Dr. Haidt needs to open his eyes.

[@sedrox]

He’s talking about skinned knees and bruised egos, not decapitations and PTSD.

[@Porpentein]

The adults are not alright. That’s your answer. As a parent, dealing with other parents, I can tell you this.

[@seanpatrick1243]

04:20 “While I have no citations to prove my claim . . .” Yeah, that pretty much sums up Jonathan Haidt.

[@WalkerHK]

I thought I was the only one who saw him this way... he always comes off like a dude who starts with a conclusion and then cherry picks evidence from there.

[@seanpatrick1243]

@@WalkerHK That is exactly what I wrote in my other comment here. Haidt is insufferable.

[@jlbueno0611]

He is the same type of guy who finds something to complain without any sources ... just a bunch of generalized concepts that prey in misinformation .... Every generation has people like this ...afraid of the next generation .

[@LindaC616]

​@@jlbueno0611 he's not afraid

[@1stew3digital49]

​​@@WalkerHK Nope you're not alone... I think some of it makes sense.. but it also ignores the different societal problems we are facing... Maybe kids are anxious cuz they are aware of mass shootings daily specifically school shootings which are WAY too common

[@rn87mom94]

1979 Me: Mom everyone has Jordache jeans. Mom: Get a newspaper route! 😅

[@HearMichaelRoar]

PhD Cognitive Neuroscientist here. My dissertation was on the brain of adolescence. What Jonathan Haidt is basing his “rewiring” hypothesis on is nothing new-it has been around since 2000s(!!!). However, it is a hypothesis that has largely been correlational. Stop irresponsibly using these types of findings & equating it to causal evidence.

[@iwatchyoutube523]

Haidt is full of himself. His arguments are couched in scientific language, but don't stand up to scrutiny.

[@LP-zn8sc]

Yeah this guy is a grifter, he doesn't want to solve problems he just wants to sell books.

[@vege4920]

Jonathan Haidt claimed that smartphones are causing the rewiring. Smartphones did not exist in the 2000s. So you must be talking about some other rewiring that is not relevant to what Haidt is talking about.

[@marystewart9712]

As a single parent my children grew up with the usual stigma of only having one parent but they learnt to think for themselves and appreciate everything they got and have turned into responsible and successful adults. Less is more and not giving a child everything helps them in the long run. And I liked what he says about phones and the culture we have developed because of them. The Internet can be a great tool for information but it should not dominate and control your life.

[@TheGoddessInUs]

So appreciate your comment about over use of the trauma filter As a resiliency specialist, this is such an important message. Thank you for covering this story 🙏🏽

[@anaablove431]

idk, I was born in 2002 and still played outside a lot unsupervised? (like in a large backyard with the neighbors kids) ig I didn't get a phone until 13...

[@Robin-bk2lm]

I can't believe that my childhood of being bullied is now seen as great.

[@PhillipWrigley]

This is a great argument for Scouting.

[@63Lsp]

Is there any scientific data here or is this an academic's version of "back in m day..."? Jordan is my fave and I hope he can offer more of a challenge during guest interviews

[@ckennylin717]

The "Something Happened" is called Active Shooter Drills?

[@hmq9052]

No. The internet happened

[@Maioubi]

Generations have always dealt with looming threats. Do you think nuclear drills hiding under desks in the 60s felt any different than active shooter drills? Or people who were raised during WW2 like the Silent Generation? I empathize with the situation of mass shootings, but there's just no way that accounts for the absurdly high rates of depression and anxiety now. I don't think your average teen sits in their room ruminating for 6 hours every night about being shot the next day at school.

[@hmq9052]

@@Maioubi But also, anxiety is high in countries where there are no active shooters.

[@Echo81Rumple83]

and the Great Recession under the shrub's last 4-year admin era?

[@xandercorp6175]

@@Maioubi Children grew up happy and well-adjusted in their communities in WWII Poland and in Vietnam civil war, death, disease, starvation, destitution... but OH NO active shooter drills lol and a recession lol.

[@legolassanimelover]

I know it was an off the cuff remark, but I find Haidt's read of the student protesters very uncharitable. What that student who made the mental health comment was trying to point out is that the colleges don't care about the interests of the students. She doesn't actually think they're going to divest from Isreal because they care about their student's mental health. He chastises them for their use of illiberal methods, but 7 months into this conflict, I think protesters have exhausted their liberal methods to no avail. I think only "illiberal" ones remain.

[@jiggly-puffy]

I was also taken aback by this, not to mention the audience applause.

[@jackhughes9896]

It has nothing to do with her mental health though. She was using that as a tool to enforce her political views.

[@CRAG710]

What she was trying to say is not what she said at the time. Protecting her own mental health is not a valid argument for the changes she was demanding (the demands might be valid, by the way, Haidt didn't make any judgement on that, he is a psychologist not a political scientist). So Haidt was absolutely right.

[@rachelmolina2765]

I did these things. Still have anxious young adults.

[@amevorach]

We have to be aware of multiple motivations for restricting phones and understand that some people want to remove the potential for young people to connect with each other because it undermines the imperial narrative.

[@WaddenSeaSiren]

"Married people are happier". Thats not actually true. Married MEN are happier. Women are actually not happier when married. Other than that, great interview, am looking for the book in my local library!

[@SzabolcsBirtalan]

The followup I am missing from Jordan is regarding religious vs secular kids. Many scientific studies proved that anxiety is higher in people with higher intelligence. Not believing in religious nonsense isn't the cause of anxiety, correlation doesn't equal causation.

[@Sofia.K.CheerYT]

I love his points and the debate now, I've been facing the facts regarding what happened to society with the advent of mass use of smartphones and Facebook, and people are starting to wake up to that, especially my generation, we experienced the last teenage years and early adulthood prior to it, how happy we were and carefree, less anxious. There are uploads of compilations of school days and life prior to it, and I gotta say I am not alone on this, people agree we entered this virtual reality simulation and stopped truly living

[@Star_Dusting]

I decided to have a child in my late 30s. I’m genx from middle seventies. I can totally agree with him. Kids need to be in put in organic situations of risk as I did growing up. I keep hitting a wall in teaching her things that I simply learned organically by being outside with other kids and nature. The world isn’t safe enough anymore to do this. I’m powerless to change it. What does one do?

[@stevedoesnt]

It wasn’t the kids that were ruined by the phones, it was us, the parents, who dove into the phones after having to face the rat race with little to no advancement for 2 decades. You think any of us were able to do much in the way of giving our kids real experiences?

[@EBur-qq6su]

I agree… Most “iPad” or “bubble” kids I see aren’t being raised by calm parents with the time and resources. They’re usually dual income, tired AF parents who are themselves on the phone while the kid iPads

[@Paz_Y_Pax]

So it's lack of play & too much phone usage causing anxiety? Not multiple mass shootings in schools & other public places--especially schools?!? Quack-quack!

[@australien6611]

If you put 2 and 2 together, which u seem to struggle with, you might realize that the two things are directly related

[@Crashtechs]

Haidt is one of the few people that is respected on the right and left.

[@halaammar8942]

Isn't those the same generation that guide now the students' movement cross the USA? They are closer to the 1968 generation... don't worry, they are the generation that will bring hope and justice to us public 😊

[@carlyar5281]

Something happened to kids born after 1994? Absolutely! Widespread use of social media exploded when people born after 1994 were 16 years old. Being a teenager is hard enough, but being a teenager with the age of smart phones and social media brings it to a whole level. These kids, and now younger adults, had it way worse than my generation did. I’m at the end of Gen X, and I am exceedingly grateful that by the time smartphones and social media emerged I was already out of university and building my career.

[@LindaC616]

That's what he's saying

[@itsjeninMass]

Same. I was born in 1970. I didn't get a smart phone until I was well into adulthood. I had already been on social media for a long time, but the difference was we could only use it when we were at a computer. It limited our exposure, and I'm sure that that made a difference.

[@EM-rm2xh]

Haidt needs to mention what happens to young men/boys too and not just emphasize girls'/young women's mental health. Young boys/men are being radicalized to the right in online spaces, becoming more misogynistic, and more isolated/depressed. It's frustrating that he premodinantely focuses on girls in his interviews/research.

[@franjkav]

This is something that makes him sound like he’s speaking nonsense. Misogyny is probably a significant factor in how it affects girls (and women) but he doesn’t even mention it explicitly. Then doesn’t provide solutions to address it for any gender regardless. He only mentions silly, regressive, and unrealistic things like wrestling, going to church, and no cellphones…

[@LP-zn8sc]

It's cause he's on those right wing echo chambers team.

[@vege4920]

Everyone is being radicalized. Women and girls are a lot more easy to radicalize to the woke stuff.

[@its_just_me1378]

Such a great episode, and this all makes so much sense - great read, and great interview!

[@goldnutter412]

Spot on. 80's kid. 90's I was a heavy gamer and on the internet. People were extremely rude and you either didn't care and were having fun, or you were a baby about it In your teens the most important thing is the mind, internal/external compare cycle. We are trying to find our identity, and create self image. External influences are extremely powerful - peer pressure etc

[@asdfg78547]

No smart phones until 16. Even though I agree with him, it's such an unrealistic solution.

[@LindaC616]

That is why he is saying that it's easier if everybody pitches in

[@wesleystreet]

Schools can ban phones. I went to public high school in the 1990s and you were arrested if you had a pager or an early cell phone as they were considered drug dealer paraphernalia.

[@banfaith7987]

A+ interview by Jordan. Great line of questioning that brought about dimensions of Haidt’s thesis that rarely emerge.

[@M05tly]

Such as? It seems like a ridiculously simple and ill informed theory.

[@AnthonyJMurph]

@@M05tly Ill Informed? Social media is turning everybody more depressed and crazy. This isn't that far of a reach.

[@shuny.9451]

This was an excellent interview. I've had this discussion with friends and I agree with him 100%. I just didn't have the research to back my opinion but I'm going to check his book out.

[@nathanielforst6576]

seems like every generation thinks theirs is the best

[@franjkav]

Yeah….no

[@howikorx]

People were over protected or outright neglected.

[@ForestRaptor]

Unfortunately that will always exist. But when those become societal norms, we have problems indeed u-u

[@44DHernandez]

That was my favorite piece of playground equipment! I was sad my children didn’t get to experience the thrill of it.

[@DizzyDior12]

This is a GREAT interview. Lots of information (not all of which I agree with) with Jordan's humor peppered in to keep it fun.

[@lucasdonahue365]

I agree with much of what he says, but I definitely see some flaws. So, are the parents that are forced to raise their children in dangerous, bad neighborhoods with high crime rates just supposed to "push them out of the helicopter" to fend for themselves? Sure, it can work for privileged kids living in nice, safe neighborhoods. It's not quite that simple.

[@anamariaguadayol2335]

No, but those kids who grow up in dangerous neighborhoods are going to rule the namby pambies who don't know how to deal with anything without having momy saving them.

[@michaellewandowski1388]

​@@anamariaguadayol2335 ya but I think their point was. Some of those kids are going to learn how to overcome their fear of guns in their first drive-by shooting and learning that if you have a gang the other kids don't bully you. Meanwhile, in the suburbs some privileged children are breaking their wrist falling out of their treehouse. Not every kid benefits from sending them out into the world.

[@anamariaguadayol2335]

@@michaellewandowski1388 I wish the kids in the wealthy neighborhoods had a treehouse. They live in a padded room where all their wishes are granted and are connected with a tablet at all times.

[@eatprayloveify]

He's not saying it's that simple. Obviously, if you live in an unsafe neighbourhood, you're going to apply these principles differently.

[@angrypotato8782]

Ignorance is bliss. The smarter and more aware you are of the realities of existence, the less happy you're gonna be.

[@amevorach]

A lot of us grew up feeling unsafe in our homes and also got hurt on playground equipment.

[@EdwardLindon]

He's oblivious to any story that contradicts his position.

[@faithgodwin9266]

I hear this and don’t disagree. One thing that I think needs attention is: there aren’t any pay phones anymore. When I was a teen in the early 90’s and made autonomous decisions where things got weird; I could go to any corner or whatever and collect call adult support. Why my kids have phones is because of the fact that I want them to be able to call me when bigger trouble than they can cope with arises. The fact that they have smart phones with all their downfalls is on me and the bs deals cell providers give to incentivize sales and boost their bottom lines because America.

[@gswi4763]

Haidt has unsupported ideas. I've read some of his stuff and I've never been impressed he knows what he's talking about. This reinforces my previous assessment.

[@stefrost4029]

Spot on assessment.

[@vivid_oblivion]

This really feels like Daily Show pulling an Oprah.

[@T.E.S.S.]

He certainly doesn't know what he's talking about with this subject.

[@itsjeninMass]

He literally SAID during the interview that his ideas are not supported. Hopefully people are statistically tracking this stuff. In the future, the data will either bear out his ideas, or it will refute them.

[@M05tly]

It's my first encounter with this man and his theories. To say I am unimpressed with what he claims are well researched insights would be an understatement.

[@Jb-mi2rm]

Lived two houses from beach life was awesome as a child.

[@kevinblanch]

FUKUSHIMA 2011, Great interview very informative BIOLOGY maters

[@hollebrew8147]

Looking forward to reading this one!

[@Fernball21]

Americans over 50: Today's children are too restricted and never get to play. Also Americans over 50: Today's children are out of control, they need more discipline.

[@themasterofinfinity]

His cognitive bias is real, like he dost know the leading cause of childhood death is gun violence, no wonder kids do t go out as much

[@hmq9052]

@@themasterofinfinity But the same epidemics of anxiety and loneliness are reported in countries where there is no gun violence. Not sure your theory checks out

[@xandercorp6175]

There's no contradiction unless you're an idiot; games can't exist without the discipline of rules and convention. To get someone to play with you is to get them into the spirit of what you're doing, to share an intention. People who think play and discipline are opposites have never been on a sports team or won a tournament, and shouldn't be making the rules about how we raise our children.

[@xanderberg3653]

Where’s the contradiction

[@KyleChou-dw8jy]

@@hmq9052 I argue is the older generation that are too protected and disconnected from alternative ways of thinking and viewing the world that it's causing the generational divide between the young and the old. It's the social movements like the anti-wat and civil rights of the past but in a larger scale from the free information on the internet. The older sources of media cannot keep up with the fine tuning of narratives on the flood of images and videos that get to the younger generation un-edited to benefit the power structure. So, the main stream medias turn to demonize the young instead. I believe it would be better to figure out a way to adopt to the fast moving information age instead of trying to force a revert back to the past b/c it is just gonna keep moving with or without us.