Derek Thompson

If they're texting with their friends or calling their friends, but you and I both know, and anyone who's a parent in this show knows, a lot of that time is really just spent, as you said, using the thumb to flick, flick, flick, flick. The second thing I would say is that you've pointed out that...

If they're texting with their friends or calling their friends, but you and I both know, and anyone who's a parent in this show knows, a lot of that time is really just spent, as you said, using the thumb to flick, flick, flick, flick. The second thing I would say is that you've pointed out that...

Children today, especially teenagers today, and especially, especially teenagers of middle and upper middle and even upper class families are overscheduled under intensive parenting in order to burnish extracurriculars so that they can maximize their chances to get into a top 20 college. Right. Those extracurricular activities are not necessarily, or often not entirely, social activities.

Children today, especially teenagers today, and especially, especially teenagers of middle and upper middle and even upper class families are overscheduled under intensive parenting in order to burnish extracurriculars so that they can maximize their chances to get into a top 20 college. Right. Those extracurricular activities are not necessarily, or often not entirely, social activities.

Children today, especially teenagers today, and especially, especially teenagers of middle and upper middle and even upper class families are overscheduled under intensive parenting in order to burnish extracurriculars so that they can maximize their chances to get into a top 20 college. Right. Those extracurricular activities are not necessarily, or often not entirely, social activities.

If you ask teens, for example, as the Monitoring the Future study does, how much time do you spend actually going out with friends a week? Or what percent of, say, 12th graders go out with friends two or more times a week? In the 1980s, it was 75, 80% of boys and girls who were 17, 18 years old going out with friends two or more times a week. Now it's closer to 50%.

If you ask teens, for example, as the Monitoring the Future study does, how much time do you spend actually going out with friends a week? Or what percent of, say, 12th graders go out with friends two or more times a week? In the 1980s, it was 75, 80% of boys and girls who were 17, 18 years old going out with friends two or more times a week. Now it's closer to 50%.

If you ask teens, for example, as the Monitoring the Future study does, how much time do you spend actually going out with friends a week? Or what percent of, say, 12th graders go out with friends two or more times a week? In the 1980s, it was 75, 80% of boys and girls who were 17, 18 years old going out with friends two or more times a week. Now it's closer to 50%.

from 80% to 50%, an absolute collapse in going out with friends. So it's possible that what you see is attention. And I acknowledge that parts of it might be attention because if kids see their extracurricular activities as being highly social, well then maybe you're just getting, you know, you're killing two birds with one stone there.

from 80% to 50%, an absolute collapse in going out with friends. So it's possible that what you see is attention. And I acknowledge that parts of it might be attention because if kids see their extracurricular activities as being highly social, well then maybe you're just getting, you know, you're killing two birds with one stone there.

from 80% to 50%, an absolute collapse in going out with friends. So it's possible that what you see is attention. And I acknowledge that parts of it might be attention because if kids see their extracurricular activities as being highly social, well then maybe you're just getting, you know, you're killing two birds with one stone there.

What you're actually seeing maybe is that intensive parenting is squeezing social time out of teenagers' lives because they are so highly pressured to think of the 1,000 minutes in every day as an exercise in maximizing their chance of getting into the best possible college rather than thinking about some of those 1,000 minutes as being about social leisure time.

What you're actually seeing maybe is that intensive parenting is squeezing social time out of teenagers' lives because they are so highly pressured to think of the 1,000 minutes in every day as an exercise in maximizing their chance of getting into the best possible college rather than thinking about some of those 1,000 minutes as being about social leisure time.

What you're actually seeing maybe is that intensive parenting is squeezing social time out of teenagers' lives because they are so highly pressured to think of the 1,000 minutes in every day as an exercise in maximizing their chance of getting into the best possible college rather than thinking about some of those 1,000 minutes as being about social leisure time.

spending time, whether it's sedentary, hanging out on the couch or active playing sports with friends in a social fashion.

spending time, whether it's sedentary, hanging out on the couch or active playing sports with friends in a social fashion.

spending time, whether it's sedentary, hanging out on the couch or active playing sports with friends in a social fashion.

I'm really glad you brought that up. Eric Kleinberg's a sociologist at New York University who's been incredibly influential broadly, but specifically to me. And I leaned on him a lot for this article.

I'm really glad you brought that up. Eric Kleinberg's a sociologist at New York University who's been incredibly influential broadly, but specifically to me. And I leaned on him a lot for this article.

I'm really glad you brought that up. Eric Kleinberg's a sociologist at New York University who's been incredibly influential broadly, but specifically to me. And I leaned on him a lot for this article.