Jonathan Haidt

It's going to work. It doesn't have to be perfect at first, but within a few years, it will be very good.

It's going to work. It doesn't have to be perfect at first, but within a few years, it will be very good.

So the way to understand why it's changing so quickly is to go back before COVID. So, Jean Twenge comes out with her famous article in 2017, Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? Now, at the time, the empirical evidence was not clear at all, and she was savagely attacked by other researchers and, oh, this is just a correlation. No, you have no evidence. It's not causal. So that's 2017.

So the way to understand why it's changing so quickly is to go back before COVID. So, Jean Twenge comes out with her famous article in 2017, Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? Now, at the time, the empirical evidence was not clear at all, and she was savagely attacked by other researchers and, oh, this is just a correlation. No, you have no evidence. It's not causal. So that's 2017.

With 2019, we're beginning to see, actually, wait, there is some evidence and everybody's now seeing something's creepy about this. And we're seeing our kids drift away. And then COVID comes in. What happens? What kids desperately need in 2019, Gina and I were saying, was more time outside playing, less time on screens. What happens? We freak out. We put in way too strict restrictions.

With 2019, we're beginning to see, actually, wait, there is some evidence and everybody's now seeing something's creepy about this. And we're seeing our kids drift away. And then COVID comes in. What happens? What kids desperately need in 2019, Gina and I were saying, was more time outside playing, less time on screens. What happens? We freak out. We put in way too strict restrictions.

We say, no, you can't. In New York, they closed the playgrounds. They closed down the ball fields. So no playing outside. You might catch COVID. So things get far, far worse over the next couple of years, but the kids have to be on screens. So it's only as COVID began to clear away, people are sort of coming back to their senses about this. And that's why everybody's sort of ready to act.

We say, no, you can't. In New York, they closed the playgrounds. They closed down the ball fields. So no playing outside. You might catch COVID. So things get far, far worse over the next couple of years, but the kids have to be on screens. So it's only as COVID began to clear away, people are sort of coming back to their senses about this. And that's why everybody's sort of ready to act.

And that's why when my book came out, a year ago, came out in late March of 2024, I didn't have to persuade anyone. Almost everybody saw, wait, something is going terribly wrong here. And so what's happening around the world is that legislators are mostly parents and they've seen it and they're uncomfortable with it. It doesn't matter if they're Democrat or Republican.

And that's why when my book came out, a year ago, came out in late March of 2024, I didn't have to persuade anyone. Almost everybody saw, wait, something is going terribly wrong here. And so what's happening around the world is that legislators are mostly parents and they've seen it and they're uncomfortable with it. It doesn't matter if they're Democrat or Republican.

Heads of state, mostly our parents. The way the Australia bill got started was in South Australia, one of the states, the wife of the premier was reading The Anxious Generation in bed and she turns to him and says, Peter, you've got to read this book and then you've got to effing do something about it. It's the way that he described it, at least.

Heads of state, mostly our parents. The way the Australia bill got started was in South Australia, one of the states, the wife of the premier was reading The Anxious Generation in bed and she turns to him and says, Peter, you've got to read this book and then you've got to effing do something about it. It's the way that he described it, at least.

And I think mothers have felt it more keenly than fathers. Mothers just... And they're more emotionally connected in ways where they could feel the kids being pulled away. So that's why it's happening everywhere because it's obvious. It's common sense. Most people see it. What is happening everywhere? So I would say it's a parent's revolution saying we're sick and tired.

And I think mothers have felt it more keenly than fathers. Mothers just... And they're more emotionally connected in ways where they could feel the kids being pulled away. So that's why it's happening everywhere because it's obvious. It's common sense. Most people see it. What is happening everywhere? So I would say it's a parent's revolution saying we're sick and tired.

We're not going to take this anymore. All over the world, family life has turned into a fight over screen time. We're all fed up. We want to do something about it. Okay, what do we actually do? Yeah. I wrote the book as an American, assuming that we'll never get help from Congress. Now, I hope I'm wrong. There are some bills that could get through.

We're not going to take this anymore. All over the world, family life has turned into a fight over screen time. We're all fed up. We want to do something about it. Okay, what do we actually do? Yeah. I wrote the book as an American, assuming that we'll never get help from Congress. Now, I hope I'm wrong. There are some bills that could get through.

But I was just sort of assuming we have a dysfunctional Congress. Let's try to do this the way Tocqueville said that we do it. Like, let's get together. Let's figure out how to do this. And so that means action among families and at schools and at states. I am finding states are incredibly responsive. States in the United States are either mostly red or blue, but this is a bipartisan issue.

But I was just sort of assuming we have a dysfunctional Congress. Let's try to do this the way Tocqueville said that we do it. Like, let's get together. Let's figure out how to do this. And so that means action among families and at schools and at states. I am finding states are incredibly responsive. States in the United States are either mostly red or blue, but this is a bipartisan issue.

So the number one step that they're all taking is so easy and so obvious, and it doesn't cost anything, which is phone-free schools. Check your phone in the morning. What are some of the states that are doing it? Well, Florida was one of the first, but they did it just during instructional time, which is worthless because then everyone rushes for their phone.

So the number one step that they're all taking is so easy and so obvious, and it doesn't cost anything, which is phone-free schools. Check your phone in the morning. What are some of the states that are doing it? Well, Florida was one of the first, but they did it just during instructional time, which is worthless because then everyone rushes for their phone.