Jonathan Haidt

They were just much more depressed and anxious. And a lot of surveys found the same thing. It wasn't just college students. It was all kids who were born 1996 and later. We now know them as Gen Z. They're not millennials. It's a different generation. They have much higher rates of anxiety and depression and self-harm and even suicide. So what happened?

And why was there no sign of trouble before 2012? All the way up from the 90s through 2010, there's no sign of a mental health problem. And so what my book is about is about how this period, 2010 to 2015, was the great rewiring of childhood. If you were born in 1995, you're the last of the millennials, you went through puberty with a flip phone.

And why was there no sign of trouble before 2012? All the way up from the 90s through 2010, there's no sign of a mental health problem. And so what my book is about is about how this period, 2010 to 2015, was the great rewiring of childhood. If you were born in 1995, you're the last of the millennials, you went through puberty with a flip phone.

And why was there no sign of trouble before 2012? All the way up from the 90s through 2010, there's no sign of a mental health problem. And so what my book is about is about how this period, 2010 to 2015, was the great rewiring of childhood. If you were born in 1995, you're the last of the millennials, you went through puberty with a flip phone.

You didn't have a smartphone when you were in middle school, you had a flip phone. And a flip phone is good for talking to your friends and texting them. You're not talking to strangers, you're not on your phone 10 hours a day. But if you were born in the year 2000, You're Gen Z and you turn 15 in 2015 and you got a smartphone. If you're a girl, you probably had Instagram.

You didn't have a smartphone when you were in middle school, you had a flip phone. And a flip phone is good for talking to your friends and texting them. You're not talking to strangers, you're not on your phone 10 hours a day. But if you were born in the year 2000, You're Gen Z and you turn 15 in 2015 and you got a smartphone. If you're a girl, you probably had Instagram.

You didn't have a smartphone when you were in middle school, you had a flip phone. And a flip phone is good for talking to your friends and texting them. You're not talking to strangers, you're not on your phone 10 hours a day. But if you were born in the year 2000, You're Gen Z and you turn 15 in 2015 and you got a smartphone. If you're a girl, you probably had Instagram.

You're spending all this time posting pictures of yourself. People are commenting on it. It makes you anxious. And a whole bunch of ways, kids who went through puberty on a smartphone were kind of blocked. They didn't get to do the things that kids normally do. And that is the story that I'm telling in the book about why we see this very sudden

You're spending all this time posting pictures of yourself. People are commenting on it. It makes you anxious. And a whole bunch of ways, kids who went through puberty on a smartphone were kind of blocked. They didn't get to do the things that kids normally do. And that is the story that I'm telling in the book about why we see this very sudden

You're spending all this time posting pictures of yourself. People are commenting on it. It makes you anxious. And a whole bunch of ways, kids who went through puberty on a smartphone were kind of blocked. They didn't get to do the things that kids normally do. And that is the story that I'm telling in the book about why we see this very sudden

increase in depression and anxiety and self-harm and suicide right around 2012.

increase in depression and anxiety and self-harm and suicide right around 2012.

increase in depression and anxiety and self-harm and suicide right around 2012.

That's right. So I love metaphors. And I, you know, in my teaching and my writing, I always try to try to give people a kind of a feeling for the phenomena with a good metaphor. So the metaphor that I chose for this after working on this for years is. was what if your nine-year-old daughter comes to you and says, Mommy, Daddy, I've signed up for a trip to Mars.

That's right. So I love metaphors. And I, you know, in my teaching and my writing, I always try to try to give people a kind of a feeling for the phenomena with a good metaphor. So the metaphor that I chose for this after working on this for years is. was what if your nine-year-old daughter comes to you and says, Mommy, Daddy, I've signed up for a trip to Mars.

That's right. So I love metaphors. And I, you know, in my teaching and my writing, I always try to try to give people a kind of a feeling for the phenomena with a good metaphor. So the metaphor that I chose for this after working on this for years is. was what if your nine-year-old daughter comes to you and says, Mommy, Daddy, I've signed up for a trip to Mars.

You know, even if like, you know, I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was when I was a kid. So even imagine that, you know, I was willing to say, well, OK, let me hear you out. It turns out that the people running this space colony, they don't give a damn about kids. They didn't they have no idea if the kids are going to be OK. They didn't even ask the question. They didn't do any testing.

You know, even if like, you know, I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was when I was a kid. So even imagine that, you know, I was willing to say, well, OK, let me hear you out. It turns out that the people running this space colony, they don't give a damn about kids. They didn't they have no idea if the kids are going to be OK. They didn't even ask the question. They didn't do any testing.

You know, even if like, you know, I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was when I was a kid. So even imagine that, you know, I was willing to say, well, OK, let me hear you out. It turns out that the people running this space colony, they don't give a damn about kids. They didn't they have no idea if the kids are going to be OK. They didn't even ask the question. They didn't do any testing.

They just want to get as many kids as they can, bring them to Mars, let them grow up there. And then maybe they'll send them back when they're adults, maybe not. So this is a horrible situation. We'd never let that happen. But that's kind of what happened when we gave our kids smartphones and Instagram and all these other apps. And then those companies now own our children's lives.