Jonathan Haidt

So this is something that so many professors have observed.

We can't get our students to disagree with each other anymore.

They're so afraid.

They've grown up in a minefield.

They know one false move and their leg gets blown off.

So I think you can praise all those virtual connections all you want.

They don't seem to have the magic ingredient of hanging out with a friend in real life.

The big part of this is the overprotective parenting.

So I can summarize the whole book by saying we've overprotected our children in the real world.

We've underprotected them online.

So let's look at the overprotection.

So until the 1980s, American kids had a free-range childhood.

I grew up in the 70s, and there was a huge crime wave.

There were crazy people.

There were serial killers.

Crime was at historically high levels.

All kids went out and it was amazing and exciting.

And, you know, we got into all kinds of, you know, arguments and fights and sports games and just we had an exciting childhood.

And that goes on until the 90s.

Now you get the new media environment.