Jonathan Haidt

We might've thought that 20 years ago, but it doesn't work.

The way that our brain wires up requires this physical interaction with the environment.

And so that's why we're seeing, I don't know anything that Gen Z is coming out better on.

Let me not say, but they drink less, they smoke less, they drive less, they take fewer risks.

And many people say, oh, isn't that great?

No, the reason that they don't do anything dangerous is that they're generally anxious and they spend so much time just sitting alone with the screen.

Yes, what you're describing is the internet in the 1990s.

The internet was amazing.

And to this day, most people love the internet.

And one of the big things the internet did is what you just said.

For all kinds of kids from different groups, so the internet is amazing.

There's some downsides, but the internet is amazing.

And whenever I hear people say, oh, but they find community.

Oh, it's an outlet for expression.

I say, yes, the internet is, but if kids have the internet, how does their life get better when you put them onto a platform in which algorithms feed them content from strangers that was selected because of the extreme emotional response that it got from other people

And yes, they're connecting in a sense in that they're looking at people's lives and maybe they're commenting on those lives.

But what we're finding, I believe, is that the more time kids spend making these connections, the fewer friends they have and the lonelier they are.

So let me just convey the speed with which this all changed between 2010 and 2015, because this is crucial for the story.

In 2010, the iPhone was out, but very few kids had one.

Kids had a flip phone, you know, you flip it open, you can text, you can call, that's it.