Jonathan Haidt

We don't let them have play. And free play is crucial for development. And then act two is very, very sudden. It's between 2010 and 2015. In 2010, kids are going through puberty with a flip phone. And a flip phone or basic phone, you can text your friends, you can call your friends. And there was a game called Snake, I think. Yeah, I love Snake. Okay, but that's about it.

We don't let them have play. And free play is crucial for development. And then act two is very, very sudden. It's between 2010 and 2015. In 2010, kids are going through puberty with a flip phone. And a flip phone or basic phone, you can text your friends, you can call your friends. And there was a game called Snake, I think. Yeah, I love Snake. Okay, but that's about it.

You weren't talking to groups of 50 strangers. You weren't talking to strange men who wanted sex from you. I mean, it was like, you know, it was a communication device. So if you're born in 1995, that's the last year of the millennials, suppose you're a girl born in 1995. In 2010, you're 15, you're through early puberty, but you did it on a flip phone without Instagram.

You weren't talking to groups of 50 strangers. You weren't talking to strange men who wanted sex from you. I mean, it was like, you know, it was a communication device. So if you're born in 1995, that's the last year of the millennials, suppose you're a girl born in 1995. In 2010, you're 15, you're through early puberty, but you did it on a flip phone without Instagram.

But suppose you were born in the year 2000, so now you turn 15 in 2015. which means that your first phone was probably a smartphone with a front-facing camera, because that comes out 2010, with Instagram, because that becomes popular in 2012, with high-speed internet.

But suppose you were born in the year 2000, so now you turn 15 in 2015. which means that your first phone was probably a smartphone with a front-facing camera, because that comes out 2010, with Instagram, because that becomes popular in 2012, with high-speed internet.

So you went through early puberty constantly on your phone, taking photographs of yourself, people talking about you, communicating with strangers. The phone moves to the center of your life. So into a screen-based or phone-based childhood that I believe, and I argue in the book, is just not conducive to human development.

So you went through early puberty constantly on your phone, taking photographs of yourself, people talking about you, communicating with strangers. The phone moves to the center of your life. So into a screen-based or phone-based childhood that I believe, and I argue in the book, is just not conducive to human development.

Yeah, so the main criticism I get is that this is a moral panic, just like we freaked out about television issues. And comic books and radio and everything else. And there is some truth to that, that the older generation always thinks the younger generation is being harmed by whatever they're doing. And sometimes that's wrong, like with comic books.

Yeah, so the main criticism I get is that this is a moral panic, just like we freaked out about television issues. And comic books and radio and everything else. And there is some truth to that, that the older generation always thinks the younger generation is being harmed by whatever they're doing. And sometimes that's wrong, like with comic books.

And sometimes it's right, like with smoking or, you know, drug use where we think, you know, kids shouldn't be doing this. So the question is, am I warning people? Am I raising an alarm that doesn't need to be raised and I'm just frightening people and there's really no problem? Or am I calling attention to what I think is the biggest threat to children's mental health in modern history?

And sometimes it's right, like with smoking or, you know, drug use where we think, you know, kids shouldn't be doing this. So the question is, am I warning people? Am I raising an alarm that doesn't need to be raised and I'm just frightening people and there's really no problem? Or am I calling attention to what I think is the biggest threat to children's mental health in modern history?

So that's the question. Am I right or am I wrong? And some people say, oh, you know, correlation doesn't equal causation. The fact that mental illness rates all go up around 2012, 2013, it could be because of school shootings, they say. Because we had this horrible school shooting, 2012, the Newtown Massacre. And after that, our kids had these lockdown drills.

So that's the question. Am I right or am I wrong? And some people say, oh, you know, correlation doesn't equal causation. The fact that mental illness rates all go up around 2012, 2013, it could be because of school shootings, they say. Because we had this horrible school shooting, 2012, the Newtown Massacre. And after that, our kids had these lockdown drills.

Okay, so 2012, that does fit the timing. But then why did girls in Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, across Europe, why did they start cutting themselves in 2012, 2013? Why did they start checking into psychiatric emergency wards?

Okay, so 2012, that does fit the timing. But then why did girls in Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, across Europe, why did they start cutting themselves in 2012, 2013? Why did they start checking into psychiatric emergency wards?

And so the fact that it happens all over the developed world, we don't have good data from the developing world, but all over the developed world, these rates go up and they were pretty stable for the years before, right? I don't know of another explanation for that.

And so the fact that it happens all over the developed world, we don't have good data from the developing world, but all over the developed world, these rates go up and they were pretty stable for the years before, right? I don't know of another explanation for that.

It's crazy. They're not playing with each other. Exactly. The parents are playing with the kids. Exactly.

It's crazy. They're not playing with each other. Exactly. The parents are playing with the kids. Exactly.