Oprah Winfrey

So parents who can't get their kids to put the phone down, to put the iPad down, need to know that what you're asking them is to put the drug down.

So Jonathan Haidt, who wrote The Ancient Generation, you've seen him here on this podcast.

He's done a lot to bring attention to what social media, what those devices are doing to our children's minds.

He asked ChatGPT, if you were the devil, how would you destroy the next generation without them knowing it?

And he wrote about this for an article in the Free Press.

ChatGPT's answer was...

If I were the devil, I'd destroy the next generation not by terror or violence, but by distraction, disconnection, and slow erosion of meaning they wouldn't even notice because it would feel like freedom and entertainment.

Wow.

How do you see it as fueling these addictions?

Now you see who's calling you so you can answer or not answer.

Right.

One of the reasons this book is so powerful, even from the very first page in the introduction, you say, because we've transformed the world from a place of scarcity to a place of overwhelming abundance.

Drugs, food, news, gambling, shopping, gaming, texting, sexting, Facebooking, Instagramming, YouTubing, tweeting.

The increased numbers, variety, and potency of highly rewarding stimuli today is staggering.

It really is staggering.

The smartphone, this is what I loved that you said at the very beginning, the smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle.

delivering digital dopamine 24-7 for a wired generation.

And if you haven't met your drug of choice yet, it's coming soon to a website near you.

Wow.

That's how bad we are right now.