Oprah and Jonathan Haidt on How Kids Can Choose Fun and Freedom in a Screen Filled World
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Hi, everybody, and welcome to the Oprah Podcast. I just want to say thank you for taking the time to be with us because we're talking about a lot of good things here that I sincerely hope can enhance your own life. Many of you have either bought or maybe heard of Jonathan Haidt's mega bestselling book, The Anxious Generation. And if you haven't heard, then you're late to the party because because this is a book that all parents are using to help them navigate the firestorms going on in their homes about smartphones and social media for their children. On this episode, I'm talking with social psychologist and number one New York Times bestselling author, Jonathan Haidt, who offers solutions and hope for parents and teens who are struggling with the negative impact of social media and smartphones.
I am incredibly optimistic that we are going to roll this back. The phone-based childhood only arrived 12 years ago. We can get rid of it, and I think we're going to.
We're joined by Katherine Price, an award-winning science journalist and author of several bestselling books, including How to Break Up with Your Phone and The Power of Fun.
I've heard from young people who say that their entire childhoods were stolen from them, that they basically feel like they have no memories of their teenage years because they spent all of their time on their phones.
We'll hear from teens who've come up with their own practical and creative ideas to avoid falling into the smartphone trap.
And I was in my bed watching TikTok for eight to 10 hours every day. So I reached a breaking point and I powered off my smartphone and I put it in a box in my parents' room.
So one of the things that Jonathan Haidt says in The Anxious Generation is that social media has literally rewired childhood as we know it. And he's back on this podcast this time with a big announcement about his next book. Welcome, Jonathan Haidt and your new co-author, science writer Catherine Price. So tell us the news, Jonathan.
Well, the news is that there will be a children's version of The Anxious Generation. Yay! Parents kept saying, is there something I can give to my fourth grader, my fifth grader? She wants a phone. Is there something I can give her? And so we had the idea to write a version of it that would be appropriate for 9, 10, 11-year-olds. But I'm a professor. I'm not good at writing for elementary school students. And so I was already working with Catherine Price, who wrote How to Break Up with Your Phone. Yes. And who is an amazing public speaker. And it just turned out Catherine volunteered for the job and she is amazing at writing for children.
And so, Catherine, how does this book differ from The Anxious Generation in that it is actually speaking to the kids themselves? Yes.
Yeah, so the anxious generation, as we all know, did a wonderful job of making the world wake up to the issue of what's happening to our children and what has happened to Gen Z, the young adults whose childhoods were destroyed and stolen from them by phones. And right now we have the opportunity to speak directly to the younger generation. So the anxious generation is a call to action for change. people, I would say teenagers on up, to do things to change the experience for our young people, our kids. But The Amazing Generation, our new book, is actually speaking to the kids directly. So it's a complementary approach so that everyone can be on the same page and take action together. It's incredibly empowering and exciting.
And Catherine, I hear you're consulting with members of Gen Z for this project. And what are you hearing from them?
Yeah, I think it's easy to think that Gen Z doesn't understand what's happened to them, but they do. And John has heard this from countless people in Gen Z, and I have as well through How to Break Up With Your Phone. They know what's happened to them. They don't like it, and they wish it hadn't happened to them. And so we had the idea that instead of just having it be the sort of top-down approach, you know, I don't know if you can tell that John and I are actually not teenagers, right? So we realized teenagers and kids don't want to be lectured to by adults. It would be much better to have the voices of people closer to their age speaking directly to them.
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