Brave New World

Jonathan Haidt: What has social media done to our children?

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Episode notes

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s new book ‘The Anxious Generation’ argues we’re overprotecting our children in real life, and underprotecting them online. In this special episode he tells Evgeny why he believes smartphones and social media have led to rises in anxiety, depression and suicide among young people, and why we have to “put the technology genie back in the bottle”. They also discuss:

·      The polarisation of politics and how it began before social media

·      Why the evolution of social media has led to the return of “tribalism” in society

·      Why war between competing powers is “likely to return”

·      How ideas spread on US college campuses can go viral across the world

·      What happens when you introduce fear into a liberal democracy

·      How we “utterly failed” with the introduction of AI

·      Has social media “rewired our children’s brains”?

·      Why parents have to let their kids go out again, and learn to fend for themselves

·      Why he believes Mark Zuckerberg “could and should have done more” to protect young people

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