Changing Gen Alpha's relationship with smartphones (ft. Jonathan Haidt)

Sat down with social psychologist and NYU professor Jonathan Haidt to discuss his new book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness”

Jules: Jonathan, thank you for your time. I'm kind of stressed because we could easily talk about this stuff for three to four hours, if not more. But we'll do what we can in an hour. 

Your new book, The Anxious Generation. It's making a timely and impactful statement right now. You alongside Jean Twenge are like the leading psychologists when it comes to covering the downsides of what you deem to be a phone-based childhood, stating that Gen Z, aka those born after 1996, are truly the first to experience that. I'm at the oldest helm of that. I completely agree, because I've said myself, Millennials are defined by the rise of desktop computers and the internet. Gen Z is defined by the rise of smartphones and social media. I would say Gen Alpha is probably going to be defined by the rise of immersive hardware and the increasing rise of AI.

You mentioned you didn't set out to write this book. But you came across discoveries in 2021 that led you to believe this is the work you need to focus on. What were those initial discoveries? 

Jonathan: Jules, thanks so much for having me on. I've been interviewed by hundreds of journalists who are all Millennials or Gen X or Baby Boomers, and only one or two who are members of Gen Z, the one that I'm writing about. I'm excited to talk with you. We can really get into the mechanics, like what happened? What happened to girls when they went through puberty on these platforms? What happened to boys when they went through puberty on those incredibly immersive gaming platforms?