Jonathan Haidt

How have achievement gaps grown in the US since 2015?

Surprisingly, not much BETWEEN demographic groups, but the bottom 25% WITHIN each group has dropped a lot. The latest on our (free) Substack, After Babel: www.afterbabel.com/p/silent-ach...

The average young person today is on course to spend 25 years of their life on their phone. (Plus more on other screens.) Most of them don't want to live this way, but feel trapped.

How about we delay giving smartphones and tablets till at least 14?

'Anxious Generation' Author Jonathan Haidt Shares New Worries About Kids — and Why You Should Be Concerned (Exclusive) 'Anxious Generation' author Jonathan Haidt's shares his biggest fears for kids now. His book has been a bestseller for more than a year and has prompted smartphone bans in schools across the country, ...

I’m not calling for any bans. We don't say “there's an age ban on driving.” Just a minimum age. There should be a minimum age for smartphones and social media. Interview in People Magazine:
people.com/anxious-gene...

Little videos are cooking our brains The future of the internet is a slop-filled infinite scroll. How do we reclaim our attention?

Couldn't beat that title @vox.com

Smartphone bans in Dutch schools have improved learning, study finds After initial concerns, pupils are said to be more focused and have better social interactions with each other

Can anyone find a school, state, or country that went phone free (bell to bell) and regrets it, or reversed it?

The Netherlands went phone free in most schools in 2024. Their first major survey of schools finds very positive results: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

A Classic Childhood Pastime Is Fading Kids on bikes once filled the streets. Not anymore.

Half as many kids are riding bikes as in the 90s. Of them, only 5% ride "frequently."

When I talk about the phone-based childhood, I don't just mean smartphones and social media. We also need to reverse the overprotection of kids in the real world. www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

Pls consider reading. We all bring many assumptions to our outlook. So much hatred. Our moral fabric is unwinding. Assuredly time well spent, no matter what your angle.You will become more enlightened abt yourself, others & hopefully we can all find a way to get along. TY @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social

Opinion | The Smartphones Haven’t Defeated Us. Yet.

With Will Johnson & Zach Rausch:
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/o...

New by me in the Times: A The Harris Poll survey found most parents wish their kids grew up in a world w/o #socialmedia, expressing the same level of regret as for alcohol & guns.

#Smartphones and YouTube were lower.

Bicycles were regretted by only 9%, despite kids sometimes getting hurt on bikes.

A Flawed Absolution for Smartphones No, the Life in Media survey did not really show that 8-year-olds benefit from owning smartphones

I can tell you — in detail!
www.afterbabel.com/p/flawed-abs...

It Was the Damn Phones A Gen Z poet conveys the effects of the phone-based childhood

"I think our parents were right. It was the damn phones." A powerful poem by 21-year-old poet Kori Jane Spaulding. On my (free) Substack After Babel:

👉 www.afterbabel.com/p/it-was-the...

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion | Powell's Books NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The acclaimed social psychologist challenges conventional thinking about morality, politics, and religion in a way that speaks to conservatives and liberals alike — a "land...

Frustrated by polarization? The Righteous Mind by @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social is a great read on the evolutionary causes of moral diversity.

Especially useful if you find religion stupid or baffling. It won't convert you but it will help you work w/religious ppl.

www.powells.com/book/the-rig...

‘No smartphones before 14; no social media until 16’: The Anxious Generation author on how to fight back against big tech One year on, Jonathan Haidt talks about the way his book changed the global conversation around children and digital devices – and explains how he handles his own teenagers

“We’re guilty of overprotection [of children] in one place (the real world) and underprotection in another (online). I think that was one of the important points of ‘Adolescence’”: fascinating interview with @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...

Text: connecting strangers with children. They want to keep the focus on content moderation, but that is a red herring. Think of it this way. You want to send your kid to a summer camp, let's say. In the United States, we send our kids to summer camps. Florida and Australia are the major places on earth where there are shark attacks. Suppose there are three different summer camps along the coast of Florida. One of them says, we pull 50 sharks a week out of the water. And the next one, oh, we pull 100 sharks a week. We're doing such a good job on content moderation. The next one, oh, we pull 1,000 sharks out of the water every week. Now, which one do you want to send your kid to? And I think the answer is none of them. But now suppose there's a fourth camp down the road where they say, we put up a shark net. We have a bay, we have an

Text: But now suppose there's a fourth camp down the road where they say, we put up a shark net. We have a bay, we have an area, we put up a shark net. There are no sharks in our waters. And that's a design choice. And what the platforms keep doing is saying, oh, but we've spent, look, Senator, we spend more than anyone else on pulling sharks out of the water. No, this is a design choice. And Pinterest is a nice example of a company that they have a lot of teenagers on it. They put up a shark fence. They said, you know what? If you're under 16, you can't talk to strangers. There's just none of those social features if you're under 16. So these are design choices. I don't want to even talk about content moderation. Yes, we have to have it, but it's a red herring.

Great analogy from @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social about the moderation red-herring of big tech social media.

YouTube video by Oprah Oprah and Jonathan Haidt on How Social Media Is Changing Childhood

@jonathanhaidt.bsky.social with @oprah-winfrey.bsky.social on #anxiousgeneration. social media, and the digital health of our kids. #mentalhealth #community #TherapistsConnect

An excellent event, thanks for having me last year!

138. The Anxious Generation: How Silicon Valley Has Rewired Our Brains (Jonathan Haidt) What are the biggest lies we’re being told about social media? How does unregulated social media help Trump and authoritarian regimes? How do you beat an addiction to your phone? Jonathan Haidt joins ...

alastaircampbell.org/2025/06/138-...

Thanks for having me on (and letting me plug books written and unwritten)!

New @therestpolitics.bsky.social LEADING with @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social who calls out the worst of the social media revolution and the lies told about it? How does unregulated social media help Trump and authoritarian regimes? How do you beat an addiction to your phone? What should we do? 1/2

‘No smartphones before 14; no social media until 16’: The Anxious Generation author on how to fight back against big tech One year on, Jonathan Haidt talks about the way his book changed the global conversation around children and digital devices – and explains how he handles his own teenagers

One of the most detailed profiles of me and #theanxiousgeneration, in @theguardian.com, spanning my earlier books, current politics, my critics, and AI.

Spoke to the great Prof Laurie Santos about smartphones & childhood:
🎧👉 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

I’m also returning to my reading series on democratic backsliding. I started with books on polarization, but have yet to read @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social’s The Righteous Mind. A classic on the topic. #BookSky 📚💙

Eight Policy Principles to Guide our Relationship with Digital Technology Policies have enabled cars and airplanes to be used safely. No such policies exist for social media or AI. Progress is being made to fix this gap—beginning with protecting our kids.

This is the best essay I've ever read for helping policymakers understand how best to improve the online world for kids. Ravi Iyer lays out 4 goals and 8 principles. Focus on design, not content moderation. www.afterbabel.com/p/eight-poli...

Read about the survey here: www.afterbabel.com/p/social-med...

NEW: The largest-ever expert survey finds consensus about rising youth #mentalhealth problems. This sizable survey should guide legislative action and help solve the problems families face with smartphones and social media in the US and the broader world.

Lead author: @valeriocapraro.bsky.social

Really deep and rangey conversation with @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social on What Now this week. But the thing I'm most proud of is opening with a "Leisure Suit Larry" story. There was like five more minutes of Trevor explaining how the game works to him, really wish we coulda kept it all.

Such powerful research by @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social being shared by @creativehigg.bsky.social #TheKidsAreNotAlright

Went to see @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social speak tonight. I've been following his work since that 2015 "Coddling" article in The Atlantic and I always learn new things and get inspired.

Recomendo sempre o Geração Ansiosa para quem tem ou convive com crianças e adolescentes.

The Amazing Generation – Pre-order Now! A handbook for living a happy and exciting life that isn't hijacked by a smartphone.

Happy to announce I've teamed up with Catherine Price to write a young readers' book based on “The Anxious Generation” — "The Amazing Generation." It comes out 12/30 from Penguin Young Readers.

Available to preorder:

Snapchat is Harming Children at an Industrial Scale In their own words, we see that Snap Inc’s design choices expose millions of kids to harm

If your child uses #Snapchat, you should know what Snap's own employees and consultants say about the many ways Snapchat harms children. We collect stunning quotations from them, from the many legal briefs, on my (free) Substack, After Babel:

#socialmedia #smartphones #genz #genalpha