Major new report on mental health (Sapien Labs). Data from 85 countries:
1) In ALL countries examined, young people have worse mental health than older generations.
2) A younger age of first smartphone ownership is associated with increased suicidal thoughts & other problems in adulthood.
"For those of us who study how change happens, this is a master class. An idea that seemed politically impossible in early 2024 has become politically inevitable by early 2026."
Thank you @fastcompany.com
“No evidence of harm” is a familiar argument, but it’s a false one — both in the context of social media and in educational technology. The latest on my Substack, After Babel, by Jared Cooney Hovarth www.afterbabel.com/p/edtech-bor...
27.02.2026 22:54 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Freya India is one of the best writers I know, and she's only 26 (Gen Z). I wrote about her in "The Anxious Generation." She now has a book of her own, out in the UK today and in the US in May. I would tag her, but like many Gen Z'ers now, she doesn't have social media.
26.02.2026 21:24 — 👍 12 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
We live in a world where wealthy industries can buy influence and continue to harm kids. But that is changing. Thanks for having Catherine Price and me, @thedailyshow.com!
"The Amazing Generation" is on sale wherever books are sold, aimed at 9-12yo's.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7SC...
Swiping for new content is one of many addictive gestures social media borrowed from gambling.
A wide-ranging conversation with Manoush Zomorodi for TED Radio Hour, a co-production with NPR (40 min).
www.npr.org/programs/ted...
Bravo to the NPTA for deciding not to pursue further funding from Meta.
Big tech knows their products are harming children, and they have spent vast sums of money confusing the public and trying to fund organizations that are supposed to defend children.
Yes, social media apps are intentionally designed to addict — Roger McNamee, early advisor to Zuckerberg and early investor in Facebook confirms: www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4yp...
22.02.2026 01:01 — 👍 17 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 1
When Zuckerberg says there is no causation, only correlation, between social media and mental health harms to kids, that is patently false.
Thanks for having me @cbsnews.com (7-min video)
www.cbsnews.com/video/anxiou...
In 2024, Zuckerberg said to Congress, “We are on the side of parents everywhere working hard to raise their kids.”
That wasn't, and isn't, true.
Tomorrow we hear from Zuckerberg in the LA social media trial. He has a lot to account for.
But he knows that gambling is a DSM addiction & that his product was designed on same behaviorist principles. He and his researchers have used the word "addiction" in many internal memos and studies.
My team has organized the evidence on 31 studies carried out by Meta:
metasinternalresearch.org
At the trial last week in Los Angeles, Adam Mosseri claimed that Instagram is not addictive. He said a kid compulsively watching 16 hours of Reels a day is no different than when he watches too much Netflix and stays up a bit too late.
16.02.2026 20:39 — 👍 15 🔁 2 💬 4 📌 0Since kids got social media, family time has become a fight over screen time. Had a great conversation with @katiecouric.bsky.social on our Substacks, thanks Katie!
11.02.2026 19:41 — 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 1
Social media does not give teens real community; it prevents them from spending time with real people.
New randomized controlled trial shows young adults get LESS lonely when they reduce, even though their friends are not reducing. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"There’s never been a better time to touch the hearts of people, you just have to be human." A wonderful post on my Substack by Freya India, one of the best writers I know, who writes about Gen Z.
www.afterbabel.com/p/you-have-t...
It was an honor to meet Indonesia's Minister Hafid on my recent trip to Europe and hear about how, beginning in March, Indonesia is taking decisive steps to protect children from online harms. It is thrilling to see the world's 4th largest country — with 80 million kids — taking decisive action.
04.02.2026 21:56 — 👍 16 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
This book from @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social seems like a good place to start for parents that want to talk to their kids about how AI can be addictive just like other apps
blackbondbooks.com/item/uFul1NH...
Maine Governor @janetmillsforme.bsky.social announced in her State of the State address last night her intent to champion a bell-to-bell ban for Maine. Bravo, governor! This would be a fantastic way to allow kids to focus not presence, learning, and each other.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwPk...
If you're in NYC on Thursday Feb 5, join @chrislhayes.bsky.social & me at Strand Bookstore!
RSVP here: www.eventbrite.com/e/chris-haye...
A highlight from my London trip: running into a group of survivor parents (whose children have died because of social media) outside No10.
We must make the internet safe for kids by age-gating social media and setting new norms for kids' and teens' device use.
The greatest downside from social media — for adults, but especially for kids and teens — is the attention fragmentation.
The UK is about to adopt an Australia-style minimum age for social media accounts policy — this morning on Good Morning Britain:
Newton: You're understandably, and I think appropriately, very critical of the tech executives here. But I'd also note that parents gave kids these phones, and schools allowed them, and regulators did nothing for a decade. So if we're assigning blame for this situation, how much falls on everyone else involved? Haidt: I would say close to zero, for this reason: The whole key to solving this problem, and the reason we didn't solve it for so long, is that it's a series of collective-action traps. I'm a social psychologist. What we do for a living is we look at the ways that we influence each other. And there are certain situations where people say, "Yeah, I don't want to give my 10-year-old a phone, but, you know, everyone else has one and she's being left out, so ...
The phones and social media, all these things - they put us in a trap, so we feel we have to give in. And since that's the situation, I can't blame the people. My rule as a social psychologist is: If one person does something really bad, that might be a bad person; if everybody in a situation is doing something bad, that's guaranteed to be a bad situation. So no, I don't blame - I mean, of course parents should stand up and parent. But so many of us are trying, and it's really, really hard. Everybody's fighting all the time with their kids over this tech. We didn't ask for these fights. So I don't blame the parents, I don't blame the teachers. I blame the companies.
@jonathanhaidt.bsky.social is absolutely correct here. It’s a collective action problem that requires collective solutions.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/p...
Perhaps more than any other group, looksmaxxers reveal the depth of the moral crisis that confronts young men today. @chatterton.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
22.01.2026 22:05 — 👍 13 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
Grateful to President Macron for an engaging conversation at #Davos on how to protect kids from predatory #socialmedia algorithms. I appreciate the President and his cabinet working toward an Australia-like policy.
22.01.2026 17:54 — 👍 29 🔁 10 💬 2 📌 0
I'll be at #HumanChange in #Davos during the World Economic Forum next week. I’ll be joined by leaders from across technology, education, policy, psychology and civil society.
Learn more about our program and register your interest here: davos2026.humanchange.com
#HumanChangeHouse #WEF2026
Major update on our work: In the last few years, a flood of new research has altered the landscape of the debate around kids, smartphones, and social media.
Together, these findings allow us say:
📣 No, social media is not safe for children and adolescents. www.afterbabel.com/p/mountains-...
Full post: www.afterbabel.com/p/why-every-...
14.01.2026 19:47 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Many countries are going to follow #Australia's #socialmedia minimum age policy. Here's why countries should all set 16 (not 15) as the minimum age, and should not add the complexity of parental-consent exceptions.
From me and @iyerland.bsky.social on my Substack, After Babel
The Grok "undress" button scandal is just the latest evidence that social media is wildly inappropriate for minors. Social media is causing chaos and cruelty in children's lives.
Teachers see it: UK teachers union calls for a minimum age of 16:
New Jersey just became the 21st state to implement #phonefreeschools for the entire school day! Thank you @govmurphy.bsky.social for seeing this bill through, and for everyone who worked to restore a healthier childhood and adolescence to New Jersey's kids!
www.yahoo.com/news/article...
