Are Smartphones Ruining Childhood?
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In this August 2024 on-stage TED interview with journalist Elise Hu, Jonathan Haidt discusses the argument of his book 'The Anxious Generation': that a shift toward a phone-based childhood, combined with more overprotective parenting, is associated with the mental-health difficulties researchers have tracked among adolescents since the early 2010s. He walks through his proposed four norms — delaying smartphones until high school, delaying social media until 16, phone-free schools, and expanding unsupervised play — and answers questions about the underlying evidence, the school phone-restriction policies already spreading across U.S. states, and how parents and schools might coordinate on shared rules rather than acting alone. Consistent with the book, Haidt frames heavy phone and social-media use as one contributor, among several, to reported anxiety, depression, and self-harm-related warning signs in this age group, not a sole or proven cause.
Haidt, Jonathan. "Are Smartphones Ruining Childhood?" Interview by Elise Hu. TED, August 2024. https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_are_smartphones_ruining_childhood