#291 – Jonathan Haidt: The Case Against Social Media
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
4.7 • 13.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2022
⏱️ 109 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at NYU and author of The Coddling of the American Mind, The Righteous Mind, and The Happiness Hypothesis. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Jonathan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/JonHaidt
Jonathan’s Website: https://jonathanhaidt.com
Documents & Articles:
1. Social Media and Political Dysfunction: A Collaborative Review: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vVAtMCQnz8WVxtSNQev_e1cGmY9rnY96ecYuAj6C548/edit
2. Teen Mental Health Testimony: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Haidt%20Testimony.pdf
3. The Atlantic article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/
Books:
1. The Coddling of the American Mind (book): https://amzn.to/3MW4HqL
2. The Righteous Mind (book): https://amzn.to/3to0tkj
3. The Happiness Hypothesis (book): https://amzn.to/3Mb1xP2
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(07:57) – Social media and mental health
(21:45) – Mark Zuckerberg
(31:23) – Children’s use of social media
(42:08) – Social media and democracy
(58:14) – Elon Musk and Twitter
(1:14:45) – Anonymity on social media
(1:20:44) – Misinformation
(1:27:38) – Social media benefits
(1:30:22) – Political division on social media
(1:36:54) – Future of social media
(1:42:46) – Advice for young people
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The following is a conversation with Jonathan Height, social psychologist at NYU and critic |
| 0:05.3 | of the negative effects of social media on the human mind and human civilization. |
| 0:10.6 | He gives a respectful but hard-hitting response to my conversation with Mark Zuckerberg, and |
| 0:16.2 | together, him and I try to figure out how we can do better, how we can lessen the amount |
| 0:21.6 | of depression and division in the world. |
| 0:25.0 | He has brilliantly discussed these topics in his writing, including in his book The |
| 0:30.2 | Coddling of the American Mind, and in his recent long article in the Atlantic titled |
| 0:36.1 | Why the Past Ten Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid. |
| 0:41.9 | When Teddy Roosevelt said in his famous speech that it is not the critical counts, he has |
| 0:47.9 | not yet read the brilliant writing of Jonathan Height. |
| 0:51.3 | I disagree with John on some of the details of his analysis and ideas, but both his criticism |
| 0:58.0 | and our disagreement is essential if we are to build better and better technologies |
| 1:03.2 | that connect us. |
| 1:04.9 | Social media has both the power to destroy our society and to help with flourish. |
| 1:10.1 | It's up to us to figure out how we take the latter path. |
| 1:15.8 | And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. |
| 1:18.4 | Get them out in the description as the best way to support this podcast. |
| 1:22.2 | We got uncrews for adventure, notion for startups, blinkist for nonfiction, magic for snacks, |
| 1:30.6 | and a sleep for sweet sweet naps. |
| 1:34.2 | Choose wisely my friends. |
| 1:35.7 | And now onto the full adreads. |
| 1:37.6 | No ads in the middle. |
... |
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