Best Of: Jonathan Haidt on What Social Media Is Doing to Our Kids

The Next Big Idea

Next Big Idea Club

Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Education, Science

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s rare these days for a book to go viral, but that’s exactly what happened with The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt. Now in its 75th week on the New York Times’ bestseller list, the book reveals a startling truth: Starting in 2012, teen depression rates suddenly spiked 150% worldwide, perfectly coinciding with the moment smartphones and social media conquered childhood. But Haidt doesn't just diagnose the crisis. He offers a roadmap out with norms, guidelines, and policy suggestions that parents, schools, and communities are already implementing with remarkable success. Further Listening: WILL STORR: Does Our Need for Status Explain Everything? ANNA LEMBKE: Why the Modern World Puts Us All At Risk for Addiction ——— Want to connect with us? 🔗 Follow Rufus on LinkedIn 📖 Subscribe to our daily newsletter, Book of the Day ✉️ Send us an email: podcast@nextbigideaclub.com ——— Ready to reach 300,000 curious listeners and readers? Promote your brand, book, or product to an audience passionate about big ideas. 📩 Request our sponsor kit

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Rufus Griscom and this is the next big idea.
0:05.2	Today, the kids are not all right. Jonathan Heights's new book, The Anxious Generation, begins with a metaphor.
0:34.8	Imagine that a visionary billionaire invites your daughter, a bright and cheerful 10-year-old,
0:40.0	to join the first human settlement on Mars.
0:43.4	Your daughter begs you to let her go.
0:45.4	She loves outer space.
0:47.1	All her friends will be there.
0:48.9	And you don't want to quash her dreams, so you agree to learn more.
0:53.6	Here's what you find.
0:55.3	She's been recruited because children adapt better to the unusual conditions of Mars.
1:01.2	If she grows up and goes through puberty on the red planet,
1:04.4	her body will be permanently altered by the low gravity environment.
1:08.5	As a result, your daughter may never be able to return to Earth.
1:13.0	So, would you let her go?
1:15.4	Of course not.
1:17.1	And yet, as John goes on to explain, we have in effect let our children go to Mars.
1:24.0	They didn't have to leave the Earth's atmosphere.
1:26.1	They didn't even need to leave their rooms.
1:28.2	We just gave them smartphones.
1:30.4	They signed up for social media with or without our permission.
1:33.6	And now these technologies are warping their minds and bodies just like life on Marswood.
1:41.7	You may think this sounds outlandish, even ridiculous.
	...

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