We've all got that person in our family who comes to family gatherings, dinners, goes to parties,

but they're not really there. They're on their phone. They're zoned out. Fundamentally, they're elsewhere.

What happens to society when so many young people behave like that?

When they're never really present in the moment?

What does it mean for them?

And what does it mean for our culture more broadly?

Today's guest has extraordinarily strong views about precisely that. He's probably the

most influential social scientist in the world right now. He thinks that social media, mobile

phones, constant access to the internet is fundamentally rewiring childhood and remaking what

it is to be human in the 21st century.

I am so looking forward to this conversation.

He is influencing people right across the political divide,

and it's a conversation that has to be had.

Jonathan Hey, welcome to downstream.

Thank you, Aaron. What a pleasure to be here.

It's a pleasure to have you.

I must say, first impressions, you seem remarkably remarkably serene, calm, anything but anxious.

You always just, always this calm, always this relaxed?

Well, yeah, my personality has always been kind of calm.

I don't get angry easily.

I sometimes do get anxious, especially the times when I've been spending more time on social

media, but no, in general, I'm a fairly calm person. That's good to know. So we're talking about

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