Suppose we'd suddenly change the Earth's atmosphere from 20% oxygen to 80% oxygen.

It's like, oh wouldn't that be great?

Like you'd get so much oxygen so easily we'd all feel good.

Like no, everything would burn.

Any little spark, every electrical thing would explode, you know, 80% to oxygen, everything is combustible.

And similarly, what if we give everyone an outrage button where they could,

any, the slightest thing, oh oh something bothers you about what you saw

on the street tweet it somebody did something obnoxious take a photo put it up let

people docks them this is what social media has done to us. It's an open question whether liberal democracy in the American form.

It's an open question whether we can survive, whether our current institutions and structure is compatible with an 80% oxygen world.

I'm John Favreau. Welcome to offline.

Hey everyone, you just heard from today's guest social psychologist and

NYU professor Jonathan Hite. So this is a conversation I wanted to have for a long time

height is the author of numerous bestsellers like the happiness hypothesis, the

coddling of the American mind, and the number one New York Times bestseller

that we'll join seemingly everyone else in talking about today, the anxious

generation.

Heights' basic argument is one we've made many times on this show.

The kids are not all right, and the culprit is their phones.

But Heights it a step further.

He offers extensive research to support his

contention that smartphones and especially social media are fueling a teen

...