Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist: We're at a tipping point for kids and technology
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"There is a public health disaster. There is an education disaster. It all can be traced to the same cause, which is the change technology has made in our kids' childhood."
Amol Rajan speaks to the American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
In 2024 his book The Anxious Generation sparked a fierce debate about the impact of social media and technology on young people. Haidt believes it's behind the soaring number of mental health problems but social media companies claim this oversimplifies a deeply complex issue.
Now he says we are at a tipping point in our relationship with technology, with countries moving towards much greater regulation of social media use for children.
Thank you to the Radical team for its help in making this programme.
The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Microsoft AI boss Mustafa Suleyman and Annika Wells, the minister in charge of Australia's social media ban for under-16s. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Amol Rajan Producers: Anna Budd and Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine Lang
Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Jonathan Haidt Credit: Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.8 | Hello, I'm BBC presenter Amol Rajan, and this is the interview from the BBC World Service, |
| 0:12.5 | the best conversations coming out of the BBC, people shaping our world from all over the world. |
| 0:20.0 | If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention. |
| 0:24.7 | We have never seen a people so united. |
| 0:28.3 | Do not make that boat crossing. Do not make that journey. |
| 0:31.0 | Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not. |
| 0:35.1 | We're more popular than populism. |
| 0:38.0 | For this interview, I met Professor Jonathan Haidt. |
| 0:41.3 | He's the American Social Psychologist, |
| 0:43.5 | whose publication in 2024 of The Anxious Generation |
| 0:46.7 | changed the global conversation around social media |
| 0:49.9 | and its impact on young people. |
| 0:52.3 | You're going to hear how Jonathan Haidt links phone use |
| 0:54.9 | with a sharp decline in children's mental health |
| 0:58.1 | and how he also believes the widespread introduction |
| 1:01.4 | of online technology and devices in schools was a mistake. |
| 1:06.3 | You put a multifunction device on a kid's desk. |
| 1:08.7 | You ask them to do a math thing. |
| 1:10.6 | You ask them to do their homework here. What do they do? Mostly video games and short videos. That's what they do. Okay, we put controls on it. They can't do that. Yeah, but then it's a cat and mouse game forever. Then they take the laptop home and parents who are trying to keep a lid on it. The kid has everything on their school computer. We're asking kids to sit in class and learn. |
| 1:31.1 | And they have the most incredibly tempting devices ever. |
| 1:34.1 | It was a huge mistake to put kids on devices. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.