2024-04-03
59 分钟In The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt explores the simultaneous rise in teen mental illness across various countries, attributing it to a seismic shift from a "play-based childhood" to a "phone-based childhood" around the early 2010s. He argues that the negative effects of this "great rewiring of childhood" will continue to worsen without the adoption of several norms and a more hands-on approach to regulating social media platforms. But might technological advances and good old human resilience allow kids to adapt more easily than he thinks? Jonathan joined Tyler to discuss this question and more, including whether left-wingers or right-wingers make for better parents, the wisest person Jonathan has interacted with, psychological traits as a source of identitarianism, whether AI will solve the screen time problem, why school closures didn't seem to affect the well-being of young people, whether the mood shift since 2012 is not just about social media use, the benefits of the broader internet vs. social media, the four norms to solve the biggest collective action problems with smartphone use, the feasibility of age-gating social media, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. Recorded February 14th, 2024. Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Follow Jonathan on X Sign up for our newsletter Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here. Photo Credits: Jayne Riew
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Learn more@mercatus.org dot for a full transcript of every conversation, enhanced with helpful links, visit conversationswithtyler.com.
hello, everyone, and welcome back to conversations with Tyler.
Today I'm chatting with John Haidt, who needs no introduction.
We've already done an episode with him.
But I should stress that John has a new book out in late March.
It is called the anxious generation, how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness.
John, welcome, Tyler.
Great to be back.
Great to see you.
Let me start with some non book questions, though theyre related.
Who makes for better parents?
Left wingers or right wingers?
Right wingers.
Theres a lot of data on this.
Theres long been a slight gap where conservatives are a little happier than liberals.
And its not clear why is that parenting?
Who knows?
But what I found in doing the research for the book is that the gap between left and right became a chasm after 2012.
So, well get to the reasons why that is.