‘Our Kids Are the Least Flourishing Generation We Know Of’
About this episode
The episode asks 'what is childhood for?' — and argues smartphones stole it. Haidt, a year after The Anxious Generation became a phenomenon, contends that the play-based, mixed-age childhood that wires young brains was replaced by a phone-based childhood, coinciding with soaring adolescent mental illness from 2012 onward. Beyond data, he argues for moral formation: children need a shared moral order, which fragmented social media cannot provide, producing anomie. He lays out four norms — no smartphones before high school, no social media until 16, phone-free schools, more free play — and describes a bipartisan 'parents' revolution' (Utah, New York, Florida, Australia's age-gating). The second half turns to AI: frictionless AI companions, he and Klein agree, threaten to pattern children's expectations of relationships and erode attention — the faculty a flourishing life most requires.