Jonathan Haidt on the Trevor Noah podcast

The Anxious Generation with Jonathan Haidt | What Now? with Trevor Noah Podcast

Mothers are more concerned than fathers about screen time. We’ve overprotected our children in the real world and underprotected them online. The depression, anxiety and loneliness are due to smartphones.

The older generation always thinks the younger generation is being harmed by what they do. We’ve replaced outdoor experiences with mindless entertainment and 15-second videos. Social media is particularly harmful for girls. Boys and men used to dominate, but as society changed, boys are now 6 months to a year behind girls. When Trevor Noah was growing up porn was still on paper and wasn’t on your computer.

The child molesters are not on the playground; they are online. We need to have an age gauge on the Internet. There are almost no girls watching porn or addicted to porn. The difference between males and females is visual preferences. The first hook is video games and then down the line comes porn. If you take your son away from video games, and he becomes anxious and irritable, that is a definite sign of dopamine change, and your brain has been changed. So boys see everything off the screen as more boring.

Girls tend to have small groups of friends, while boys have larger groups. However, on Instagram, girls are now exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of connections.

Trevor Noah mentioned all the Zoom meetings you’ve had and how little connection you shared with the people. If the podcast interview was done over Zoom, Jonathan Haidt on the Trevor Noah podcast would give information, but no feeling.

When setting guidelines for your children to curb smartphone usage, do it in a group.

The Four Norms mentioned in the book, The Anxious Generation, are:

Jonathan Haidt co-founded the Let Grow Experience with Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids. Let Grow is leading the movement for childhood independence.

Watch Jonathan Haidt on the Trevor Noah podcast below: