jonathan haidt

Jonathan Haidt is here to talk about his latest book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.

What We Discuss with Jonathan Haidt:

• Social media and smartphones have drastically altered childhood since the early 2010s, leading to increased rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide among teens, especially girls.
• Virtual interactions on social media are disembodied, shallow, and can spread mental health issues among susceptible teens. Prestige biased learning causes teens to emulate influencers, even those promoting unhealthy behaviors. Smartphones and social media also enable sexual predators to easily target children online.
• Overprotection in the real world and underprotection online are both mistakes that need to be reversed. Parents have allowed kids too much unsupervised screen time while restricting their independence and free play in the physical world out of exaggerated fears.
• Schools and parents need to set clear boundaries around technology use. No smartphones before high school, no social media until age 16, and phone-free schools from bell to bell are key norms to establish. The longer parents delay introducing these technologies, the better.
• Although the situation is serious, positive change is possible when parents, educators, and lawmakers work together. Parents can start by giving kids more independence and free play time offline, schools can go phone-free, and governments can pass laws to make online spaces safer for kids. With collective action, we can restore a healthier childhood for the next generation. Small steps like "Free Play Fridays" for neighborhood kids can make a difference right away. By coming together to solve this, we can ensure today's youth have the space to develop into competent, well-adjusted adults.
• And much more...

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Usually episodes of this show are organized around one big question, but today’s guest, Jonathan Haidt, is just too interesting for one clear focus. In this episode, we dig into a ton of fascinating topics, including: why it can make you happier to see your own irrationality and hypocrisy, the value of interacting with ideas you do not like, how to navigate social media sanely, how to get ahead at work (and stay happy in the process), the upside of striving, the wisdom of the Stoics, and more. 

Jonathan Haidt is a renowned social psychologist from New York University’s Stern school of business and the author of many books, including: The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, and The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. Since 2018, he’s been studying the contributions of social media to the decline of teen mental health and the rise of political dysfunction. 

One other note: heads up that this conversation includes mentions of self-harm and suicide.

In this episode we talk about:

• Haidt’s elephant and rider metaphor that explains how our minds’ operate
• How to use different techniques from hypnosis to Buddhist and Stoic practices to tame our unconscious
• Why we’ve evolved to be hypocrites and how admitting our flaws can help us come out ahead
• Buddhism as a counterpoint to our success oriented culture
• The deleterious effects of social media on democracy and young people’s mental health 

Full Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/jonathan-haidt-567

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Jonathan Haidt (@JonHaidt) is a social psychologist who studies the American culture wars and is widely considered to be one of the world's leading experts on the psychology of morality. He is the co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure.

What We Discuss with Jonathan Haidt:

• Why should we be preparing the child for the road and not the road for the child?
• How the concepts of safe spaces and trigger warnings are making our society less safe and less prepared for the real world.
• What we should be doing instead to prepare ourselves and our kids for reality.
• Cognitive distortions and how we become victims of our own flawed mindsets.
• The three fundamental untruths being perpetuated by academia and the media and how we can fight these influences.
• And much more...

Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course! 

Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Full show notes and resources can be found here.