You probably know Jonathan Haidt as the guy trying to save your kids from smartphones and social media apps. Likely you’ve read The Anxious Generation, which has been translated into 44 languages and sold nearly 2 million copies. One might say that Jon is Elvis for 21st century moms who don't understand Discord.
But when Haidt gets written about decades from now, it will be for much more than this book and the powerful movement that came out of it. He will be regarded as one of the most important writers of this epoch.
Because he has this remarkable ability to understand—and explain—our social condition. He holds up a mirror to us.
He did it with his book The Righteous Mind, which explained why people are so passionately divided over politics and religion. He did it again with The Coddling of the American Mind, cowritten with Greg Lukianoff, which explored why young people—especially on college campuses—can become totally intolerant of opposing views. And in his latest book, The Anxious Generation, he asked the obvious question: Why are teens suddenly so unhappy? Why are they losing attention, self-confidence, and the ability to socialize? Perhaps it has something to do with the mesmerizing device in their hands.
In a world gone mad, Haidt has turned common sense into a radical mission. Bari sat down with him in front of a live audience in New York City to talk about how we got here—and where we go from here.
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