Moral Panic and Technology's Impact on Youth

Since the advent of smartphones, a simmering and increasingly boiling panic has been about whether too much “screentime” is ruining the nation’s youth. Michael Hobbes joins us to help trace past moral panics surrounding kids, from such terrifying inventions as the jukebox, to television (okay maybe kinda bad), and texting, up to where we are now: the “Great Rewiring.” That’s the theory as younger generations are exposed to technology at earlier and earlier ages, it fundamentally changes how they approach the world, and other people. But is it really rotting their brains?

Our guest Michael Hobbes is a journalist and podcast host. You can find his work on his Substack “Confirm My Choices,” or his podcasts “If Books Could Kill” and “Maintenance Phase.”

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Credits

- Host: Ryan Broderick

- Producer: Grant Irving

- Researcher: Adam Bumas

- Business Manager: Josh Fjelstad

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