Jonathan Haidt: Four Rules to Rescue Childhood

Chrissy sits down with Jonathan Haidt to unpack The Anxious Generation—how the mid-aughts, smartphone/social-media surge “rewired” childhood, replacing play, sleep, and face-to-face friendship with dopamine-driven scrolling and an epidemic of anxiety. He lays out exactly what parents, schools, and communities can do right now to restore a healthy, play-based childhood.

Five Key Takeaways:

1. The Great Rewiring — How smartphones, cameras, and infinite feeds rewired childhood and attention.
2. Girls vs. Boys — How social media drives anxiety and self-harm in girls and boys differently
3. Four Rules — No smartphones before high school, no social media before 16, phone-free schools, and more free play.
4. Home Habits — Ban phones from the table and bedrooms; swap TikTok scrolling for shared long-form stories.
5. The Parent Playbook — Band with other parents, try summer camp resets, and reclaim evenings/mornings from screens.

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