In 'The Anxious Generation', Jonathan Haidt examines the sudden decline in the mental health of adolescents starting in the early 2010s. He attributes this decline to the shift from a 'play-based childhood' to a 'phone-based childhood', highlighting mechanisms such as sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, and perfectionism that interfere with children’s social and neurological development. Haidt proposes four simple rules to address this issue: no smartphones before high school, no social media before age 16, phone-free schools, and more opportunities for independence, free play, and responsibility. The book offers a clear call to action for parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments to restore a more humane childhood and end the epidemic of mental illness among youth.
Welcome back to the Evolve Move Play Podcast!
Today's episode was filmed at the ARC Conference in London and features our guest Rob Henderson, author of the book Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class.
Rob grew up in foster homes in Los Angeles and the rural town of Red Bluff, California. He joined the Air Force at the age of seventeen. After his enlistment, he graduated from Yale University with a BS in psychology and was subsequently awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
Once described as 'self-made' by the New York Times, Rob received a PhD in psychology from St. Catharine's College, Cambridge in 2022. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, and the New York Post, among other outlets. Rob's popular Substack newsletter is sent each week to more than forty thousand subscribers.
In our chat today we will discuss Rob’s background and upbringing, as well as share our thoughts on growing into manhood, cultivating positive masculine virtues, social media, and what makes a good man or woman as opposed to what makes a good person.
I really enjoyed getting the chance to talk to Rob, and hopefully we’ll be able to continue our chat in the near future. If you also enjoy the conversation, be sure to support the channel with a like, subscribe, and share.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Rob’s Background
07:09 - Young Male Syndrome & the Military
26:59 - Underlying Biology
31:34 - Aggression, Violence & Mental Health
43:05 - Masculinity and Femininity
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ROB HENDERSON
Book: https://a.co/d/eaIwGIT
Web: https://www.robkhenderson.com/
Twitter: https://x.com/robkhenderson?s=20
IG: https://www.instagram.com/robkhenderson/
Evolve Move Play Podcast 
