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.
One of The Cut’s parenting columnists and official friend-of-the-pod, Amil Niazi, joins us to talk about her recent essay on weaning her kids off YouTube. We’ve covered screen time, but this time we’re talking about algorithmic content. Is the algorithm as unavoidable as it feels to many of us? Or is it worth it for parents to push back — even when it makes for some awkward moments with other families — and try to hold out as long as they can? If your kids are already hooked on YouTube, like Amil’s were, is there a way to reign it in without a dreaded, endless household meltdown? And if you do manage to kick the algo out of your home, and come out as a non-YouTube family, is the grass really greener?
Plus, Sarah and Miranda on “life’s hack” (life’s ONE hack), the very corporeal fascinations of switching to menstrual cups, first periods, and what it feels like to finally be deeply learning about our menstrual cycles in our 40s.
* My Family’s YouTube Ban by Amil Niazi (The Cut)
* The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
* If Books Could Kill review of The Anxious Generation
* The Fun Cup
* My Son’s Favorite Toy Is A Tampon by Sarah (Scary Mommy)
* Babeland
* Period: The Real Story of Menstruation by Kate Clancy
* 28-ish Days Later BBC Podcast
* Second Life by Amanda Hess (episode coming soon!)
* Teens, Social Media and Technology 2023 (Pew Research Report). “Roughly nine-in-ten teens say they use YouTube, making it the most widely used platform measured in our survey.”
* Meta (Facebook & Instagram & WhatsApp parent company) is not going to moderate content anymore.
If you like the work that we do here on Mother Of It All, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You support this work (thank you!) and will get access to super special content like subscriber-only episodes and even very awesome tote bags for founding members.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
motherofitall.substack.com/subscribe
The Mother Of It All 