Fabulous new TED talk from Lenore Skenazy. She shows that the cure for rising anxiety among kids and rising anxiety among parents is the same: Let kids develop competence through independence, and through (device-free) unsupervised play, as they used to. youtu.be/whaesnYloMQ?...

From @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social on Threads. Let's join the kids & delete one. 📵🤸‍♀️🌳 “Time to Refuse” will kick off right here in NYC on World Mental Health Day, October 10th, 2025 at 6pm EST in Tompkins Square Park. Come delete one account of your choosing, at 7pm. Join the campaign: timetorefuse.com

A wonderful feature in the NYT about the Reconnect movement, led by Gen Zer Seán Killingsoworth. (Come meet Seán at our event on Oct 10, see prev post!) www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/w...

Join us in NYC on October 10th: 📵🤸‍♀️🌳 “Time to Refuse” will kick off right here in NYC on World Mental Health Day, October 10th, 2025 at 6pm EST in Tompkins Square Park. Come delete one account of your choosing, at 7pm. Join the campaign: timetorefuse.com

My new op-ed on how we need a "great rewilding" of childhood to counteract the "great rewiring of childhood" described in Anxious Generation @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social Screen shot of print page in comments if can't access link www.cleveland.com/news/2025/09...

A funny take on adapting to #phonefreeschools, from the Frisch School in NJ

Chart from "The Anxious Generation." How do we reverse this? We get young people to stop spending 5-9 hours a day on social media and video games, and we get them back to real life.

Two Gen Z orgs—Appstinence and the Reconnect Movement—are leading a mass exodus from social media. 📵🤸‍♀️🌳 “Time to Refuse” starts in NYC on World Mental Health Day, October 10th, 2025 at 6pm EST in Tompkins Square Park. Come delete one account of your choosing, at 7pm. More at timetorefuse.com

What happens when we give kids a smartphone — we ask the impossible. A wonderful PSA by Smartphone-Free Childhood US.

Californians fought all year for two bills that will help keep kids safe online. @gavinnewsom.bsky.social, I hope you'll sign them to hold big tech accountable: AB1064 protects kids from unsafe AI companions and AB56 requires warning labels on addictive social media platforms.

On "Today with Jenna and Friends" about the benefits of #phonefreeschools www.today.com/video/jonath...

𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 by @sturkle.bsky.social is among my top book recommendations when it comes to technology. Grateful to @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social for giving her space to share the preface of the updated edition. Her work is even more important today. open.substack.com/pub/jonathan...

I’m so pleased for the publication of the tenth anniversary edition of Reclaiming Conversation, with my new introduction, a warning about our new love affair with artificial intimacy. And so pleased that @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social’s blog, After Babel, has published the new introduction.

One of the only policies Dems & Republicans agree on: Banning phones in classrooms. 39 states now have some sort of phone restrictions, & the other 11 have legislation pending. @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social’s “The Anxious Generation” catalyzed the movement, Jonathan Martin reports in @politico.com.

I’m always up for listening to @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social and @drmoore.bsky.social talk about the differences between social media use and phone use in general, and this conversation doesn’t disappoint. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/j...

The latest map of phone policies by state, as the school year starts. Red is best (full day); Orange is class-time only, which is much less effective. Gold is that local schools must develop a policy, any policy. apnews.com/article/scho...

Reading for pleasure in the United States down 40% over the past 20 years, a new study finds. Replaced by ... screens. abcnews.go.com/Health/ameri...

My thanks to everyone who has bought & gifted the book — we are amid an international cultural shift on the topic of kids & touch-screen devices. Parents are fed up, schools are fed up, even kids are fed up (see previous post).

A major essay on what teens think abt social media, in The Australian. All these quotes from teens abt how locked-in they are into social media underscore the need for collective action. Parents, please consider delaying smartphones & social media. It’s easier if you band together w/ other parents.

I don't think this fact is well known enough: The growth in male suicide rates since 2010 has been among YOUNG men, in contrast to the previous decade when it was middle-aged men cc @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social @twenge.bsky.social aibm.org/research/mal...

My latest newsletter: Obama on the male malaise - 8 takeaways. As he says: "We haven't been as willing to be intentional about investing in the boys. And that's been a mistake." Yes it has. But one that is slowly being corrected. We rise together. ofboysandmen.substack.com/p/obama-on-t...

From a great conversation I had this week with Richard V. Reeves and Jonathan Haidt on the crisis of men and boys. Full episode on The Prof G Pod: link.chtbl.com/ProfGPod?sid... @richardreeves.bsky.social @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social

By @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgdh...

The attention apocalypse. This report is astonishing. John Burn-Burdoch is one of the journalists doing the most to help us understand the massive changes to society, consciousness, and now personality in the smarphone era. @financialtimes.com

Kids being raised on screens long for real freedom. It’s like they’re homesick for a world they’ve never known. New by me, Lenore Skenazy & Zach Rausch in @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

How have achievement gaps grown in the US since 2015? Surprisingly, not much BETWEEN demographic groups, but the bottom 25% WITHIN each group has dropped a lot. The latest on our (free) Substack, After Babel: www.afterbabel.com/p/silent-ach...

The average young person today is on course to spend 25 years of their life on their phone. (Plus more on other screens.) Most of them don't want to live this way, but feel trapped. How about we delay giving smartphones and tablets till at least 14?

I’m not calling for any bans. We don't say “there's an age ban on driving.” Just a minimum age. There should be a minimum age for smartphones and social media. Interview in People Magazine: people.com/anxious-gene...

Couldn't beat that title @vox.com

Can anyone find a school, state, or country that went phone free (bell to bell) and regrets it, or reversed it? The Netherlands went phone free in most schools in 2024. Their first major survey of schools finds very positive results: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Half as many kids are riding bikes as in the 90s. Of them, only 5% ride "frequently." When I talk about the phone-based childhood, I don't just mean smartphones and social media. We also need to reverse the overprotection of kids in the real world. www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

Pls consider reading. We all bring many assumptions to our outlook. So much hatred. Our moral fabric is unwinding. Assuredly time well spent, no matter what your angle.You will become more enlightened abt yourself, others & hopefully we can all find a way to get along. TY @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social

New by me in the Times: A The Harris Poll survey found most parents wish their kids grew up in a world w/o #socialmedia, expressing the same level of regret as for alcohol & guns. #Smartphones and YouTube were lower. Bicycles were regretted by only 9%, despite kids sometimes getting hurt on bikes.

"I think our parents were right. It was the damn phones." A powerful poem by 21-year-old poet Kori Jane Spaulding. On my (free) Substack After Babel: 👉 www.afterbabel.com/p/it-was-the...

Frustrated by polarization? The Righteous Mind by @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social is a great read on the evolutionary causes of moral diversity. Especially useful if you find religion stupid or baffling. It won't convert you but it will help you work w/religious ppl. www.powells.com/book/the-rig...

“We’re guilty of overprotection [of children] in one place (the real world) and underprotection in another (online). I think that was one of the important points of ‘Adolescence’”: fascinating interview with @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...

Great analogy from @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social about the moderation red-herring of big tech social media.

@jonathanhaidt.bsky.social with @oprah-winfrey.bsky.social on #anxiousgeneration. social media, and the digital health of our kids. #mentalhealth #community #TherapistsConnect

New @therestpolitics.bsky.social LEADING with @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social who calls out the worst of the social media revolution and the lies told about it? How does unregulated social media help Trump and authoritarian regimes? How do you beat an addiction to your phone? What should we do? 1/2

One of the most detailed profiles of me and #theanxiousgeneration, in @theguardian.com, spanning my earlier books, current politics, my critics, and AI.

Spoke to the great Prof Laurie Santos about smartphones & childhood: 🎧👉 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

I’m also returning to my reading series on democratic backsliding. I started with books on polarization, but have yet to read @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social’s The Righteous Mind. A classic on the topic. #BookSky 📚💙

This is the best essay I've ever read for helping policymakers understand how best to improve the online world for kids. Ravi Iyer lays out 4 goals and 8 principles. Focus on design, not content moderation. www.afterbabel.com/p/eight-poli...

NEW: The largest-ever expert survey finds consensus about rising youth #mentalhealth problems. This sizable survey should guide legislative action and help solve the problems families face with smartphones and social media in the US and the broader world. Lead author: @valeriocapraro.bsky.social

Really deep and rangey conversation with @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social on What Now this week. But the thing I'm most proud of is opening with a "Leisure Suit Larry" story. There was like five more minutes of Trevor explaining how the game works to him, really wish we coulda kept it all.

Such powerful research by @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social being shared by @creativehigg.bsky.social #TheKidsAreNotAlright

Went to see @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social speak tonight. I've been following his work since that 2015 "Coddling" article in The Atlantic and I always learn new things and get inspired. Recomendo sempre o Geração Ansiosa para quem tem ou convive com crianças e adolescentes.

Happy to announce I've teamed up with Catherine Price to write a young readers' book based on “The Anxious Generation” — "The Amazing Generation." It comes out 12/30 from Penguin Young Readers. Available to preorder:

If your child uses #Snapchat, you should know what Snap's own employees and consultants say about the many ways Snapchat harms children. We collect stunning quotations from them, from the many legal briefs, on my (free) Substack, After Babel: #socialmedia #smartphones #genz #genalpha