Dr. Phil went on the View today to promote a) his new book and b) his new show. As a former daytime TV host, Dr. Phil seemed to get a lot of leeway from the ladies of the View who mostly seemed to be trying to help him promote his stuff. But that changed toward the end of the segment when the discussion turned to the influence of social media on children.
Dr. Phil very briefly made the case that, starting around 2008, smartphones led kids to become observers rather than participants, something which he connected to “the highest levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness and suicidality” since records started being kept. Had he stopped there the segment might have ended on a note of concern and mutual agreement. Instead he went on to say that closing schools for two years during the pandemic had made things even worse.
At this point Sunny Hostin (of course) jumped in to argue the…
