Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at NYU-Stern, said in an interview this week that smartphones and social media have led to numerous problems for Gen Z.
Haidt made the remarks while speaking to “Firing Line” with host Margaret Hoover about his new book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”
He explained that “the great rewiring” refers to a five-year period between 2010 and 2015 when society fundamentally changed for adolescents with the emergence of smartphones and social media.
“In 2010, adolescents had flip phones. They had no, most did not have high speed internet,” he said. “Over the next five years, by 2015, most American teens have a smartphone with a front-facing camera, high speed internet. They have an Instagram account or other social media accounts, Snapchat, a bunch of other ones. And…
