Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and taught for 16 years in the department of psychology at the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous academic articles and books. His most recent work, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, was published earlier this year.

“The theme of the book,” Haidt told members of the Taft community during an all-school meeting, “is that we have overprotected our children in the real world, and underprotected them online, which is a world that has become increasingly dangerous.”

It is a “tragedy,” Haidt notes, that unfolded in two acts: in Act I (1980-2010), “play-based childhood” began to fade gradually, largely due to parental fears of the dangers of the outside world; in Act 2 (2010-2015), the “phone-based childhood stormed in” with the proliferation of smartphones, social media, front-facing cameras and high-speed internet.

As a college professor, Haidt and his colleagues at NYU noticed that the freshmen arriving on campus in 2014 and 2015 were “really different”—these Gen Z students were unlike the Millennials who preceded them. Representational data from college and university health centers across the country proved that what was happening at NYU was not unique: Gen Z students were experiencing mental health disorders at rates two to three times greater than Millennials, with the most dramatic increases in anxiety and depression. The increases were even greater in young women.

“Since the early 2010s, young people across the developed world are becoming more anxious, depressed and lonely, and more likely to harm themselves, especially teen girls,” notes Haidt. “They are also less educated, less able to focus, and, hence, functionally less intelligent. A global reversal in education has never happened before.”

Why, asks Haidt? Act I, and the very rapid arrival of Act II.

“The arrival of the smartphone and social media was transformative: Haidt says. “It is not just a correlation, but a cause.”

Haidt asked the Taft audience to consider adopting these norms:

-No smartphones before high school (age 14)

-No social media before age 16

-Phone-free schools

-More childhood independence and free play

Watch Dr. Haidt’s all-school talk here:

During his time at Taft, Dr. Haidt also met with faculty, and Eileen Bouffard’s Media and Identity class, which has been reading his book. He also participated in a webinar with parents and alumni, facilitated by Amy Julia Becker ’94. You can watch the webinar here: