After Babel | Jon Haidt | Substack

What Careless People Teaches Us About the Tech Lobby’s Playbook

Sarah Wynn-Williams’ new book shows us that “It didn’t have to be this way”

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Recent posts

Taking Back Childhood From Phones—Finally

Americans don’t agree about anything. Except this: childhood belongs in the real-world.

Mar 28 •

and

An EdTech Tragedy

A groundbreaking UNESCO book on the damage wrought by ed-tech during COVID school closures around the globe

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and

How Social Media Pushes Vulnerable Teens Toward Eating Disorders

Social media companies must take more responsibility to address how their products are fueling adolescent eating disorders

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The latest from

Taking Back Childhood From Phones—Finally

Taking Back Childhood From Phones—Finally

Flaws in a Recent Lancet Study on Phone Use in Schools

We Live In Imaginary Worlds

After Babel

After Babel

A free weekly newsletter from Jonathan Haidt and his team using moral psychology to explain why so much is going wrong

The Case Against The Phone-Based Childhood

An EdTech Tragedy

A groundbreaking UNESCO book on the damage wrought by ed-tech during COVID school closures around the globe

Mar 24 •

and

How Social Media Pushes Vulnerable Teens Toward Eating Disorders

Social media companies must take more responsibility to address how their products are fueling adolescent eating disorders

Mar 17 •

Kristina Lerman

The Price of Mass Amusement

Prescient warnings from Neil Postman about the tradeoffs we make with new technologies

Feb 24 •

Andrew Trousdale

From Anxiety to Animosity: How Social Media Damages Relationships

A preview of Nicholas Carr’s new book Superbloom

Feb 3 •

TikTok Is Harming Children at an Industrial Scale

Recently revealed text in legal briefs tells a damning story about the company, in its employees’ own words

Jan 9 •

and

The Case for Independence, Free Play, and Responsibility in the Real World

The Real User Interface: Recovering Our Neighborhoods

Although the technological forces driving us apart are powerful, the forces needed to hold us together are right in front of us.

Jan 14 •

The Joy of Missing Out: Lessons from a Church-Wide Digital Detox

How Churches can help roll back the phone-based life

Oct 23, 2024 •

Darren Whitehead

Four Lessons for Raising Resilient Children in the Digital Age

What secular families can learn from faith-based communities

Oct 14, 2024 •

and

Journalist Sends Kids off on a Smartphone-Free Camping Trip – Unsupervised. Adults Quake. Kids Flourish.

The Sunday Times (UK) just ran a major story illustrating the twin prescriptions in The Anxious Generation

Aug 12, 2024 •

and

The Upstream Cause of the Youth Mental Health Crisis is the Loss of Community

We've forgotten what community really means.

Aug 2, 2024 •

The International Mental Health Crisis

How Psychological Distress Globally Accelerated Among Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic

A Three-Decade Perspective on Escalating International Psychological Distress in Adolescence

Feb 19 •

Karen Schrijvers

and

Thomas Potrebny

The Global Loss of the U-Shaped Curve of Happiness

Happiness used to be U-shaped by age, with middle age the least happy. Not anymore. Young people are now the least happy.

May 27, 2024 •

David Blanchflower

and

The Girls Are Not Alright: Responses to Three Claims that the Youth Mental Health Crisis Is Exaggerated

Why changes in stigma and self-reporting procedures cannot explain the international decline of adolescent girls’ mental health.

Apr 11, 2024 •

The Youth Mental Health Crisis is International Part 4: Europe

Why girls from wealthy, secular, and individualistic nations were hit hardest.

Jan 30, 2024 •

,

Thomas Potrebny

, and

Voices of Gen Z

What Parents Can Do Now

Raising Screen-Free Boys

Keeping them as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible.

Mar 10 •

Katherine Johnson Martinko

Are You Struggling With Your Own Screen Time?

Five steps adults can take to create a better relationship with their phones

Jan 29 •

Catherine Price

Parents, It’s OK To Do Less

Why parenting less might be the best thing we can do for our children

Jan 6 •

Katherine Johnson Martinko

Social Media is Disproportionately Hurting Girls

Parents Need to Have These Conversations with Their Daughters

Dec 4, 2024 •

Kara Alaimo, PhD

What Schools and Educators Can Do Now

An EdTech Tragedy

A groundbreaking UNESCO book on the damage wrought by ed-tech during COVID school closures around the globe

Mar 24 •

and

When a Smartwatch Disrupts Second Grade

Why phone-free schools must also be smartwatch-free

Mar 5 •

Delaney Ruston, MD

and

The Most Compelling Argument Against Tech in Schools

Sophie Winkleman lays out the reasons why screen-based schooling is interfering with education and harming children’s development

Feb 27 •

and

Sophie Winkleman

How to (and How NOT to) Mandate Phone-Free Schools

A guide for legislatures looking to make their states’ schools phone-free, and not just during class time

Jan 30 •

What Governments and Tech Companies Can Do

What Careless People Teaches Us About the Tech Lobby’s Playbook

Sarah Wynn-Williams’ new book shows us that “It didn’t have to be this way”

Mar 31 •

Congress Must Pass KOSA By Christmas. The Only Obstacle Seems to be Meta’s Influence

Now that Elon and X have addressed the last free speech concerns, the House leadership should allow it to come up for a vote.

Dec 12, 2024 •

and

The Tech Industry’s Playbook To Prevent Regulation

The Tech Industry is using an old trick – shifting the responsibility entirely to us

Dec 11, 2024 •

Scott Galloway Explains Why Age Gating Social Media Is Both Necessary and Doable

The companies can do it, but they're incentivized to fight it

Dec 2, 2024

Responses to Skeptics

Flaws in a Recent Lancet Study on Phone Use in Schools

Five problems that call into question the authors’ conclusion that phone free schools don’t improve mental health or academic performance

Feb 13 •

,

, and

The Fundamental Flaws of The Only Meta-Analysis of Social Media Reduction Experiments (And Why It Matters), Part 3

The recent meta-analysis of social media experiments achieved a statistically insignificant result only due to a string of errors.

Oct 4, 2024 •

The Worst Argument That Social-Media Companies Use to Defend Themselves

Why are tech leaders so adamant about pushing their creations on other people’s kids, while protecting their own?

Sep 16, 2024 •

,

, and

The Fundamental Flaws of The Only Meta-Analysis of Social Media Reduction Experiments (And Why It Matters), Part 2

Fives types of errors in a recent meta-analysis bias the analysis in the same direction: that there is no effect of social media use on mental health

Sep 10, 2024 •

and

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