A contentious conversation with Jonathan Haidt

here Transcript, audio, video. Here is the synopsis of the episode:

But thanks to advances in technology and good old human resilience, will kids be able to adapt more easily than he thinks?

Jonathan joins Tyler to discuss whether leftists or rightists make better parents, the smartest people Jonathan has interacted with, psychological characteristics as a source of identitarianism, and whether AI will solve the screen time problem. We discussed this issue, including why. School closures don’t seem to have affected young people’s well-being, mood changes since 2012 aren’t just a problem with social media use, wider internet and social media benefits, biggest collective action solution Four norms for smartphone usage issues, the feasibility of social media age restrictions, etc.

It’s a very different tone than most CWTs, especially when it comes to social media. Below are some excerpts.

Cowen: There are two pieces of evidence. Looking at them, the samples don’t seem to support your story.

Height: Okay, great. Let’s eat.

Cowen: First, if you look at the countries as a whole, it’s mainly the Anglosphere and the Nordic countries, which are more or less part of the Anglosphere. Most people in the world are not affected by this and smartphones seem to be fine for them. Why, for reasons we hardly understand, did a negative mood descend on the Anglosphere and not in most other parts of the world? If you want to distinguish between my hypothesis and yours , wouldn’t that favor my view?

Height: Well, given the connections and timing, I would say no. I think I understand what you’re saying, but I think your take would be, “For some reason we don’t know, things changed around 2012.” On the other hand, I would like to say this.You can see this by looking at the rates of mental illness. especially girls” I would like to say that it is not just a matter of mood. It looks like (a), but why especially girls? (b) —

Cowen: Isn’t it more mimetic?

Height: Yes, it is.

Cowen: In general, girls are more likely to imitate things.

Height: That is correct. That’s part of it. Yes, that’s part of it. They are much more open to connection. They are more affected. They are more susceptible to infection. That’s a big part of it, you’re right.what Zach Roush And I discovered that he was my principal investigator. After Babel Substack. I hope people will sign up. It’s free. We have published a large amount of research. Zack has been following closely what has happened internationally and I can explain it to you.

Now I know the answer. I didn’t know about it 2 months ago. The answer, as I said, is that in the country it’s the conservative, religious people who are protected, and the rest of the people, whose children are washed away at sea. Psychologically, they feel that their lives have no meaning. They become even more depressed. Zac traveled around the world and found that the overall psychological state of children in Europe was a little worse.

But that hides the fact that in Eastern Europe, which has become more religious, children are actually healthier today than they were 10 or 15 years ago.It’s a little worse in Catholic Europe, and a little worse in Protestant Europe. many bad.

It doesn’t seem to me like, oh, New Zealand and Iceland were talking to each other and kids were sharing memes. In fact, everyone in the developed world uses a phone, even children in Eastern Europe use a phone, but the penetration and momentum was even faster in the wealthiest countries, the British and Scandinavians. That’s where people had the most independence and individualism, which contributed significantly to their well-being before smartphones. But now, when the rapid transition to phone-based childhoods occurred around 2012, it meant these kids were swept away. What’s wrong with that explanation?

Cowen: Older Americans also look more grumpy to me. It might be cable TV, but they’re not always on their cell phones. And you know all these studies. Trying to assess what percentage of the variation in young people’s happiness is caused by smartphone use.Sabine Hossenfelder There have been recent videos about this, but the number is very, very, very small. This is another measurement that seems to support my theory, namely exogenous mood changes, not yours. Why not?

The whole thing is very interesting and I recommend it. And don’t forget, John’s argument is based on his new book, An anxious generation: How a massive rewiring of childhood is driving an epidemic of mental illness..