'More addictive than heroin': Jonathan Haidt on why social media is so harmful and how to help kids get unhooked

Life Matters - Separate stories podcast

The tragic statistics forming the basis of the youth mental health crisis can all be traced back to one moment - the invention of the smartphone and the emergence of the 'selfie-based social media ecosystem' in 2012. That's the argument at the centre of social psychologist Jonathan Haidt's groundbreaking new book ‘the Anxious Generation’.

With the use of extensive research, Haidt outlines why social media is an ‘inherently dangerous consumer product’ akin to smoking. But he also lays out a detailed blueprint for how parents can take childhood back for their kids.

Guest:

Professor Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist at New York University and author of the Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness