Mr. Eli Schneider
Journal Editor and Student Support Teacher
The following video is part of an interview excerpted from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Rogan’s guest is the American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who is Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business and has authored such books as The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (2006) and The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (2012). His most recent book, with Greg Lukianoff, is The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure and was published in 2018.
As others have written, Haidt argues that the rise of smartphones has had a transformative effect on the lives of young people who are growing up with social media. He highlights increases in anxiety and depression, particularly among those members of “Generation Z” who begin using social media in middle school. While there is much debate surrounding this topic, especially concerning socio-economic factors impacting rises in rates of anxiety and depression (for further reading see here), we hope this interview helps stimulate the ongoing conversation around the role of social media in our community. This will be the first in a series of posts that will address the challenges posed by changes in technology and education, as well as the impact these developments have on students now and in the future.
