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What Jon Haidt thinks about social media

@jonathan-haidt · 9 positions · 0 changes of mind

Social psychologist at NYU Stern, author of The Righteous Mind, The Coddling of the American Mind and The Anxious Generation. He writes at After Babel.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Jon Haidt did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

5 dated positions, 2025 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Jon Haidt has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingSocial media in its current form harms people of all ages; the line is drawn at childhood only because adults are allowed to choose things that are bad for them.

    Their wordsLike any addictive consumer product that routinely exposes users to graphic sex, extreme violence, and anonymous sexual predators, social media in its current form causes a variety of harms to people of all ages. But we allow adults (often defined as age 18) to make decisions that are bad for them.

    ↗Why the World Is Drawing a Line on Social Media for Kidsafterbabel.com 1st of 3 in this piece

    Addiction

    Interesting

  3. Our readingThe minimum age for opening a social media account should be 16, because puberty is a sensitive period of brain rewiring that needs protecting.

    Their wordsSixteen is also roughly the age by which a majority of adolescents have completed puberty: a sensitive period of neural reorganization during which it is extremely important to protect the brain.

    ↗Why the World Is Drawing a Line on Social Media for Kidsafterbabel.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

    Interesting

  5. Our readingA parental-consent exception defeats a social media age limit, because it drops each family straight back into the trap the law exists to break.

    Their wordsI cannot support any law that includes a “parental consent” exception—it defeats the central purpose of the law by dropping parents and children straight back into the same collective-action trap

    ↗Why the World Is Drawing a Line on Social Media for Kidsafterbabel.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

    Interesting
  6. 2 months earlier

  7. Our readingParents are caught in a collective-action trap over their children and social media, which only a rule binding on everyone can release them from.

    Their wordsParents want this. They know social media can harm their children, yet many feel trapped because everyone else’s kids are already online.

    ↗Australia's New Social Media Regulations Put Childhood Firstafterbabel.com 1st of 2 in this piece

    Interesting

  9. Our readingAn age limit on social media does not need perfect enforcement to work, because its job is to change the default rather than to stop every child.

    Their wordsThe goal is not perfect enforcement. Some kids will still find workarounds. The goal is to shift the environment so children are not pressured into digital spaces they don’t want, simply to avoid being left out.

    ↗Australia's New Social Media Regulations Put Childhood Firstafterbabel.com 2nd of 2 in this piece

    Interesting