TU Wien DIGHUM

Jonathan Haidt: “The Mass Destruction of Human Potential and the Human Spirit Since 2010”

DIGHUM Lecture with Jonathan Haidt.

Speakers: Jonathan Haidt (New York University’s Stern School of Business, USA), Allison Stanger (Middlebury College, USA)
Speakers: Jonathan Haidt (New York University’s Stern School of Business, USA), Allison Stanger (Middlebury College, USA)

September 30th 2025

  • 17:00 – 18:00 CEST
  • This is an online-only event.
    See description for details.

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About the Event

September 30, 2025
5:00 – 6:00 PM
(17:00) CEST

The talk was live-streamed and recorded on the DIGHUM YouTube Channel.

Abstract

Something changed in the lives of children in most Western nations who were born after 1995. The first alarm to ring was their mental health, which began to drop sharply around 2012. It is now clear that compared to previous generations, they are suffering from multiple additional deficits, such as in attentional capacity, education outcomes, social development, sexual development, and even spiritual development. In this talk I lay out the only theory yet put forth that can explain why this happened in so many countries at the same time – the early 2010s. I show how a “great rewiring of childhood” occurred in which the “play-base childhood” for which humans evolved was rapidly replaced by the “phone-based childhood.”

Slides

Here you can download the slides: Download slides.

Video

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“The Mass Destruction of Human Potential and the Human Spirit Since 2010”
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uIgtQVLu2HA