The Anxious Generation
This book explains why adolescent mental health collapsed at the same time and in the same way across so many countries in the early 2010s, and what we can do to reverse these alarming trends.
Studying the effects of technological change on childhood, mental health, and democracy
I am a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. My mission is to use research in social and moral psychology to help people understand each other and to help important social institutions work better in a time of massive technological change.
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New TED Talk: Why you should be a techno-skeptic
Current Work
The Anxious Generation
A focused path into current research, interviews, and movement updates around adolescence, technology, and institutional response.
Featured appearance
Featured publications
Essay / The Atlantic / 2024
The Terrible Costs of a Phone-Based Childhood
Essay / The Atlantic / 2025
What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones
Academic Research / World Happiness Report 2026
Social Media is Harming Young People at a Scale Large Enough to Cause Changes at the Population Level
Books
The Anxious Generation
This book explains why adolescent mental health collapsed at the same time and in the same way across so many countries in the early 2010s, and what we can do to reverse these alarming trends.
The Amazing Generation
Co-authored with Catherine Price. A guide for kids and early teens to fun and freedom in a screen-filled world—the Rebel’s Code, real stories, and practical tools.
The Coddling of the American Mind
Gen Z is suffering from rapidly rising rates of anxiety, depression, and fragility. This book explains why, and how to reverse the trends.
All Minus One
John Stuart Mill made the most powerful case for free speech ever. Reeves & Haidt bring modern readers a shortened version of Ch. 2 of On Liberty, with beautiful illustrations of Mill’s metaphors by artist Dave Cicirelli.
The Righteous Mind
This is a comprehensive yet easily readable account of human morality, which enabled us to create civilizations, but set us up for constant conflict too.
The Happiness Hypothesis
This book analyzes ten great ideas, discovered across cultures and millennia, and uses them to lay out a path to flourishing today.
Projects
As I study institutions and how they go wrong, I have a tendency to bring people together and then co-found a research group or non-profit organization to help it go right. Here are the ones I have co-founded since 2015.
The TAG Movement
Research and action to reverse the phone-based childhood and support healthier development for kids.
Tech and Society Lab at NYU Stern
Rigorous and actionable research for human flourishing in the digital age.
Let Grow
Making it easy, normal and legal to give kids the independence they need to grow into capable, confident, and happy adults.
Constructive Dialogue Institute
A psychology-based educational platform designed to depolarize campuses, companies, and communities.
Heterodox Academy
A collaboration among 5000 professors promoting open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement within universities.