Episode 8: How Social Media Threatens Society

The internet has changed our lives, mostly for the better. But there is a flip side. Jonathan Haidt joins Vasant Dhar in episode 8 of Brave New World to describe how social media is a threat to democracy and public discourse — and to the mental health of a generation.

Useful resources:
1. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion — Jonathan Haidt.
2. The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure — Jonathan Haidt.
3. The website for The Coddling, especially its suggestions on How To Improve Social Media.
4. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom — Jonathan Haidt.
5. The Social Media Industrial Complex — Episode 3 of Brave New World (w Sinan Aral).
6. The Dark Psychology of Social Networks — Jonathan Haidt and Tobias Rose-Stockwell.
7. The Federalist Papers — Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay.