Bestselling author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has dedicated his career to speaking truth and wisdom in some of the most challenging spaces – communities polarised by politics and religion and university campuses mired in culture wars. Now he turns his attention to what he sees as a perfect storm of factors that are rewiring the brains of young people and causing a collapse in mental health among teenagers today. According to the American College Health Association, since 2010 anxiety among American college students has increased by 134%, depression by 106%, bipolar disorder by 57%, and anorexia by 100%.

On April 30 Haidt comes to the Intelligence Squared stage where he will draw on his new book The Anxious Generation to argue that those who entered adolescence in around 2009 developed their sense of self in the midst of three significant technological and social transformations. These are smartphones and the constant companionship of a screen; the proliferation of front-facing cameras and apps which promote selfie culture; and social networks that reduce engagement and affirmation to mere likes and hearts.

Haidt will explain what he sees as the causes of the teen mental health crisis – a shift from carefree childhoods to overprotected, smartphone-dominated lives. He will highlight new research which shows how smartphones disrupt development through sleep deprivation, social isolation, cognitive fragmentation and addiction. And he will offer practical advice to parents, teachers and teenagers, combining traditional wisdom with cutting-edge research.

Join us for an urgent and insightful investigation into the crisis of youth mental health today.