The data is clear: We’re in the midst of a serious crisis. The number of teenagers and young adults with clinical depression more than doubled between 2011 and 2021. The suicide rate for teenagers nearly doubled from 2007 to 2019, and tripled for 10- to 14-year- olds in particular. According to the C.D.C., nearly 25 percent of teenage girls made a suicide plan in 2021. What’s going on in the lives of teenagers that has produced such a startling uptick? The research psychologist Jean Twenge has spent years poring over mental health statistics and survey data trying to answer this question. Her books “iGen” and, more recently, “Generations” analyze reams of research about young people to build a strong argument: Our teenage mental health crisis is the direct product of the rise of smartphones and social media. So I wanted to have Twenge on the show to elicit and interrogate her argument. What is the actual evidence for the smartphone thesis? How do we account for the fact that teenage girls and liberals a
