Commonwealth Conversation on Restoring Childhood Through Common Sense Approaches to Social Media and Cell Phones
On the evening of September 19, the First Lady of Virginia Suzanne S. Youngkin and award-winning social psychologist, author, and researcher Dr. Jonathan Haidt convened for a fireside chat at Old Bridge Elementary School in Prince William County to discuss the findings of Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness and how it informs our communities and schools in limiting social media and cell phone use to help restore childhood and play. The event was broadcasted live to participating schools, with 70 divisions and 84 schools across the Commonwealth joining in the conversation and hosting an event that evening.
Get Involved: How Your School Can Host an Event
Participating schools can use the recorded fireside chat as an opportunity to facilitate community conversations with parents, educators, students, and families to create best practices for the use of cell phones and social media both in and out of school. Please find the video, event guide, and other materials below.
- Commonwealth Conversation: First Lady of Virginia Suzanne S. Youngkin and Dr. Jonathan Haidt – Recorded Live Broadcast
- Facilitators Guide for Hosting the Conversation Broadcast
- Top 10 Proven Actions to Ensure Your Student is Ready to Soar This School Year
- Executive Order 33 Guidance, Supports, and Resources
Speakers
Suzanne S. Youngkin, First Lady of Virginia
A Texas native but a Virginian at heart, Suzanne S. Youngkin is proud to serve alongside her husband, the 74th Governor of Virginia as the First Lady.
While together they are committed to uplifting all persons and communities in Virginia, the First Lady is laser focused on the needs of Virginia’s women and girls – including, fighting the scourge of fentanyl, improving access to mental and behavioral healthcare, encouraging workforce preparedness, and connecting Virginians with resources for wellbeing.
With a background in communications and a heart for all persons made in the image of God, Suzanne is committed to using her voice to shine a light on the goodness happening in the Commonwealth as well as standing up for the disenfranchised.
She also cherishes welcoming people to Richmond’s Executive Mansion and traversing Virginia meeting with and listening to constituents.
As the mother of four, young adult children and an active participant in charitable activities that benefit youth, faith-based organizations, higher learning institutions, artists and arts education, as well as animals and nature, Suzanne prioritizes service to others.
In representing the people of the Commonwealth, Suzanne hopes to leave a legacy of kindness and hope throughout Virginia. Knowing it would not be possible without the love and support of all who live, work and raise their families here, Suzanne is humbled to serve as your First Lady.
Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992.
Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultural and political divisions. Haidt is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis (2006) and of the New York Times bestsellers The Righteous Mind (2012) and The Coddling of the American Mind (2018, with Greg Lukianoff). He has given four TED talks. In 2019 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Since 2018 he has been studying the contributions of social media to the decline of teen mental health and the rise of political dysfunction. His most recent book is The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, published on March 26, 2024.