I wonder how many parents might be tempted this Christmas to place a dumb phone under the tree for their freshly TikTok-estranged 14-year-old to unwrap. To try that, given the government’s social media ban for under-16s, would probably be rubbing salt into a wound.

But what if the stakes are even higher than we think – if such a move could help thwart a devilish plot? It’s a question raised by Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist, author of The Anxious Generation.

It’s the connected generation, but it’s struggling for connection. Credit: iStock

Haidt recently picked up on a viral trend that asked ChatGPT this question: If you were the devil, how would you destroy the next generation without them even knowing it?

At the end of a long and chilling answer, the AI chatbot concluded: “If I were the devil, I’d destroy the next generation not by terror or violence, but distraction, disconnection, and the slow erosion of meaning. They wouldn’t even notice, because it would feel like freedom and entertainment.”

Haidt is not a........

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