Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Why America’s Kids Are Anxious
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Why America’s Kids Are Anxious
Ravi Gupta welcomes back Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids and president of Let Grow, to explore how fear-driven parenting and digital distraction are reshaping childhood. From the 1980s milk-carton panic to today’s surveillance tech, they show how over-scheduling breeds helplessness instead of competence. Citing new polling, Skenazy reveals kids overwhelmingly prefer unstructured play with friends over screens or adult-run activities. They link these trends to rising youth anxiety, falling literacy, and weakened civic resilience—arguing that restoring children’s freedom is both a personal and political imperative.
Signal Award Voting (make sure to vote if you haven’t yet):
--
Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 201-305-0084
Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta
Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/
Read more from Ravi on Substack: https://realravigupta.substack.com
Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia
Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785
Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xR9pch9DrQDiZfGB5oF0F
Listen to Where the Schools Went: https://thebranchmedia.org/show/where-the-schools-went/
View all episodes
By The Branch
4.6
590590 ratings
Ravi Gupta welcomes back Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids and president of Let Grow, to explore how fear-driven parenting and digital distraction are reshaping childhood. From the 1980s milk-carton panic to today’s surveillance tech, they show how over-scheduling breeds helplessness instead of competence. Citing new polling, Skenazy reveals kids overwhelmingly prefer unstructured play with friends over screens or adult-run activities. They link these trends to rising youth anxiety, falling literacy, and weakened civic resilience—arguing that restoring children’s freedom is both a personal and political imperative.
Signal Award Voting (make sure to vote if you haven’t yet):
--
Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 201-305-0084
Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta
Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/
Read more from Ravi on Substack: https://realravigupta.substack.com
Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia
Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785
Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xR9pch9DrQDiZfGB5oF0F
Listen to Where the Schools Went: https://thebranchmedia.org/show/where-the-schools-went/
More shows like Lost Debate
View all
Political Gabfest
8,485 Listeners
Explain It to Me
7,865 Listeners
Pivot
9,570 Listeners
The Fifth Column
2,874 Listeners
Pod Save America
87,394 Listeners
The Daily
112,484 Listeners
Majority 54
6,195 Listeners
Strict Scrutiny
5,822 Listeners
The Unspeakeasy With Meghan Daum
802 Listeners
Tangle
846 Listeners
The Ezra Klein Show
15,955 Listeners
The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
10,792 Listeners
Honestly with Bari Weiss
8,731 Listeners
On with Kara Swisher
3,528 Listeners
The Citizen Stewart Show
42 Listeners
Sweat The Technique
22 Listeners
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov
1,349 Listeners
The National Parents Union Podcast
30 Listeners
Pulso y Péndulo
37 Listeners
The Hardest Step
20 Listeners
Where the Schools Went
40 Listeners