In Flourishing, Jonathan Haidt Is Changing Student Lives In and Out of the Classroom

Change Your Habits, Change Your Life

Students begin the course by taking a poll on how much time they spend on their devices. For Everett Jania, an NYU Stern sophomore who had a habit of scrolling, the results were humbling.

“Walking to track practice, I would scroll. After track practice, I would scroll. In-between classes, I would scroll. And scroll, and scroll, and scroll,” Everett explains. “It limited the opportunity for me to do deep work. I couldn’t focus. As a result, my grades suffered. When we took that poll, most people had five or six hours a day. But there was one outlier: Ten hours a day. That was me. That prompted me to change.”

Throughout Flourishing, Haidt encourages students to replace the bad habits like scrolling  with a positive habit. In Everett’s case, this entailed removing addictive applications like Instagram and TikTok from his phone and introducing meditation into his daily rhythm. Though he may have been struggling at the beginning of the year, the change was so drastic it led to him finishing the semester with nearly a 4.0 GPA.

“In Professor Haidt’s class, I learned various techniques,” Everett concludes. “Now, I can actually relax. I can form better relationships with myself and those around me.”

Using What You Learn in the Classroom IRL

Colorado native Eva Shapiro, also a sophomore at NYU Stern, didn’t grow up using many devices. She attended a Montessori school and had a play-based childhood, one where devices were stored away in lockers. However, entering high school at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, changed everything for her.

“When I got to NYU, I had very poor screen time habits,” Eva says. “During the class, we looked at our notifications. I was receiving over 400 notifications throughout the day from miscellaneous apps. Throughout the class, reducing those notifications was one thing that was really, really helpful for me.”

Eva says she now leaves her phone behind to go on walks or to study at the library so she doesn’t get distracted. She also utilizes campus resources like The Nest, a space where students can store their phones safely in lockers and connect IRL.

“The ability to be productive and really focus on what you’re doing is just not possible when you have a phone on you,” Eva adds. “I’ve been able to reduce my screen use and go back to who I was before I was scrolling nonstop.”

You, Too, Can Flourish

Because technology is constantly evolving, the course is too. Each year, Haidt takes what he learns—what’s new, what’s out of date—and curates the next year’s curriculum so students are always getting advice and information that’s relevant and helpful in the current moment. However, while the topics and platforms are ever evolving, the thread of creating a life full of positive habits, where students flourish in and out of the classroom remains at the heart of it all.

“On the last day of class, you see this multi-system improvement,” says Haidt. “When you change one [habit], it changes another, and then another. Then, everything in your life changes.”

At the end of the NYU IRL event, students had the opportunity to ask Haidt questions too.

“For students who are already in college, for my friends, my younger sister who will be in college soon, what are the practical steps that we can take now that we are already online to reclaim our attention?” Eva asked.

Professor Haidt’s response? Well, it is helpful for anyone, whether they’re enrolled in Flourishing or not:

1. Take all the “slot machine apps” like TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram Reels off your phone.
2. Create a positive morning and evening routine by asking yourself: What are the last five things you do before bed, and what are the first five things you do when you wake up? (Hint: Devices shouldn’t be a part of this!)
3. Shut off the “great majority” of notifications.

“Turning your phone back into a communication device is key,” says Eva. “Taking the steps to delete those apps is really hard, but once you do, you regain so much control over your life.”