Goodreads says, "A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood. After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?
In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.
Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems” that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.
Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life."
In the 1980s, children had a play-based childhood. After school and on weekends, they would run outside in their neighborhood, ride bikes, play in a neighbor's yard, explore the park, and there was no way for parents to know where they were. Children simply came back when dusk set in. Childhood looks vastly different for kids today. Parents have trackers on their kids' watches, cell phones, and personal items. Sure, kids today could bike around the neighborhood, but you can track their location and text them in an instant. Then throw in an unhealthy dose of technology, like cell phones and video games and it equals a much different child than a product of the 80s, or even the 90s. Social media changed in 2009 and put people in "defend mode" as there was always an onslaught of opinions. Children are being radically rewired as they interact more with their peers via technology than in actual one-on-one playing outside with the benefits of fresh air and sunshine. Children today are more depressed and anxious than ever before and psychologist Haidt knows why. In The Anxious Generation, he lays out all the reasons why children today are struggling, how technology (mostly the iPhone) has impacted them, and how to avoid it. This book is a must-read for all parents and educators.
As a child of the 80s, I see it. I see the changes in kids today, both when I was teaching and as a parent. It's a shame that we don't give children more free reign in their neighborhood (b/c kidnappers! or sexual predators!) but then we let them "run free" on the internet. Haidt argues they should have more freedom to explore outside (discover mode and risky play) and within their neighborhoods than online. He also advises parents to not give their child a phone until high school as it is causing psychological and neurological damage to kids.
On a personal note, I am very against cell phones and probably one of the last moms to not give my twelve-year-old one (I hear I am so not cool and this has made me very unpopular!!), but reading The Anxious Generation is gratifying and validating. Most of my son's friends have phones and this is the problem. When all his friends have them, it's hard for parents to hold out, which is why I was excited to see a new program coming to my younger son's elementary school called Wait Until 8th, where parents vow to not give a phone to their kids until 8th grade. If parents all band together to follow this rule, it will be much easier to hold out and I believe it's due to The Anxious Generation's influence, as well as all the latest research.
Haidt also takes a deep dive into all the data to support his claims and lays out how technology has become addicting (even video games) and replaced all the real-life interactions that kids today need. This is especially detrimental during adolescence and when kids go through puberty. The Anxious Generation also covers video games, how social media is harmful (especially to young girls), what is happening to boys' mental health, what schools can do about this, the need for risky play, and how this lack of independence is creating fragile kids. But parents, have no fear because Haidt also explains how to fix this and combat the mental health crisis.
I urge every parent and educator to read The Anxious Generation. Yes, it includes a lot of the information that we already know deep down, but it uses data to further illustrate the point and hammer home all the implications. I would recommend reading a physical copy of the book, not the audio, as Haidt includes a lot of charts and helpful graphs.
So, have you read The Anxious Generation? Let me know your thoughts on the book in the comments below.
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