The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epi...

After finishing Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, I couldn’t wait to recommend it to my family, friends, and others. I truly believe this book is a must-read for anyone with a smartphone, children, or, well, a pulse. Smartphones’ impact has been so fast and pervasive in our culture that we are only beginning to understand how they are changing us. Because of that, The Anxious Generation is one of the most important nonfiction books I have read this year, perhaps in several years. While many have expressed concern about the impact of mobile phones and social media on our youth, Haidt has made it his mission to uncover the symptoms, explain the effects, and convince us to change how we raise our kids regarding phones and social media. The insights provided in The Anxious Generation make a compelling case for reevaluating the age at which we give our children phones, the extent of their Internet and social media access, and the value of free play. Haidt argues that smartphones, social media, and helicopter parenting have contributed to a decline in the mental well-being of young people. The book offers practical solutions crucial for fostering the emotional maturity and stability of our children and ourselves. At the book’s center are four cultural norms Haidt argues we must implement to address the mental health crisis among our youth. These norms serve as a framework for his argument and practical solutions. First, no smartphones before high school. Parents should delay children’s entry into round-the-clock internet access by giving them only basic phones (phones with limited apps and no internet browser) before ninth grade (roughly 14). Second, no social media before 16. Let kids get through the most vulnerable period of brain development before connecting them to a constant stream of social comparison and algorithmically chosen influencers, which can significantly impact their self-esteem and mental health. Next, phone-free schools. All elementary through high school, students should store their phones, smartwatches, and other personal devices to send or receive texts in phone lockers or locked pouches during the school day. This policy is crucial in creating a distraction-free environment that allows students to focus on their studies and social interactions. And, last, far more unsupervised play and childhood independence. That’s the way children naturally develop social skills, overcome anxiety, and become self-governing young adults. Some money quotes? “My central claim in this book is that these two trends—overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world—are the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation.” “People don’t get depressed when they face threats collectively; they get depressed when they feel isolated, lonely, or useless.” “The two big mistakes we’ve made: overprotecting children in the real world (where they need to learn from vast amounts of direct experience) and underprotecting them online (where they are particularly vulnerable during puberty).” “While the reward-seeking parts of the brain mature earlier, the frontal cortex—essential for self-control, delay of gratification, and resistance to temptation—is not up to full capacity until the mid-20s, and preteens are at a particularly vulnerable point in development” “In this new phone-based childhood, free play, attunement, and local models for social learning are replaced by screen time, asynchronous interaction, and influencers chosen by algorithms. Children are, in a sense, deprived of childhood.” “We don’t let preteens buy tobacco or alcohol, or enter casinos. The costs of using social media, in particular, are high for adolescents, compared with adults, while the benefits are minimal. Let children grow up on Earth first, before sending them to Mars.” “Stress wood is a perfect metaphor for children, who also need to experience frequent stressors in order to become strong adults.” “Children can only learn how to not get hurt in situations where it is possible to get hurt, such as wrestling with a friend, having a pretend sword fight, or negotiating with another child to enjoy a seesaw when a failed negotiation can lead to pain in one’s posterior, as well as embarrassment. When parents, teachers, and coaches get involved, it becomes less free, less playful, and less beneficial. Adults usually can’t stop themselves from directing and protecting.” “By designing a firehose of addictive content that entered through kids’ eyes and ears, and by displacing physical play and in-person socializing, these companies have rewired childhood and changed human development on an almost unimaginable scale.” “Gen Z became the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pockets that called them away from the people nearby and into an alternative universe that was exciting, addictive, unstable, and—as I will show—unsuitable for children and adolescents.” “Over the course of many decades, we found ways to protect children while mostly allowing adults to do what they want. Then quite suddenly, we created a virtual world where adults could indulge any momentary whim, but children were left nearly defenseless. As evidence mounts that phone-based childhood is making our children mentally unhealthy, socially isolated, and deeply unhappy, are we okay with that trade-off? Or will we eventually realize, as we did in the 20th century, that we sometimes need to protect children from harm even when it inconveniences adults?” “We are embodied creatures; children should learn how to manage their bodies in the physical world before they start spending large amounts of time in the virtual world.” “One way that companies get more users is by failing to enforce their own rules prohibiting users under 13. In August 2019, I had a video call with Mark Zuckerberg, who, to his credit, was reaching out to a wide variety of people, including critics. I told him that when my children started middle school, they each said that most of the kids in their class (who were 10 or 11 at the start of sixth grade) had Instagram accounts. I asked Zuckerberg what he planned to do about that. He said, “But we don’t allow anyone under 13 to open an account.” I told him that before our call I had created a fake account for a fictional 13-year-old girl and I encountered no attempt to verify my age claim. He said, “We’re working on that.” While writing this chapter (in August 2023), I effortlessly created another fake account. There is still no age verification, even though age verification techniques have gotten much better in the last four years nor is there any disincentive for preteens to lie about their age.” “Our kids can do so much more than we let them. Our culture of fear has kept this truth from us. They are like racehorses stuck in the stable.” “Many of the best adventures are going to happen with other children in free play. “And when that play includes kids of mixed ages, the learning is deepened because children learn best by trying something that is just a little beyond their current abilities— in other words, something a slightly older kid is doing. Older kids can also benefit from interacting with younger kids, taking on the role of a teacher or older sibling. So, the best thing you can do for your young children is to give them plenty of playtime, with some age diversity, and a secure loving base from which they set off to play. “As for your own interactions with your child, they don’t have to be “optimized.” You don’t have to make every second special or educational. “It’s a relationship, not a class. But what you do often matters far more than what you say, so watch your own phone habits. Be a good role model who is not giving continuous partial attention to both the phone and the child.”

Can't think of a more poignant topic affecting our society today than this - the consequential effects of smartphone over usage in our lives, and how it negatively affects children. Its insane. The reason I bought this book was after seeing the chart (or, graph) on the percent of high school seniors who agreed with the statement "Life Often Feels Meaningless." I was like, wait, what? As a result, I felt compelled to buy the book because I wanted to know what is going on here. I seriously think every parent or anyone interested in helping the next generation, to read this book due to the existential nature of the rising mental health crisis among our youth today. Regarding the book itself - the writing is excellent and easy to read. I really liked how the author's numerous citations for the reader to look-up for their own further investigation. Totally Pro - I wish more authors did this outside of Academia. In particular, I found the following three chapters to be especially illuminating: "Why social media harms girls more than boys," "What is happening to boys?", and "Spiritual elevation and degradation." Despite the perils of smartphone overuse, the author provides solutions to what can be done at the parental, school, and tech company & government levels. So despite many of the tragedies he discusses throughout the book, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, the key takeaway from having read this book is that we all have a role to play in society as to how we choose to use our devices (for both young and old, but especially the young). I think if we are vigilant to fight against the stranglehold technology has in our life, we can make society better for everyone.

This book has insights that are vital to rescuing our young people from their smart phone addiction. As a teacher, I’ve seen evidence of how technology has affected our youth. I was thrilled when our school started a “no cell phones out during the school day.” It didn’t mean they couldn’t check their phones while at their lockers or for an emergency, but students started talking to each other rather than staring down at their phones. And parents need to be more active in monitoring at home, which can be challenging. This book explains why this is so important and gives steps to help correct or avoid our cell phone saturation problem. (And that applies to almost all of us.) I will say that the readability of this book is difficult at times. The author writes a lot about his research, but this gets better as the book goes on. I would prefer if much of that had been referenced in the back of the book for people who want that information.

COMMENTS ABOUT JONATHAN HAIDT’S THE ANXIOUS GENERATION Well researched and documented. Practical, timely, and relevant. Deeper than one might expect. Well written and readable. Haidt’s book is especially well written. His illustrations make sense. Paragraphing is organized. Explanations are clear. Case studies are brief and obvious. It is also helpful with its suggestions for governments, schools, and parents. And who can’t identify with the generally real life examples that clarify Haidt’s points? The scope, gravity, and description of the mental health crisis borders on overkill. Something that impressed me was the depth of explanation of the dual problem—what Haidt refers to as the two whales: smartphone abuse and lack of normal play for children. I am old enough to see both problems as they developed, but they sneaked by me. Well said, Jonathan Haidt! Footnotes and references abound in this work. There are 30 pages of each. Add a substantial index. I recommend that any caring parent take time to read at least the introduction and at least parts of the first and second chapters. Some time in chapter 12 is also advisable—“What Parents Can Do Now”. It is college level reading. Haidt is an atheist, but his comments regarding the importance of religion for good mental health are noteworthy. Chapter 8. I finished this book jaded against big tech and social media. Instagram recently sent this message: “Parents want to feel confident that their teens can use social media to connect with their friends and explore their interests without having to worry about unsafe or inappropriate experiences. That's why Instagram recently introduced teen accounts with built-in limits. Users between the ages of 13 and 17 are now automatically enrolled in Instagram teen accounts. Teens under 16 will need parental permission to change these settings. To learn more, visit instagram.com/teenaccounts.” I am thinking, “Too little, too late.” This seems more like damage control. Also, will their teen accounts really work? What proof of age is there? This book focuses on what is going on with children regarding smartphone use. As we enter the age of AI, I wonder what is happening with ADULTS and their Internet contraptions and with their mental well-being.

An eyeopener and very informative.

Wow! What a book! Everyone needs to read this. Whether you’re a parent, educator, or human; it needs to be read. Seeing the statistics on mental health, especially on adolescents, has declined since the use of smartphones is shocking. Kids need to get back to free play with more time outdoors. There is a lot of studies that back up what needs to be done. If you’re worried about you or your child using tech, give this a read. There is also a graphic novel for younger ones.

I found this book to be enlightening and affirming. As a classroom teacher for the past 25 years and parent to 18 and 16 yo boys, I have keenly observed the timeline and statistics presented by Jonathan Haidt. I agree with the fact a shift desperately is needed to get back to a play-based childhood vs phone-based. I’m seeing the Four Foundational Harms with my oldest son and in MANY tween students in today’s classroom. I only wished I had this book earlier to help manage my own children’s screen time and suggested ages for introducing smartphones and social media. I would say I leaned on the side of caution because I am a teacher, but screens still could have been better introduced. This book provides an overwhelming amount of research to help the reader understand how, as a society, we’ve gotten to the point where we are, the patterns we are seeing and the decline of mental health in adolescents. Many times I found myself referring to the research references the author provides in the Notes on the studies conducted by doctors and experts (particularly interested in the year the study was completed and providing future reading opportunities about those topic). I do feel a warning is needed that the author is an atheist; thus, I cannot support some information within sections in the book such as “Slow Down-Growth Childhood” which focuses on evolution, as I am a believer in Creationism. Even though I agree with the behavior and needs in childhood in this section, I can’t warrant evolution is the cause. Also, as a Christian, the chapter on spiritual elevation and degradation I took with a grain of salt. Again, I found myself in agreement with many of the behaviors present in adolescents, but I have no doubt that living a Christ-centered life can tremendously help redirect an adolescent’s attention and energy away from their screens. With that said, I still highly recommend this book because it gives applicable solutions that need to be collectively implemented by everyone in society (national, state and local communities and by government, teacher and parents) in order to get this screen-based, mental illness uprise epidemic reversed.

The book "The Anxious Generation" by Dr. Jonathan Haidt, has received a great deal of attention, much of it, in my opinion, well deserved. It goes into a lot of background of just what the mental health issues are today for so many adolescents as well as suggestions for actions that could be taken to deal with the causes that this book determines to be the primary reasons that these issues have come up. There were a few things that I noticed as I read the book. The most obvious was the focus on smart cell phones. This is something that you hear about all of the time now and it is an area where a lot of attention is being taken, particularly in the area of banning, to the greatest extent legally and practically possible, the access to these cell phones by adolescents, particularly in schools. In some ways, this is the easy part. Schools have the power to force their students to do or not do lots of things, of which cell phones are one of them. However, Dr. Haidt speaks of foundational reforms, of which he provides four of them. Three of them have to do with cell phones, but the last one has to do with unsupervised play and childhood independence. To me, I think this is much more difficult to do something about. Schools can collectively force their students not to use cell phones, but getting them to go out and play is not so simple. Dr. Haidt points out that parents have gotten much more concerned about the safety of their children. As a result, they limit unsupervised play to much later ages. He says that this needs to be reversed. But to do so will be very difficult. He also discusses reasons that have been thought of for why this has taken place. There doesn’t seem to be consensus on this, but it will be helpful to develop if the change he would like to see can realistically happen. The other particular comparison I noted was between Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.5 in the book. Figure 1.1 noted the rise in teen depression but only went back to 2004. Figure 1.5 went back to 1982 and showed that these issues did have a period of increase in the 1990s that then went down by 2008, before rising again after that. The levels in the 1990s were not as high as the levels have gotten since 2010, but it would be interesting to know what the reasons are thought to be for the earlier increase in the 1990s. Overall, I found The Anxious Generation to be a very interesting and well researched book. It already has and will continue to have a role in making changes, particularly in schools, with regard to adolescent cell phone use.

Back side was torn

Dans l’air du temps ,visionnaire ,nécessaire signal d’alarme ,merci infiniment prof Haidt pour ce livre « manifeste » !!

Such an important book. It finally confirms that my reasoning I intuitively clung to when deciding there were no smartphones, tablets and what not for my kids was absolutely astute. It's a must read for parents and really anybody. Not polarizing, but scientific. Not trying to blame, but empowering parents.

As advertised. Timely delivery.

As a parent, this book gave so much of insight into the issues of social media and practical advice! Read this!