The Anxious Generation

How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

By: Jonathan Haidt

Narrated by: Sean Pratt, Jonathan Haidt

THE ACCLAIMED #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER with over two million copies sold • 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.

Named one of the best books of the year by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Time, The Economist, New York Post, and Town & Country • One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year • Named finalist for the PEN Literary Awards

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.” —Time

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 (pronounced "height") 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.

A bit longer than needed

Interesting information, however if you are feeling pinched for time all you really need to listen to are the first few chapters and last chapter as much of the information is shared and then repackaged for a slightly different vantage. (Government, school, parents, community at large)

If you want a thorough explanation, then every chapter has something informative to share but by and large the message is the same. “Encourage kids to play in the real world with other kids instead of being on screens/social media.”

Eye opening

This was one of the most impactful books I have ever consumed. This changed the way that I see my children, and helped me understand my wife better (We are both in gen Z). This also helped me evaluate my own use of a smartphone and deliberately spend more time present with my kids.

This book outlines mankind’s erosion or morals…WHAT HAPPENED TO US!!!

If every human would listen to this book and realize wherein our ‘challenges’ began with the Thumb-based childhood and how our morality has been adversely affected!!!
Are we too late to turn things around??? What can we do?

If you care about society, read this book.

As a mom of teens, this author’s work is truly invaluable. Society as a whole, is changing right before our very eyes. We can DO something about this. There are many practical ways we can bring about healing change to our youth, and this book does a great job at explaining how and why.

If you don’t agree, you’re part of the problem.

I challenge anyone to look at the the current cultural landscape and not heartbreakingly agree with the analysis and the advice and suggestions brought forward in this book. A must listen for all.