The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

By Jonathan Haidt

Book Overview

THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A Wall Street Journal Top 10 Book of 2024 - A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book - One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2024 - A TIME 100 Must-Read Book of 2024 - Named a Best Book of 2024 by the Economist, the New York Post, and Town & Country - The Goodreads Choice Award Nonfiction Book of the Year - Finalist for the PEN Literary Awards

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.

"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." --Shannon Carlin, TIME, 100 Must-Read Books of 2024

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593655036
• ISBN13: 9780593655030
• Release Date: March 2024
• Publisher: Penguin Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The Facts Are Clear!!

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.