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

Excellent book. All parents/teachers/change makers should read and absorb the information to protect children for as long as possible. Haidt is incredibly informative, without fear mongering. The stats he uses are very relevant and I really hope people start to listen to the dangers of social media.

Everyone should read this book! Super informative and a very interesting read. I couldn’t put it down! Scary stuff! I wondered where all the kids went. I never see any playing out anymore. It’s like the Pied Piper has taken them all away. Growing up in the 80’s we had a Goonies Childhood. We were seldom indoors. We were free range kids and although we didn’t have all the materialistic stuff kids have today we were all the more richer and happier for it. We just made it up as we went along and we loved it! If things don’t change there will be implications for all of us in the future.

Every book is written with at least one objective in mind, and the over-riding consideration in the evaluation of a book must be the extent to which it achieves its stated objective. On that basis Jonathan Haidt’s book THE ANXIOUS GENERATION is maybe 80% there, I give it four stars. The book was written with two objectives in one. These are firstly to highlight the damage done to children and young people by the advent of the smartphone and suggest strategies for reining in its negative effects, and secondly to make the case for a return to the kind of play-based (as opposed to phone-based) childhood that those born before 2000 experienced. On the first, it succeeds admirably. On the second it is less convincing and, on a few occasions, appears to champion the undoing of decades of necessary progress in the field of child protection. It is refreshing to see short, clear recommendations for curbing the pernicious influence of smartphones on our children. Among them are ; device-specific age verification, phone-free schools (increasingly common in the UK, thankfully). It is also helpful to see the real dangers of a phone-based childhood reduced to four bullet points (addiction, attention fragmentation, social deprivation and sleep deprivation) and see all these points explained with reference to many specific examples. Haidt’s vision of a reversion to the play-based childhoods of decades past is not quite so convincing. Perhaps his choice of examples is partly to blame. His praise of clearly outdated rituals, such as the public celebration of a girl’s first period, or the circumcision of a boy at puberty to mark his transition to manhood and the associated public celebration, must appear truly horrific to most western countries, rightly so. Surely allowing a girl to go through her first period in private, and a boy to retain his foreskin from cradle to grave, do not amount to over-protection. Haidt is writing from a US perspective, and in the US neonatal circumcision has been the norm in some states for many years (although rates are declining in others). Nevertheless, for a book that is designed for a global audience, one questions the wisdom of this particular example. One demerit point deserves to be awarded for the apparent failure to recognise certain economic and social changes that have taken place in recent decades, and which make Haidt’s vision of old-fashioned play less viable in the 2020s, at least in a UK context. It is acknowledged again that his work is focused on the US, but the same is true to a certain extent in both countries. The health services in both the UK and the US are not best equipped to deal with an increase in playground injuries caused by the reintroduction of the merry-go-rounds that he favours. Nor can they cope with the increase in head injuries that would result from encouraging more children to cycle on poorly maintained roads. Haidt is absolutely right in saying that some risk is a necessary part of any hero’s journey, but unnecessary and avoidable risks should not be advocated when they generate heavy economic and social costs in the 2020s, even if they did not do so in the 1960s. That said, Haidt is absolutely right to criticise the “busybody vigilante” culture that as resulted in parents being reported to the police for allowing 10-year-old children to be out alone. What he does not do, and could usefully have done, is recommended that police prosecute such busybodies for wasting police time, rather than the parents for allowing their children out alone. Such heavy-handed measures are necessary to restore a sense of perspective which is vital to achieving the childhood independence which he supports. Each chapter ends with a summary of the main recommendations, which is always very helpful. Haidt has certainly done his homework, as is evidenced by the 400 references contained in the back of the book. After reading the book dispassionately, it is easy to conclude that a sensible balance between a play-based childhood and a phone-based one is what 2020s children really need. It is not clear whether Haidt intended us to draw this conclusion, and he willingly admits that he may be wrong on some points. However, that does not detract from the book’s overall appeal. I give it four stars, which is not the full five but is still a well-deserved good mark.

Essential for every parent and professionals who work with children.

A really interesting book, as someone that just about grew up in the generation discussed, this was a fascinating insight into the changes that have happened in the last 20 or so years & everything behind them. As society becomes more & more technology focused & kids get their hands on it very early, this book is definitely a must read for anyone with or growing a family.

Wonderful book for anyone wanting to better understand Gen Z and the consequences of being separated from the real world by smartphones, etc. This book really is a must read. Thank you so much, Amazon.

Got bored reading , I’m sure others might enjoy but wasn’t for me

This is an important book for all parents and teachers to read. What is happening to children because of new technology needs to be studied and addressed and this book is a great step and provides excellent guidance. However, the author’s analogies with Mars and prison are ridiculous, and his government and technology solutions are more problematic than helpful. Young adults can be trusted both to work and use technology, not just one or the other. The technology cat is out of the bag too, and kids need guidance more than government force or parental hovering. Great presentation of technological impacts, but the author’s solutions are as problematic as they are helpful.