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From New York Times bestselling co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind, an essential investigation into the collapse in youth mental health—and a scientifically proven path to health and strength

There is no bigger public health story now than the collapse in youth mental health. The numbers are terrifying and dominate our headlines. There has been much debate over how we got here, and what to do next, and bestselling author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt is at the white-hot center of that discourse. Haidt has spent his career speaking wisdom and truth into the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the perfect storm contributing to a public health emergency for Gen Z.

For the cohort that hit puberty around 2009, their sense of self developed as the threads of three dramatic technological and social changes smartphones and life with the constant companionship of a screen, front-facing cameras and the bevy of apps that thrived on selfie-culture, and social networks that reduced engagement and affirmation to likes and hearts alone. But phones aren’t the only villain here; the ground for this crisis was seeded by a decades long shift from play-based childhoods to ones defined by over-supervision, structure, and fear.

The Anxious Generation is a penetrating and alarming accounting of how we adults began to overprotect children in the real world while giving essentially no protection in the brutal online world. Haidt documents the four fundamental harms of the phone-based sleep deprivation, social deprivation, cognitive fragmentation, and addiction. He then shows the unique harms affecting boys, and the unique harms affecting girls. In the last section of The Anxious Generation , he offers concrete and scientifically based advice with separate chapters addressed to parents, schools, universities, governments, and to teens themselves. He draws on ancient wisdom and modern psychology to help everyone understand what healthy development would look like in the digital age.

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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.
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People don’t get depressed when they face threats collectively; they get depressed when they feel isolated, lonely, or useless.
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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.
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Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0241694906
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241694909
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.3 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.99 x 10 x 1.85 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Jonathan Haidt

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Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern School of Business. He received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and then did post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago and in Orissa, India. He taught at the University of Virginia for 16 years before moving to NYU-Stern in 2011. He was named one of the "top global thinkers" by Foreign Policy magazine, and one of the "top world thinkers" by Prospect magazine.

His research focuses on morality - its emotional foundations, cultural variations, and developmental course. He began his career studying the negative moral emotions, such as disgust, shame, and vengeance, but then moved on to the understudied positive moral emotions, such as admiration, awe, and moral elevation. He is the co-developer of Moral Foundations theory, and of the research site YourMorals.org. He is a co-founder of HeterodoxAcademy.org, which advocates for viewpoint diversity in higher education. He uses his research to help people understand and respect the moral motives of their enemies (see CivilPolitics.org, and see his TED talks). He is the author of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom; The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion; and (with Greg Lukianoff) The Coddling of the American Mind: How good intentions and bad ideas are setting a generation up for failure. For more information see www.JonathanHaidt.com.

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Customers find the writing style simple but profound, and the content informative and concise. They also say the book offers a concise set of rules to establish before kids.

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96 customers mention "Content"93 positive3 negative

Customers find the book informative, thought-provoking, and important. They say it's a current topic with insightful analysis and practical solutions. They also appreciate the author's deductive argument and the potential to improve mental health.

"Well written and informative read that sheds light on many ill effects of the indispensable smart phone...." Read more

"...Because of that, The Anxious Generation is one of the most important nonfiction books I have read this year, perhaps in several years...." Read more

"...We have by no means heard the end of this timely and thought provoking work." Read more

"...Not only are his suggestions helpful and practical, but they also seem to me to be common sense...." Read more

27 customers mention "Writing style"27 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style simple, easy to understand, and logic. They also appreciate the elegantly presented theories and key actionable steps. Readers also say the book is fast to read and offers a concise set of rules.

"Well written and informative read that sheds light on many ill effects of the indispensable smart phone...." Read more

"...A chapter full of ideas to adjust parenting choices. Easy to read print and I prefer a hardback book in my hands. Thank you" Read more

"...Although the book has lots of data and graphs, it is written in plain English and structured in a way to make the point easy to follow for the non-..." Read more

"...It is written in accessible language but you need to pay attention. Fortunately each chapter has a summary of the chapter's major points...." Read more

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Poe

helps explain

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2024

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Well written and informative read that sheds light on many ill effects of the indispensable smart phone. When I go to the local health club and sit in the sauna after my workout nobody is talking butt everyone is looking at their phone. Yes, I may be old school but that just doesn't sit right !

6 people found this helpful

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Daniel Burton

Kids need to be social, not on social media

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2024

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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.”

25 people found this helpful

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Gary C. Marfin

The Siren Call of the Smartphone

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2024

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Childhood got rewired. The great rewiring was the result of two events. First, the market penetration of smartphones. “Generation Z became the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pocket that called them away from the people nearby,” people with whom they might otherwise have interacted directly, and into “an alternative universe…” Absorption into this “alternative universe” coincided with the second event. Specifically, smartphone emerged as parents began “overprotecting [their] children in the real world. The confluence of these events if well captured by a letter Haidt received from 14-year-old Rhode Island girl who described discovering porn sites while her mother in an adjacent room focused on the quality of food her daughter consumed.
Haidt cites substantial survey research showing a rise in teenage depression and anxiety, especially among girls, as smartphones became familiar fixtures among teens.
One difficulty I have in reading The Anxious Generation was Haidt’s expectation that societal stress would immediately affect young people. The great recession, Sandy Hook, 9/11, the relentlessly dire predictions associated with climate change and, presumably, other sources of societal stress should have been reflected in rising depression among teens. “But this did not happen” to teens who witnessed those events; “their rates of mental illness did not worsen during their teenage years.” Haidt ignores the possibility that anxiety may not emerge at precisely the time that events are noticed, but may accumulate over time. As a result, in Haidt’s account, the smart phone bears the brunt of the unfortunate re-wiring while other possible causal factors are brushed aside.
Haidt recognizes that there is more than one way to raise a child, but he clearly favors parents who structure less, and permit more. Borrowing a concept from Nicholas Taleb, Haidt maintains that children are “anti-fragile” beings who need to get knocked over now and then in order to become strong.” A phone-based childhood, far from protecting kids, actually fails to develop strong children through the social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation and addition it entails. Children should be allowed to interact with the world outside the fretful gaze of nervous parents. For example, parents could begin by “letting your kids out of your sight without having a way to reach you.”
It is difficult to imagine that the majority of parents in, say, an urban setting, would be comfortable doing this. The difficulty with Haidt’s approach here is that, while he may be correct that kids are anti-fragile, their parents are almost certainly not. Imagine (and Haidt would argue that imagining things is part of the problem) that a parent has to contact the police, inform them that one of their children is missing and acknowledge they intentionally have no idea where their child might be off to.
I, for one, never seriously entertained the prospect of children being kidnapped until, very shortly after becoming a parent, a kidnapping took place very near where I lived at the time, though thankfully it was resolved favorably in roughly a week's time. Nevertheless, once that happens, it's impossible not to go into a protective mode.
Haidt proffers other ideas for restricting smart phone use that parents could readily embrace. Haidt may exaggerate the role of smart phones and parental over-protection, but his thesis remains compelling in many respects. The Anxious Generation, as its lofty position on best seller lists indicates, has clearly touched a nerve. We have by no means heard the end of this timely and thought provoking work.

17 people found this helpful

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Alejandro Segura Millan Blake

Muy interedesante y bien fund ada su abalisis y propuesra para la infodemia que padecemos

Reviewed in Mexico on June 21, 2024

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Tema actualidad

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Amazon Customer

Fundamental para evoluirmos nessa discussão

Reviewed in Brazil on June 7, 2024

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Livro fundamental, pois nos tira das discussões baseadas em "achismos" e oferece um leque amplo de dados e estudos que confirmam o que já estamos percebendo na prática: celulares e redes sociais nas mãos de crianças e adolescentes são a causa da epidemia de saúde mental que estamos vivendo.

A infância está morrendo atrás das telas e os pais ainda continuam a acreditar que está tudo bem. Não está tudo bem. E nós (sociedade, famílias, escolas etc). precisamos, com urgência, fazer algo sobre o assunto.

2 people found this helpful

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JONNO WILSON

Well reasoned, insightful and a bit scary

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2024

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All parents should read this book. It offers data driven arguments for what is happening to kids around the world, made me really step back and think about my own parenting - now and in the future. Most of all, it focuses on introducing more real-world free play back into our kids' lives, not just taking their screens away. I had never thought of the problem like this and it immediately changed my mindset.

Ludwig Mueller

Es ist sehr hilfreich😀

Reviewed in Germany on July 23, 2024

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Meine Tochter ist leider bildschirmsüchtig, aber seit ich dieses Buch gelesen habe und es ihr alles erklärt habe, was das für ein Schaden anrichten kann, hat sie beschlossen, über die Sommerferien kein Handy zu nutzen. Finde ich super!👏 Das Buch empfehle ich!

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Christine Duguay

Must have for all patents

Reviewed in Canada on July 16, 2024

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Great book with good ideas. Must read for all parents.

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