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The Anxious Generation

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

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The Anxious Generation

Written by: Jonathan Haidt
Narrated by: Sean Pratt, Jonathan Haidt
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 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. Best of 2024 Mental Health Parenting & Families Personal Development Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Relationships Stress Management Teenagers Health Inspiring

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very informative and eye opening. most of us already know it's bad but it well explained and backed by data and best practices to save our kids

must read for all parents in this social media climate

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Confirmed all of my observations of my children’s ‘symptoms’ over the last decade or so.

So spot on and thorough.

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Every parent, grandparent, teacher, principal, and care-giver should read this book. It has completely changed how I parent and broke me out of anxious parenting habits.

a must read for all parents

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This book changed the way I think about social media. I'm gen z (younger than 19) but I don't use much social media. It is a great read for parents with kids who are young, don't have phones, or are not yet in highschool.

Very hard hitting

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Phenomenal breakdown on what’s going on in Western society with kids in grade school. The toxicity of screens and social media. The reluctance to let kids play and be more self reliant. All of the things we see each day with declining minds of children and their behaviors. All so sad.

Again, a must read for any parent.

Another Must Read/List for Any Parent

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