The Anxious Generation

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

De: Jonathan Haidt

Narrado por: 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.

Empowering Information for Parents

This book was engrossing and informative. It helped me to shape the way I think about parenting. I felt empowered by the research that backed up my gut feeling that something is wrong in the way we raise children today. I hope we are on the cusp of a sea change in terms of allowing our kids more freedom in the real world and less freedom in the online world.

A compelling analysis of the impact of social media on society

This was a deep and thoughtful analysis of how addictive technology is rewriting a generation. I am a social media researcher and I thought it was an excellent, accessible analysis that everyone should read in its entirety. Strongly recommend. Even if you don’t agree with everything, there is a lot here we should all be discussing.

Everyone needs this book

Jonathan Haidt lays out clear evidence and doable steps for parents, teachers, companies, and policymakers to protect mental and physical health of children, teens, and all people, really.

Great current information and insights

Like the accuracy of what he is saying. It seems to align with exactly what I see in the counseling office.

Practical helpful tips for parents and institutions

A very compelling, research based book with practical tips for positive change. The online supplement is an excellent additional resource.