I don’t often write book reviews but I’ve read a book that might be the most important book for so man of us to read. The book is The Anxious Generation; : How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (Penguin Press, 2024) written by NY Times bestselling author Jonathan Haidt. He is also the coauthor of The Coddling of the American Mind, an essential investigation into the collapse of youth mental health—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.
Dr. Haidt is a social psychologist who is currently the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU. He holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from UPENN and a BA in Philosophy from Yale. In this book, Haidt explains why smart phones and social media lead to depression and anxiety among children and teens. He eloquently compares his analysis of social media with the decline of free play for children. He defines free play as a time when children are on their own to play with their peers and without adult supervision. Free play is essential to development as it is a time when children learn how to invent fun, set rules, settle disputes and improve their social skills. In the book, Haidt has data supporting that smartphones are the overwhelming cause of the youth mental health crisis. I see it on a daily basis with the college students I work with who are part of the “COVID generation”. In that regard, this book has been eye-opening for me to better understand my students and how to help them.
This is the book review from amazon:
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 most measures. Why?
In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt 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.
An equally powerful review from goodreads:
Haidt 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.
This book may be the most important read for our generation. Parents, young adults, college students, teachers, counselors, coaches, anyone who works with or has a genuine interest in the healthy development of children – this is a MUST read.
These are my reflections for today.
April 19, 2024
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Reflections in Education 