The Anxious Generation

by Jonathan Haidt ★★★★★

Jonathan Haidt originally set out to write a book about the impact of social media on society and the divisions it was causing among us. But when he started to research that book, he couldn't help but notice startling trends among one age group in particular—those born after 1995 who happened to be teenagers between 2010 (when the first iPhone was introduced) and 2015. Across a variety of data points around mental illness, every measure started to take a startling and dramatic turn for the worse for this group during that time. Haidt quickly came to realize that his broader story would need to wait, and he redirected his research to focus on that smaller group of people. "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," he writes.

The Anxious Generation is Haidt's exploration of the data behind the epidemic of teen mental illness that exploded during this period. Depression, anxiety, emergency department visits due to self-harm, loneliness—all of these spiked for teens between 2010 and 2015, and continued to rise for this group more than any other over the last 15 years. Haidt leaves little room for doubt, trotting out chart after chart of damning evidence from across the entire Anglosphere (if you're curious, he's made all of the charts available here and has also created a more robust companion website here). It's information many of us likely suspect, but even the most ardent naysayer would find it impossible to argue with Haidt's avalanche of facts. The trends are starkly clear and undeniable.

What compounded the problem was that while the world bombarded teens with virtually unchecked access to social media, online video games, and the internet, parenting over real-world activities became more restrictive than it had ever been. "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," Haidt says. He also acknowledges that many could believe that these data trends could be due to a variety of other factors. He dispels that notion with data, systematically dismantling the argument by showing identical trends across countries, geographies, ethnic groups, and more.

What's somewhat more debatable are Haidt's suggested solves for the problem. He boils his action plan down to four foundational reforms: "No smartphones before high school, no social media before (age) 16, phone-free schools, and far more unsupervised play and childhood independence." While I tend to agree with most of his ideas and suggestions, I think this is where readers may deviate more in their opinions of the information he presents. Haidt makes a case for a more play-based childhood, coupled with a more independent style of parenting, both of which could feel jarring to some parents accustomed to a society which has pivoted away from both concepts. Haidt, of course, uses a slew of science to make his case, presenting how humans learn different behaviors, and evidence for how those behaviors fail to form when we remove independent, unmoderated play.

Haidt cowrote Part 4 of the book (subtitled "Collective Action for Healthier Childhood") with his friend Lenore Skenazy, who also happens to be the president of Let Grow, an organization that "champions childhood, helping kids build confidence, resilience, and self-reliance through independent play and real life experiences." One of the suggestions they shared that I found most impactful was the "Let Grow Project":

"It is a homework assignment that tells students from kindergarten through middle school, 'Go home and do something you’ve never done on your own before. Walk the dog. Make a meal. Run an errand.' Students confer with their parents, and both generations agree on what the project will be. When the child succeeds—which they almost always do, eventually—relationships and identities begin to change. The parents see their children as more competent, and so do the kids themselves. By gently pushing parents to give their kids a little more independence (and thus, responsibility), the project addresses a specific problem."

They follow this with testimonials from both children and parents about the profound impact of that relatively simple exercise, how it nudged parents to lighten their grip on the reins and helped kids to develop levels of confidence far beyond what you'd expect from their completion of relatively innocuous tasks.

The Anxious Generation is a wealth of important information, presented in a thoughtful, concise, and impassioned package. Whether you agree with Haidt's proposed solutions or not, it's nearly impossible to deny the root cause of the mental illness challenges facing Gen Z. It's a must-read for parents trying to navigate raising a child in a world chock full of modern challenges, and it's a data-driven passionate plea for people to recognize the origin of an issue and take action to solve the problem.