Book Review
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
by Jonathan Haidt
Reviewer
Dr Vivienne Mountain
Something alarming is happening with our youth. After more than a decade of stable or improving levels of mental health, a sharp increase in anxiety and depression across the US, UK and Canada is evident. Similar trends can be seen in Australia and the Nordic states between 2010-2020. Why?
In this book, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt from New York University presents contemporary research and discussion onto the mental health crisis for adolescents.
The problems can be seen in statistics from adolescent studies in the US.1 Anxiety and depression increased by 145 per cent among girls and a 16 per cent increase for boys. Figures for emergency room treatment for self-harm increased by 188 per cent for girls and 48 per cent for boys. In the same period, rates of suicide increased by a staggering 91 per cent among girls and 167 per cent for boys.
Haidt identifies the period following 2010 as a new era where the social lives of adolescents moved to smartphones with internet connection, social media, and online video games. He suggests that the adolescents (from 10-14 years old), now have a “screens-based childhood”, in exchange for a “play-based” one.
From neuroscience, psychology, biology and social science, play is recognised as a primal activity for all mammals, and a dominant feature of adolescent growth.As humans, it starts as pre-conscious and pre- verbal. Play is seemingly purposeless, voluntary, all-consuming and fun. Through play the child explores, experiments, overcomes fear and learns to live in some kind of harmony with people and the world. In the process there is a growing awareness of the self as a relational creature, as active learning in cognition, emotions and social worlds enables a broader worldview.,2
Haidt contrasts the “real world” of play in the past, to the “virtual world” of screens. The former is embodied, in real time, and communicates with one or several interactions at once within a moral community that has grown and shifted over millions of years. Rifts within relationships are encouraged to repair as they happen.
In contrast, “virtual world” connections are disembodied, relying largely on language. Contact is asynchronous, using text-based posts. Many communications are impersonal, with one person broadcasting to a wide audience, and often many complex interactions are happening at once. Some virtual communities also tend to be short-lived, with the ability to quit the relationship via a click.
Haidt therefore constructs the screen-based adolescent as being overloaded with ideas and images that are fast-changing and often include disturbing information, beyond the comprehension capacity of the maturing brain. A gendered difference also plays out: girls are often subject to a distorted identity involving issues of body image and social acceptance, which is inflated by online interactions, whereas boys are also subject to pornography and sometimes-problematic online gaming.
The author suggests that the move from simple flip phones of 2010 to smartphones with high-speed internet access and social media apps has produced four measurable outcomes. The first is social deprivation, as time spent using electronic devices overtakes real connection with others. Secondly, sleep deprivation has become a problem as children spend increasing amounts of their evenings online. Thirdly attention fragmentation has increased becoming a problem for formal education, teaching and learning. Finally, addiction is a recognised mental health issue for some, related to constant social media posting and internet gaming.3
What can be done about these deepening and pervasive issues? The final section of the book investigates collective actions that can be taken to improve childhoods, beginning with laws to protect children online.
In June 2020, the UK enacted the “Age-Appropriate Design Code” for technology companies. In the US, negotiation regarding the age for “internet adulthood” has been determined as 13 (Children’s Online Private Protection Act’- COPPA) in order to open a YouTube or TikTok account and have their data collected.4
The education system is another area for protection for children. One primary response suggested is the exclusion of smartphones from school. Another directive would be the increase of curriculum time devoted to play, free time and nature exposure.
Haidt’s writing is urgent and challenging and makes compelling use of recognised research. As a response to one of the greatest mental health challenges of our time, this is an excellent resource and read.
References
Brown, Stuart (2010) Play – How it Shapes the Brain, opens the Imagination, and invigorates the soul, Australia: Scribe.
Fogg, B.J., (2003) Persuasive technology: Using Computers to Change what we Think and Do. USA: Morgan Kaufmann.
Haidt, Jonathan, (2024) The Anxious Generation, How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, UK: Penguin, Random house.
Jargon, J., (2019) ‘How thirteen became the internet age of adulthood’ USA: Wall St Journal. Link to article
UNESCO, (2023) ‘Technology in Education. A tool on whose terms?’
Link to article
Book Review: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.
Author: Jonathan Haidt
Publisher: Penguin Press 26 March 2024
Pages: 400 ISBN-10: 0593655036
ISBN-13: 978-0593655030
Link to book
1. J Haidt, The Anxious Generation pp 24-43 show numerous published research results in graph form from various countries.
S. Brown, Play – how it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul 2010
3. B.J. Fogg, (2002) Persuasive technology: Using Computers to Change what we Think and Do.
4. UNESCO(2023)Technology in Education. A tool on whose terms? Link to article
‘Put Learners First, Tackle Classroom Disruption’: UNESCO Calls for Smartphone Ban in Schools.
Link to article