The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness - Hardcover

by 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.

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. In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness and investigates how the "phone-based childhood" has interfered with children's social and neurological development. 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.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action — proposing four simple rules that might set us free, with steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to restore a more humane 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, and The Economist
• One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year
• Named finalist for the PEN Literary Awards

Specs: 400 pages | 9.3 x 6.2 IN | Hardcover | Published March 26, 2024

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