DirkReading reviewed The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
Well...
3 stars
It is a well written book. However, like most of these non fiction books I feel 20 pages would have been enough since the core thesis is really easy to grasp.
How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
English language
Published March 27, 2024 by Penguin Publishing Group.
It is a well written book. However, like most of these non fiction books I feel 20 pages would have been enough since the core thesis is really easy to grasp.
If you combine this book with Pete Etchells' Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time, you'll probably find a good balance of information on this subject. There are other books on this subject which will likely highlight other angles, I just haven't read them yet. ;)
Jonathan clearly understands the situation we are in, but appears to have very black and white thinking on this subject, which is an honestly natural and completely human reaction to watching two generations of kids seriously damaged by smartphones, in real time.
We can absolutely pull Gen Alpha back from the brink, but Gen Z will be the most scarred by indiscriminate access to social media via smartphones.
There are a couple of areas I didn't agree with at all, but I will keep those to myself as I think they are important as discussion points, but not to the extent implied.
I didn't …
If you combine this book with Pete Etchells' Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time, you'll probably find a good balance of information on this subject. There are other books on this subject which will likely highlight other angles, I just haven't read them yet. ;)
Jonathan clearly understands the situation we are in, but appears to have very black and white thinking on this subject, which is an honestly natural and completely human reaction to watching two generations of kids seriously damaged by smartphones, in real time.
We can absolutely pull Gen Alpha back from the brink, but Gen Z will be the most scarred by indiscriminate access to social media via smartphones.
There are a couple of areas I didn't agree with at all, but I will keep those to myself as I think they are important as discussion points, but not to the extent implied.
I didn't have internet access at all until my twenties, and I agree that the moment we let techbros put smartphones in our hands, we basically sold our souls to Big Tech; forever too distracted by the 24/7 pull of mobile internet to pay attention to what was happening to kids who'd never known anything else, until it had dire consequences.