The Anxious Generation, a 2024 book by Jonathan Haidt, argues that the “Great Rewiring,” the shift from play-based to phone-based childhood since the mid-2000s, has driven a sharp rise in anxiety and suffering among Gen Z and now Gen Alpha.
Drawing on extensive research, Haidt explores how smartphones and social media have weakened kids’ social, emotional, and physical development. He outlines clear, practical actions for tech companies, governments, schools, and parents, urging collective intervention to “bring childhood back to Earth” before the harm becomes irreversible.
Reviewer Esther Roodenburg, a grandmother and retired psychologist, was “heartened” to read this book:
Collegial findings support the clear outlines presented herein: both of the enormity of the problem and the need to act. A gracious way forward is carefully offered to encourage readers to respond with a concerted effort to stop the ship from sinking. A new generation is already in the making. Let us encourage them by being the leaders we need to be.
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