The Anxious Generation

Is Haidt's book a wake up call that social media is destroying childhoods, or does it demonize the technology while ignoring its advantages?

Published 2 days ago

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Above: Book cover of "The Anxious Generation" by Jonathan Haidt. Image credit: Amazon.com

The Spin

Techno-skeptic narrative

"The Anxious Generation" is the wake-up call every parent has been waiting for, and it doesn’t mince words: smartphones are destroying childhood. Teens are distracted, anxious, and emotionally fragile, and adults have lost control. The book’s suggestions, including no phones before high school and no social media before 16, feel obvious, yet seem almost impossible to enforce in a world where screens dominate every aspect of life. Haidt’s writing leaves little room for nuance or debate, framing technology as the enemy rather than a useful tool. For parents who have watched childhood slip away, this book validates their fears and gives language to a phenomenon they have witnessed firsthand.

Politico Yeshiva University Gatesnotes.Com

Techno-optimist narrative

At times, "The Anxious Generation" reads less like a careful analysis and more like a morality tale, warning parents about a generation under siege by screens. Haidt’s arguments often overstate causality, treating correlation between smartphone use and anxiety as incontrovertible proof. The book rarely grapples with structural issues like social, economic, or educational problems that might better explain rising adolescent distress, preferring instead to focus on the immediacy of digital threats. While compelling in tone, the narrative risks fueling moral panic rather than offering meaningful solutions, framing technology as a villain while largely ignoring its potential to foster connection, learning, and resilience when used responsibly.

Vox Tes Magazine

Cynical narrative

Haidt’s book often feels less like a report on Gen Z and more like a reflection of adult anxieties about the next generation. Teens and young people, as portrayed in responses across media, see themselves as emotionally literate and socially aware, challenging the “anxious generation” label as more narrative than reality. While Haidt intends to diagnose a societal problem, much of the book reads like an extended cautionary tale projecting adult fears onto youth culture, emphasizing deficits rather than strengths. In this sense, the work offers insight into generational divides and the anxieties of adulthood, but may be merely a reflection of the inevitable fears and uncertainties that come with younger generations being better accustomed and adapted to a society their parents simply don't understand.

Wayland Student Press

Metaculus Prediction

Articles on this story

‘No smartphones before 14; no social media until 16’: The Anxious Generation author on how to fight back against big tech

GuardianJUN 15

'The Anxious Generation' author's No. 1 rule for kids' screentime at home: 'We have to roll that back if we want any hope for them to grow up healthy'

CNBCOCT 15

Are smartphones, social media destroying teen mental health? The debate, explained.