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

by Jonathan Haidt

one way that companies get users to spend more time on their apps is by using artificial intelligence to select what to put into a user’s feed. Based on the time users spend viewing different kinds of content, AI then serves them more such content.9 This is why short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels are said to be so addictive: Their algorithms are able to quickly detect whatever it is that makes users pause as they scroll, which means they can pick up on unconscious wishes and interests that the user may not even be aware of, leading a minor to be served inappropriate sexual content, for example.

The “digital divide” is no longer that poor kids and racial minorities have less access to the internet, as was feared in the early 2000s; it is now that they have less protection from it.

It is possible to overprotect in the virtual world, especially when it shades over into surveillance, sometimes without the child’s knowledge. Visit CommonSenseMedia.com for guidance on using parental controls.21

There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less. There exists within everyone a grand passion, an outlandish thirst for adventure, a desire to live boldly and vividly through the journey of life.

It’s a year to build skills, responsibility, and independence. You can find a list of organizations that can help your teen plan a gap year at gapyearassociation.org. Scholarships and subsidies are often available.33