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

by Jonathan Haidt

monitoring. We gave them unfettered access to the internet instead, removing all age thresholds that used to mark the path to adulthood. A few years later, we gave their younger siblings smartphones in middle school. Once we had a new generation hooked on smartphones (and other screens) before the start of puberty, there was little space left in the stream of information entering their eyes and ears for guidance from mentors in their real-world communities during puberty. There was just an infinite river of digital experience, customized for each child to maximize clicks and ad revenue, to be consumed alone in his or her room. It all got worse during the COVID pandemic years of “social distancing” and online everything. But it doesn’t have to be this way.