The anxious generation : how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness
Haidt, Jonathan2024
Book
Total copies: 1
After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s, with rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rising sharply. The author lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time, and then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this rewiring of childhood has interfered with children's social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.
Main title:
Author:
Haidt, Jonathan, author
Imprint:
[London] : Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2024.
Collation:
385 pages : black and white charts, illustrations ; 24 cm.
Notes:
Date Published 26/03/2024.Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-367) and index.
Audience:
General.
Contents:
Introduction: Growing up on Mars. (Part 1: A tidal wave): The surge of suffering. (Part 2: The backstory: the decline of the play-based childhood): What children need to do in childhoodDiscover mode and the need for risky playPuberty and the blocked transition to adulthood. (Part 3: The great rewiring: the rise of the phone-based childhood): The four foundational harms: social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addictionWhy social media harms girls more than boysWhat is happening to boys?Spiritual elevation and degradation. (Part 4: Collective action for healthier childhood): Preparing for collective actionWhat governments and tech companies can do nowWhat schools can do nowWhat parents can do nowConclusion: Bring childhood back to earth. AcknowledgmentsNotesReferencesIndex.
ISBN:
9780241694909 (paperback)
Dewey class:
305.230973649.1305.23
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
270834
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