The Anxious Generation
Worth Your Time!
Resource Recommendations to Help You Parent and Mentor Most Effectively
This Week's Recommendation:
"The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness"
Book by Jonathan Haidt
Available on Amazon Here
"My central claim in this book is that these two trends - overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world - are the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation."
Why It Matters
"After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?"
Jonathan Haidt explores the answers to that question by examining studies, exploring the historical nature of childhood, and analyzing cultural changes that have shaped this generation. He doesn't stop at diagnosing the problems - he also offers solutions.
This is by far the most-discussed book dealing with youth this year.
How to Use it
If you're going to read one book this summer to help you understand this generation better, The Anxious Generation should be at or near the top of your list.
Part 4, "Collective Action for Healthier Childhood," provides many suggestions/ideas.
I'd recommend reading this book with other parents, discussing it, and considering how you can act on it together.
There is a growing nationwide movement to start banning cell phones in schools, even in some of the largest school districts in the country. What is the policy in your local school, and how can you help bring change if needed?
There is also a growing nationwide movement of parents banding together to delay smartphone and social media use for young people, which I've mentioned previously. It's hard to do this alone, but it's much more doable when parents in a class agree to do it together. Wait Until 8th is a leader in this - check them out here and consider participating with other parents you know.
Even if the youth closest to you are healthy, many of their friends may not be. This book will help you understand their world, and it may help you help their friends.
Buy It On Amazon Here