The Anxious Generation

Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU’s Stern school of business. He has just published a very important book, which addresses the question: “What is causing the breakdown of mental health among our young people?” 

With the help of a general research assistant and the analysis of a great deal of data, Jonathan has determined a cause, issued a clear call to action, and proposed four simple rules which he believes will likely help to correct our current dilemma: 

CAUSE:

· Haidt shows how the play-based childhood began to decline in the 1980s and how it was finally wiped out by the phone-based childhood in the 2010s.

· He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this great 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 to themselves, their families and their societies. 

· Haidt discusses spiritual elevation and degradation – virtuous actions and inspirations bring one upward, closer to God = elevation (i.e., reading classic literature (or other inspirational/motivational works) with admirable heroes displaying feats of fidelity and generosity versus degradation = witnessing people behaving in petty, nasty ways or doing disgusting, immoral things). 

Haidt asks: “Does the phone-based life generally pull us upward or downward? If it is downward, then there is a cost even for those who are not anxious or depressed…”

CALL TO ACTION:

Haidt explains that although it may feel like it’s too late to put the brakes on smartphones and social media with our youth, it’s not! We now know the harmful effects they have on children and adolescents – and we are in the middle of a mental health crisis. It’s time to do something!

WHAT GOVERNMENTS AND TECH COMPANIES CAN DO:

1. Assert a Duty of Care– (p. 227) Haidt references an interview with the first president of Facebook in 2017: “How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?” and another, “the social validation feedback loop by which these companies exploit a vulnerability in human psychology. . . the apps need to give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever. And that’s going to get you more likes and comments.” They said they understood this consciously yet did it anyway, and then said, “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.” How was this allowed??

Government policies have contributed to the decline of the play-based childhood (especially through the overzealous enforcement of vague state laws about child neglect) and to the rise of the phone-based childhood (especially by setting the age of internet adulthood too low and not enforcing it). NEW LEGISLATION AND NEW ENFORCEMENT POLICIES WOULD BE A TREMENDOUS HELP FOR PARENTS WHO ARE STRUGGLING TO RAISE THEIR CHILDREN IN A HEALTHIER WAY.

2. Raise the Age of Internet Adulthood to 16 – (p. 234) E-commerce companies objected to the age initially proposed (16) and 13 became the agreed upon age of “internet adulthood” for the US and then the world. Anyone who is 13 (or at least says they are) can be treated as an adult for the purposes of data acquisition. As Senator Markey later said, “It was too young, and I knew it was too young then. It was the best I could do.” In addition to setting the age too low, the bill, known as COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act), failed to impose any obligation on companies to verify anyone’s age.

3. Facilitate Age Verification - (p. 238) At present, there does not exist any perfect method of implementing a universal age check. Parents should have a way of marking their child’s phones, tablets, and laptops as devices belonging to a minor. That mark, which could be written either into the hardware or the software, would act like a sign that tells companies with age restrictions, “This person is underage; do not admit without parental consent.” 

Apple, Google, and Microsoft could create a feature, let’s call it age check which would be set to “on” by default whenever a parent creates an account for a child under the age of 18. This kind of a device-based verification offers a way that parents, tech companies, and platforms can share responsibility for age verification.

4. Encourage Phone-Free Schools – All schools from elementary through HS should go phone-free to improve not only mental health but academic outcomes as well. 

WHAT GOVERNMENTS CAN DO TO INCENTIVIZE MORE (AND BETTER) REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE:

1. Stop Punishing Parents for Giving Children Real-World Freedom (p. 241) The Government’s job is to protect children from actual abuse, not from the everyday activities of childhood. States must revise their supervisory neglect laws. They must cease and desist all enforcement action against parents whose only offense is that they chose to give their children reasonable independence, appropriate for their age. 

2. Encourage More Play in Schools - (p. 242) Play-deprived kids become anxious and unfocused. More play opportunities before and after school, especially in elementary and middle school.

3. Design and Zone Public Space With Children in Mind - (p. 242) If we want children to meet each other face-to-face and interact with the real world – not just screens – the world and its inhabitants have to be accessible to them. 

4. More Vocational, Education, Apprenticeships, and Youth Development Programs – 

(p. 243) There is currently too much focus on academics and not enough on real-world experience in schools. There has also been a decline in Career and Technical Education (CTE) which provides hands-on experience in areas such as shop, auto, ag, and business. Boys especially benefit from CTE programs! Apprenticeships have also been shown to be helpful in helping young people make the transition from HS to paid employment. 

WHEN GOVERNMENTS, TECH COMPANIES, SCHOOLS AND PARENTS WORK IN COMPLEMENTARY WAYS, THEY CAN COLLECTIVELY SOLVE HARD PROBLEMS, INCLUDING IMPROVING THE MENTAL HEALTH OF YOUNG PEOPLE.

WHAT SCHOOLS CAN DO NOW:

PHONE FREE SCHOOLS Go phone-free for the entire school day – at the beginning of the day, phones placed in a lockable phone pouch or dedicated locker.

PLAY-FULL SCHOOLS – (p. 252)

1. Longer recess with little adult intervention

2. Opening playground ½ hour before school starts to give student time to play before class

3. Offering a “Play Club.” Anywhere from 1 – 5 days per week. I.e. from 2:30 – 4:30, instead of going home to a device, children could stay at school and play with playground, with no phones, plenty of loose parts, and minimal adult supervision – may teach social skills and reduce anxiety better than any educational program, because free-play is nature’s way of accomplishing these goals. 

THE LET GROW PROJECT – (p. 254) Homework assignment that asks children to “do something they’ve never done before, on their own.” This project increases a sense of competence in children and adolescents, as well as increasing parent’s trust.

BETTER RECESS AND PLAYGROUNDS – (p.256) Give kids more of it, on better playgrounds, with fewer rules.

RE-ENGAGE BOYS – (p. 262) Include more vocational training and CTE. Hire more male teachers and steer boys into the “HEAL” professions – Health, Education, Administration, and Literacy. (But as long as boys see few men in front of the classroom or working as administrators in the school, they’re likely to have less interest in such jobs.

THE EDUCATION EXPERIMENT WE MOST NEED – (p. 264) This could be included as part of the play-full school condition, as it draws on and amplifies the autonomy, risk-taking and independence fostered by free play. Or a study could simply compare schools that do the Let Grow Project with those that don’t.

WHAT PARENTS CAN DO NOW (p. 267)

FOR PARENTS OF YOUNG CHILDREN (0-5) 

· More (and better) experience in the real world

· Less (and better) experience on screens

FOR PARENTS OF CHILDREN (6-13)

· More (and better) experience in the real world –

1. Practice letting your kids out of your sight without them having a way to reach you

2. Encourage sleepovers, and don’t micromanage them

3. Encourage walking to school in a group

4. After school is for free play

5. Go camping

6. Find a sleepaway camp with no devices or safetyism

7. Form child-friendly neighborhoods and playborhoods

· Less (and better) experience on screens

The average 6–12-year-old spends between 4-6 hours per day on recreational screen activities, across multiple screens. 

1. Learn how to use parental controls and content filters on all digital devices in your home

2. Focus more on maximizing in-person activity and sleep than on total screen hours

3. Provide clear structure to the day and the week

4. Look for signs of addiction or problematic use

5. Delay the opening of social media accounts until 16

6. Talk with your preteen about the risks and listen to their thoughts

FOR PARENTS OF TEENS (AGES 13-18) (p. 281) 

· More (and better) experience in the real world –

1. Increase their mobility

2. Rely more on your teen at home

3. Encourage your teen to find a part-time job

4. Find ways for him to nurture and lead

5. Consider a high school exchange program

6. Bigger thrills in nature

7. Take a gap year after high school

Note: Smartphones have changed parent-child relationships. Parents got smartphones as well, which gave them a new superpower – the ability to track their children’s movements at every moment. (Could be part of the reason for increased anxiety and decreased confidence). 

FOUR SIMPLE RULES (or foundational reforms): (p.290)

1. No smartphones before high school

2. No social media before 16

3. Phone-free schools

4. Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence

These reforms are foundational because they solve multiple collective action problems. Each parent who takes action makes it easier for other parents in the community to do the same. Each school that goes truly phone-free liberates all of its students to be more present with each other. IF A COMMUNITY ENACTS ALL FOUR, THEY ARE LIKELY TO SEE SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH WITHIN TWO YEARS.

Author Johnathan Haidt makes two final suggestions:

Speak Up and Link up! (p. 291)

If you think the phone-based childhood is bad for children and you want to see a return to play-based childhood, say so.Most people share your suspicion but aren’t sure what to do about it. Speak to your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, your social media followers and your political representatives. If you speak up, you will inspire many others to join you!

If you’re a parent, connect with other parents who value play-based childhood and more childhood independence. Speak directly to the principal or head of the school. Urge him or her to go phone-free, and adopt the other ideas suggested in chapter 12.

Together we can enact change and save our youth.