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

“The oldest members of Gen Z began puberty around 2009, when several tech trends converged: the rapid spread of high-speed broadband in the 2000s, the arrival of the iPhone in 2007, and the new age of hyper-viralized social media.”

Haidt provides a historical context for the technological shifts that have shaped Gen Z’s development, marking 2009 as a pivotal year when various digital innovations converged. Haidt’s timeline illustrates how these technological advancements created a unique environment for Gen Z, fundamentally altering their social interactions and developmental experiences.

“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.”

Haidt’s main argument attributes the rise in anxiety among post-1995 children to the dual phenomena of overprotective parenting and unregulated virtual exposure. This statement encapsulates the book’s critical thesis, linking contemporary mental health issues directly to specific societal and technological trends.

“When I hear such stories about boys, they usually involve video games (and sometimes pornography) rather than social media, particularly when a boy makes the transition from being a casual gamer to a heavy gamer.”

Haidt contrasts the different ways boys and girls experience technology’s impact, highlighting how boys tend to gravitate towards video games and, in some cases, pornography. This observation underscores the gender-specific nature of technology addiction, illustrating the specific challenges boys face, which often manifest as increased aggression and withdrawal from real-world activities.