The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

The Anxious Generation #

I really liked reading the book “The Anxious generation” by Jonathan Haidt.

The book argues for less screen time for children, especially social media at younger ages, which can be harmful.

The jist of the book is:

1: The time your child spends outside or interacting with kids is more valuable that almost all forms of screen time. I like this argument because it’s a relative comparison, rather than saying that screen time is inherently bad (which, as someone who spend his whole childhood in front a screen and turned out… not terrible, tend to disagree).

2: Social media for young children can be a terrible infleunce. There’s cyberbullying, which can be much worse than regular bullying as people in general are willing to be a lot more horrible online. In addition, there’s the implicit pressure to live and look as glamorous as these famous influencers online, resulting in body dysmoprhia.

Although the book references some studies, I agree on an anecdotal level that social media is not a necessary part of life for adolescents, and that screentime is something with, depending on the activity, rapidly diminishing returns, and a balance with other activities in life is critical.