Summary
In his book, The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has an urgent message for parents: don’t let your kids have a social media account. Social media, smartphones, and the tech industry, he argues, have been complicit in the massive uptick in mental health issues especially for Generation Z.
In this episode, Jonathan and Christa discuss the book’s central claim and evaluate his solutions, including:
1) no smartphones before high school;
2) no social media until age 16;
3) phone-free schools, and
4) more unsupervised play and childhood independence.
Also, Jonathan discovers he can’t pronounce “anatomy.”
Listen to the full episode at the links below!
Resources
- The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
- The Anxious Generation site
- 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke
- The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place by Andy Crouch
- Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age by Tony Reinke
— episode Twenty-THREE —