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

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller
A Wall Street Journal Top 10 Book of 2024 • A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book • One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 2024 • A TIME 100 Must-Read Book of 2024 • Named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist, New York Post, and Town & Country • Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Nonfiction • Finalist for the PEN Literary Awards

A generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a practical roadmap for reclaiming a healthier, freer childhood.

"With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . while also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids." — Shannon Carlin, TIME (100 Must-Read Books of 2024)

After more than a decade of stability, the mental health of adolescents began to plummet in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide more than doubled. Why? In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt (pronounced “height”) unpacks the epidemic of teen mental illness that struck across multiple countries at the same time. He explores the essential role of play and independent exploration in childhood—and how the decline of the “play-based childhood” was overtaken by the rise of the “phone-based childhood.”

Drawing on more than a dozen mechanisms, Haidt reveals how the “great rewiring of childhood” has disrupted social and neurological development, from sleep deprivation and attention fragmentation to loneliness, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media disproportionately harms girls, why boys retreat into virtual worlds, and the ripple effects on families and society at large.

Most importantly, Haidt issues a call to action. He diagnoses the collective traps that keep us stuck and proposes four simple rules to break free. Offering steps for parents, educators, schools, tech companies, and policymakers, he lays out a plan to end the epidemic of youth mental illness and restore a more balanced, humane childhood.

Urgent, data-driven, and deeply persuasive, The Anxious Generation challenges us to protect Gen Z—and ourselves—from the psychological costs of a phone-based life.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
Author: Jonathan Haidt
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780593655030
Publication Date: March 26, 2024