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

"Another must-read, out in March, is The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness . It’s by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of one of my favourite books, The Happiness Hypothesis . Since 2010, rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide have risen sharply among teenagers around the developed world, and Haidt explores why. This is something that touches all of us: I live in rural Oxfordshire, but the bridge at the end of my road is currently closed after more than one person jumped off it. Instinctively, I blame it on social media, but look forward to reading a more nuanced analysis of what’s going on—as well as some possible solutions."

"That’s right. Happiness expert and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt ( The Coddling of the American Mind , The Happiness Hypothesis ) has a new book out, The Anxious Generation, which has been a huge hit in the United States, sitting on the bestseller lists for weeks. In it, he argues that the age of the smartphone has royally messed up our adolescents. “Continuous access to social media, online video games, and other internet-based activities” disturbs their sleep, fragments their attention, and acts, effectively, as an addictive substance. He links the rise of social media to a spike in mental illness and anxiety. Almost everyone I speak to seems to have an opinion on this book; it has clearly hit a nerve. The most creative response, in my opinion, was by Decca Aitkenhead in The Sunday Times Magazine , who recruited her teenage sons and a group of local youths, locked away their phones and sent them on a camping trip completely alone. A perfectly normal activity when I was their age—okay, more than twenty years ago now—but mind-blowing to these teenagers, who are conditioned to being contactable 24/7. The girls had the greatest response, being the ones who feel most under pressure by their peers to be ‘extremely online’ and to abide by a series of complex, unspoken social rules while being so. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount ."