Newmag presents one of the most important global bestsellers: Jonathan Haidt - “The Anxious Generation” (trailer)
04/20/2026
In the 2010s, adolescent mental health declined sharply across many countries. Cases of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose dramatically. What changed during those years? Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores these urgent questions in his bestselling book The Anxious Generation. Haidt examines how childhoods centered on play and real-world interaction gradually gave way to screen-based lives, and why today’s children spend more time on smartphones and social media than ever before.
Drawing on extensive research, the author explains how these shifts impact children’s social and neurological development. He highlights the consequences: sleep deprivation, social isolation, fragmented attention, and growing dependency on digital stimulation.
According to Haidt, while adults were focused on millennials, Generation Z, those born after 1995, grew up in a paradoxical reality: overprotected in the physical world, yet largely unprotected in the digital one.
“We deprived children of free play, risk-taking, and independence, while leaving them alone in front of screens and algorithms.”
As a result, the traditional “play-based childhood” has been replaced by a phone-centered one.
Today’s children grow up surrounded by screens, with weakened social bonds, reduced real-life interaction, disrupted sleep, and increasing levels of anxiety. The smartphone, as Haidt describes, acts like a constant “dopamine injector,” encouraging fast, shallow thinking and reducing the ability to focus deeply.
For the first time in history, a generation is entering adolescence with constant access to a digital world that is often more appealing than reality, but also more isolating.
The book also addresses emerging psychological phenomena, including the rise of certain mental health disorders linked to social media use, particularly among teenagers.
However, The Anxious Generation is not only a diagnosis, it is also a call to action. Haidt proposes clear and practical solutions:
- delaying smartphone use until high school
- restricting social media until age 16
- creating phone-free school environments
- encouraging free play and independent childhood
This is a call to parents, educators, technology companies, and policymakers to act, before the consequences become irreversible.
The Anxious Generation is a global bestseller that seeks to restore what matters most: a real, human-centered childhood.
Translator: Nane Manukyan
Main partner: Izmirlian Foundation
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Jonathan Haidt
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Description
In the 2010s, adolescent mental health deteriorated sharply across many countries, with significant rises in depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide. What changed during that decade? Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt addresses this urgent question by examining how childhoods once centered on play gradually became dominated by smartphones, social media, and digital immersion.
Drawing on extensive research, Haidt explores how this shift has affected children’s social and neurological development, contributing to sleep deprivation, social isolation, fragmented attention, and addictive behaviors. He also outlines practical and actionable steps for parents, schools, technology companies, and governments to help confront this crisis and restore healthier, more human-centered childhoods.
Generation Anxiety is a compelling call to reclaim a more balanced and humane life for the next generation—and, ultimately, for society as a whole.
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