The Anxious Generation, Jonathon Haidt

 

The Anxious Generation:  How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness by Jonathan Haidt

Started: March 23, 2025
Completed: DNF
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

The research presented was great.  The solution (free range kids) was not.  Free range kids may work in a rural environment, but I think it is a real challenge in an urban or even suburban environment.  Crime has come down and we probably don't need the detailed helicopter style parenting, but part of the way that free range worked was because neighbors were empowered to help raising children.  Now, however, neighbors may not even be home and I remember from being a key latch kid that the responsibility devolved onto the oldest sibling--not a good arrangement (that sibling becomes a substitute for parents, not another kid).  Excellent perspective and a good broad solution, but the details need some serious work.