Book Review: “The Anxious Generation”

 

 

“THE ANXIOUS GENERATION”
SHOULD KIDS BE BANNED FROM SOCIAL MEDIA?

Note: Despite this article title, this isn’t so much a book review as an extension of the conversation prompted by Jon Haidt’s new book on the impacts of social media on young people.

A frightening new book by Jonathan Haidt is causing quite a firestorm this week. Haidt’s meticulous research and warnings in The Anxious Generation should be alarm bells. It reveals the undeniable negatives of social media’s impact on the underage population. Short-term, this is a huge problem. Long-term, the outlook for us all could be catastrophic.

What makes this controversy even more problematic is — countermeasures are just as polarizing. For instance, there’s broad bi-partisan political support for imposing strict limitations on underage use of social media. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis even signed a new law banning children (U-14) from some platforms. However, previous initiatives of this kind were stricken down in the courts. It remains to be seen if this (and future) action will hold up–constitutionally-speaking. There’s always backlash against “the government” restricting individual “freedom,” and this will be a curious test case.

I don’t think there’s much debate anymore as to the serious concerns we should all have on social media’s impact on youth and development. The real issue and problem is — HOW to deal with it, and WHAT measures should be taken, and by WHOM in order to address what’s been outlined in The Anxious Generation.

I lean heavily towards imposing restrictions, but admit implementing policies on high-tech and communications will be difficult, and legally questionable.

Comments welcome.
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Full Disclosure: I have not read this book yet, but have seen the author interviewed twice on various programs this week.