The Anxious Generation

I just finished listening to the audiobook of Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation and thought it’d be worth sharing my thoughts. Now I should offer at least some background for those who might not have it; my academic supervisor (Andy Przybylski) and Jonathan Haidt are in something of a battle over interpretations of various social media/mental health studies. My understanding (wholly my surmising from public comments) is that my supervisor believes that Haidt is over-interpreting and is starting with a conclusion (social media bad) and using data to try to find that interpretation. Haidt believes that my Andy is burying findings by lumping all screen time and genders and ages together. The Thesis Haidt shows a growth in a number of ‘bad’ mental health problems affecting teenagers across the developed world. Depression, anxiety, suicides and more have all seen sharp rises - especially amongst girls and especially since 2012. Haidt then dismisses a number of plausible hypotheses…