My Thoughts on The Anxious Generation

Lately I’ve been thinking about how fondly I look back on my formative years.

I’d have fun at school and extracurricular activities, then go home and play outside for a bit, do my homework, and enjoy some TV time (and I’d sketch) before bed.

During the summer, my brothers and I would do things like swim or play paintball during the day, and play neighborhood-wide manhunt at night.

But my favorite activity was baseball.

We’d use our neighbor’s driveway as the home run boundary. When we routinely started hitting home runs, Mr. and Mrs. Davis graciously let us use their yard too, effectively doubling the size of Casabona Park. Here’s my last look of the field, before we moved my parents out:

The Anxious Generation

I’m currently reading a book that defines the era of our childhood as a “play-based” childhood. We learn by being out in the world and experimenting. By playing, and yes…even getting a little bruised.

The book is called The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. In it, he argues that around 2010, childhood fundamentally changed into what he calls a “phone-based” childhood.

It’s one where they’re increasingly online, and we’re already seeing the deeply negative effects it’s having on Gen Z and Gen Alpha. He’s calling it, “The Great Rewiring,” and it’s unsettling.

Like, record levels of anxiety and depression in teens unsettling.

My oldest turned 8 this month. Between that, the nostalgia I been feeling, I had a chilling thought:

I hope our kids look back lovingly on their formative years like we do, and not anxiously because they’re spending it on their phones.

We Can Work Together

The good news is Haidt offers some guidance on how to make sure our kids have a play-based childhood, while recognizing they can’t be completely sheltered from devices.

The challenge is that it can’t just be one of us. It needs to be the community.

I would strongly recommend The Anxious Generation. It’s the best thing I’ve read to help us understand the technological era we’re raising our kids in.

I get choked up when I look at that photo of our old baseball field. The experiences in that yard taught me so much — sportsmanship, conflict resolution, and how to set a good example for my younger brothers.

I want my kids (and yours, too) to have that kind of childhood…not one where they’re developing anxiety from being online too much.

If we work together, our kids can have it.