The Anxious Generation How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

Jonathan Haidt is a modern-day prophet, disguised as a psychologist . . . He points the way forward to a brighter, stronger future for us all’ Susan Cain'Compelling, readable – and incredibly chilling . . . remarkably persuasive' Telegraph'Urgent and essential' Guardian'One of the most terrifying books I have read . . . some of the statistics Haidt quotes are truly shocking' Evening StandardAfter more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents in many countries around the world deteriorated suddenly in the early 2010s. Why have rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide risen so sharply, more than doubling in many cases?In this book, Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that the decline of free-play in childhood and the rise of smartphone usage among adolescents are the twin sources of increased mental distress among teenagers. Haidt delves into the latest psychological and biological research to show how, between 2010 and 2015, childhood and adolescence got rewired.