The Anxious Generation

1-Haidt describes the impact of social media/technology as “The Great Rewiring”

2-Alison Gopnik groups two parenting approaches-gardeners who create nurturing environments and allow children to grow vs a carpenter who shapes their children meticulously.  Go back to the garden.

3-Build Competence through unsupervised play, part-time jobs, wilderness adventures and doing the hard things.

4-Four Foundational Harms of a phone-based childhood are the following:

Social Deprivation

Sleep Deprivation

Attention Fragmentation

Addiction

5-Discover mode (turns on in safe environments) vs. Defend Mode (activates under threats), overprotective parenting keeps children in defend mode and increases anxiety and decreases their ability to handle risks.

6-We need more guardrails in the digital world and more freedom in the actual world.

7-”Safetyism” is an experience blocker.  It prevents children from getting the quantity and variety of real world experiences and challenges they need.  

8-Stress is a necessary component of healthy development, not something to be avoided.

9-The great rewiring devastated the social lives of Gen Z by connecting them to everyone in the world and disconnecting them from the people around them.  

10-The omnipresence of smartphones affects family dynamics and parents inadvertently model behaviors that prioritize digital interaction over face-to-face communication.  Which leads to reduced quality time, weaker family bonds, further isolating kids and depriving them of crucial support systems.

“The diffusion of digital technology into children’s lives has been like smoke pouring into our homes.  We all see that something strange is happening, but we don’t understand it.”-Jonathan Haidt

Parenting is not about being perfect, it’s about being present, supportive and proactive.

Commissionable Link: https://amzn.to/3Uh3oIt