The Anxious Generation Essay Questions

What is the "Great Rewiring"?

Haidt defines the Great Rewiring as the replacement of the play-based childhood with the phone-based childhood. This shift occurred primarily between 2010 and 2015 with the emergence of the iPhone, third-party apps, and social media. According to Haidt, the coupling of overprotection in the real world and lack of protection online has created a generation far more prone to anxiety and depression, hence the title The Anxious Generation. To mitigate the harms of the Great Rewiring, Haidt proposes measures that increase children's unstructured independent play and implement age-appropriate shielding in the digital world.

What is one cultural shift that contributed to the Great Rewiring?

The rise of fearful parenting in the 1990s, fueled by widespread media coverage of child abduction, is one factor that contributed to the Great Rewiring. With the intention to protect their children from risks such as crime, sex offenders, drunk drivers, and abduction, parents began to restrict their children's independence in the real world. Legislation reflected this. Whereas walking to and from school or playing at the park all day with friends used to be the norm, now it brings the risk of legal action. A neighbor or stranger might call 911, the police or Child Protective Services may intervene, and those deemed "irresponsible" parents could face jail time or separation from their children. Haidt explores this shift in great depth, offering specific examples and arguing in favor of shifting away from safetyism.

Why does Haidt argue that social media negatively impacts girls more than boys?

In Chapter 6, Haidt examines the literature that shows a correlation between girls' social media engagement and increased anxiety and depression. While "some studies have failed to find evidence of harm," Haidt, his research assistant Zach Rausch, and his colleague Jean Twenge reanalyzed the data sets and focused explicitly on social media (instead of the broader category of digital technology) and girls (rather than all teens). They found much larger correlations between heavy social media use and mental illness for girls. Studies designed to determine whether social media use is a cause of mental health decline and not just a correlate also confirmed what Haidt, Twenge, and Rausch had found in the correlational studies.

According to Haidt, girls spend more time on social media platforms, which are worse for mental health than platforms like YouTube, Reddit, and multiplayer video games. Haidt also states that girls are more focused on "communion strivings" than "agency strivings" (Chapter 6). This leaves them more vulnerable to exploitation by social media companies. Girls also are "confronted with [impossible] beauty standards" and "judgements about their looks and their bodies."

Define free-range parenting.

Columnist, blogger, and activist Lenore Skenazy coined the term "free-range parenting" after writing a 2009 book called Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry. The year before, she wrote a controversial article in the New York Sun about allowing her nine-year-old son to ride the New York City subway alone. When the media called her "America's Worst Mom," she responded by discussing her position in the book. Free-range parenting is a philosophy that supports giving kids more independence and responsibility. Since the 1990s, concerns about crime and abductions have fueled more protective and structured parenting. Free-range parenting and similar movements advocate for restoring independence.

Analyze one of the governmental interventions that Haidt discusses.

Haidt proposes several policies that governments at all levels could change to improve adolescent mental health. Some of these policies help implement protections in the digital world, while others increase freedom and independence in the real world. One example of the latter, according to Haidt, is to specify vague neglect laws in order to decriminalize a lack of adult supervision in every single case. Haidt argues that "it is not neglect when you simply take your eyes off your children," meaning that children should be allowed to play outside, walk or commute to and from school, and run errands (Chapter 10).

Haidt shares the story of Debra Harrell, a single working mom who was arrested for allowing her daughter to play at a local park while Harrell worked her shift at McDonald's. This story also demonstrates how women of color disproportionately face stigmatization and bias from the legal system. Haidt calls for states to "revise their supervisory neglect laws" and "cease and desist all enforcement action against parents whose only offense is that they chose to give their children reasonable independence, appropriate for their age" (Chapter 10).