Summary
Chapter 9—Preparing for Collective Action
Haidt argues against the notion that it is too late to collectively delay the age at which children get smartphones and social media accounts. He recognizes the difficulty of being a parent who wants to send their child out to walk or play unchaperoned since it has become so uncommon, and proceeds to offer four types of collective responses. The first is voluntary coordination. For instance, multiple families could agree not to grant their children's desire for a smartphone until 8th or 9th grade. The second involves social norms and moralization: such as normalizing a 9-year-old riding the subway or walking around without chaperones. The third is technological solutions. Lockable pouches for phones, better age verification methods, or basic phones could ameliorate the pressures parents face to give their children smartphones and social media before high school. Lastly, governments could impose laws that require social media companies to verify the ages of new users, or that don't equate giving independence to a child with neglect.
Chapter 10—What Governments and Tech Companies Can Do Now
In a 2017 interview, the first president of Facebook, Sean Parker, described how the platform relied on the social-validation feedback loop to keep users engaged. Companies extract and sell user attention to advertisers. Haidt supports taking legislative action against social media companies. Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google, gave a presentation in 2013 called "A Call to Minimize Distraction and Respect Users' Attention." In 2015, Harris left Google and founded the Center for Humane Technology.
Businesses that earn revenue from displaying ads alongside user-generated content aim to get more users to spend more time on the app and attract other users to the platform. Haidt proposes four ways that governments and tech companies could improve the virtual world for adolescents. The first is to assert a duty of care. Haidt asserts that this should be universally applied. The second safety method is to raise the age of internet adulthood from 13 to 16, and the third is to facilitate age verification. The fourth is to encourage phone-free schools. Research has shown that apprenticeship programs are effective in helping young people transition from high school to paid employment.
Chapter 11—What Schools Can Do Now
Haidt states that phone-free schools and more free play would vastly improve the mental health of students. An administrator named Shane Voss implemented a cell phone ban at Mountain Middle School in Durango, Colorado. As a result, the school's academic performance improved. In August 2023, UNESCO released a report detailing the adverse impacts of digital technologies, especially phones, on education around the world.
The Let Grow project encourages children to develop independence by doing something new and challenging on their own. Examples include cooking meals, going to the park alone, and helping a sibling get ready for school. Recess and unstructured playtime diminished significantly after the 1983 publication of A Nation at Risk, a report that warned American children were falling behind in national test scores. This narrative stoked fear that American schools were providing mediocre educations that would ultimately threaten the nation's future. Consequently, federal and state reforms prioritized classroom time for core subjects and standardized test prep. This left a limited time budget for art, gym, and music classes, as well as for free play and recess. In 2013, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a report called "The Crucial Role of Recess in School," which outlines the benefits of free play for social and cognitive development. A school in New Zealand called Swanson Primary implemented a "No Rules Recess," which gave kids free rein to climb trees, ride bikes, and take risks. As a result, "rates of injury, vandalism, and bullying all declined."
Chapter 12—What Parents Can Do Now
Haidt offers age-based parenting advice. For kids 5 years of age and under, good nutrition, loving adults, and time to play are the most important factors. Age diversity in play groups benefits both the younger and older children. For parents with children who are between 6 and 13, Haidt recommends that they support their kids having plenty of real-world experiences. Gradually increasing their responsibilities and independence helps develop competence. Parents also should be mindful of the behaviors they themselves model. Eventually, parents can allow a limited amount of screen time per week, for which Haidt provides further specifications. For example, parents can block age-inappropriate sites and apps, have device-free family meals, and delay the opening of social media accounts until age 16. As kids become teens, Haidt argues that parents should increase their children's mobility by allowing them to use whatever transportation makes sense (bicycles, buses, subways, trains, etc.). Encouraging part-time employment can also benefit the teen.
Conclusion—Bring Childhood Back to Earth
Haidt initially intended to write a book on how social media was damaging American democracy. Only one chapter would delve into the impact on Gen Z. However, Haidt quickly realized that this first chapter needed its own book. He and his collaborator Zach Rausch collected and organized the experimental and correlational studies used to support the book's central claims. As a social scientist, teacher, and father of two teenagers, Haidt felt a personal stake in the issue. Haidt ends the book by urging parents to speak up and link up. He encourages parents to connect with other like-minded parents who value play-based childhood. The same applies to teachers who wish to ban smartphones from their classrooms.
Analysis
Before Haidt proposes solutions, he gives the caveat that each child, family, and school is unique. He encourages readers to "innovate, improvise, and try to measure the results" as they implement his suggestions, which are based on universally applicable psychological principles (Chapter 9). This caveat matters because what works in one context may not work in another due to a variety of reasons: available resources, safety, or cultural norms, to name a few. Locally adapted solutions can be interdisciplinary in nature, drawing from sociology, psychology, education, and technology design. Interventions can also come from both formal and grassroots sources. In Chapter 10, Haidt begins to provide a few examples. For instance, the British filmmaker Beeban Kidron worked extensively to improve online child safety by developing the Age Appropriate Design Code. After she made the 2013 film InRealLife, Kidron shifted to advocacy work and founded the 5Rights Foundation to push for children's digital rights. In 2012, she was appointed a Life Peer in the UK House of Lords, which gave her a direct seat in Parliament and the capacity to work on legislation.
As far as making legislative changes concerning children, smartphones, and social media, Haidt writes that even in the US (where there is rampant political polarization), "protecting children from online harms is one of the few promising areas for bipartisan agreement." The Anxious Generation was published in 2024, and in 2025, significant bipartisan efforts advanced legislation to protect children from online harms. For instance, the Senate passed the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA), which includes two bills: the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). Despite the bipartisan 91–3 vote for KOSA, the bill stalled in the House of Representatives.
Another large-scale change that Haidt argues for concerns the built environment. This encompasses the design, construction, and use of human-made structures, which in turn influence human physical and mental health, daily activities, and the overall functioning of society. In earlier chapters, Haidt discussed how playgrounds should be safe but not so safe as to prevent some risky play. In Chapter 10, Haidt writes that cities and towns can do more to promote the well-being of children. Firstly, they can ensure proper sidewalks, crosswalks, and traffic lights. Secondly, they can scatter more playgrounds throughout different neighborhoods to increase accessibility via bike. Thirdly, Haidt argues in favor of blocking off streets for gatherings and parties. This last solution also focuses on the value of intergenerational relationships by proposing that there should be more spaces for people of all ages to mingle.
When Haidt refers to professor and researcher Alison Gopnik's book The Gardener and the Carpenter, he alludes to the fact that raising children used to be more of a communal endeavor (though it remains so in certain places around the world). Parents relied less on experts and more on other people in their community to care for children. The 1970s marked a cultural turning point in the US: parenting philosophies became more rigid and fear-based. Gopnik differentiates between carpenters (who rely on precision and control) and gardeners (who create a protected and nurturing space) as metaphors for parenting styles. She favors the latter.
In his conclusion, Haidt explains why he is so deeply invested in solving the issue of adolescent mental health struggles. He writes, "As a social scientist, as a teacher, and as a father of two teens, I don’t want to wait. I want us to get moving." Throughout the book, Haidt uses charged language to convey the urgency of the issue. He coined the term "The Great Rewiring" to describe how smartphones and social media have impacted childhood development and mental health. However, this assertion remains contested and debated. Psychology professor Candice Odgers reviewed 40 studies and found no causal relationship between having a smartphone with access to social media and adolescent mental health. Other academics, including psychology professor Christopher Ferguson, believe that the inflammatory language in the book aims to incite a moral panic, similar to the debate over video games and violence (Montgomery). Some examples of emotive language used in the book include comparing social media to "a firehose of addictive content," stating that teens "assume a hunched position" over phones, and calling social media a "fountain of bedevilments" (Introduction and Chapters 2 and 8). However, many of Haidt's critics would agree with him on several points. These include the fact that mental health concerns are real, that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and that kids need more unstructured and in-person play.
