The Anxious Generation

THE NO.1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A TIMES, FT, ECONOMIST AND INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR‘Boundlessly wise . . .important and engrossing’ The New York Times‘One of the most important books I’ve read... It’s absolutely brilliant’ Dr Rangan Chatterjee'Urgent and essential' GuardianAcclaimed psychologist Jonathan Haidt reveals how the decline of free-play in childhood and the rise of smartphone use among adolescents is changing our worldFrom 2010, as teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones packed with social media apps, unsupervised time online soared while face-to-face conversations with friends and family plummeted, and so did mental health. This profound shift took place against a backdrop of diminishing childhood freedom and over-supervision in the real world, depriving children of the experiences they most need to become strong and self-governing adults.