"Lucid, Memorable, Galvanizing". That is how The Wallstreet Journal described the book : The Anxious Mind- How the great rewiring of the childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. This book has been on the 2024 Best seller list for several weeks and has been discussed at length by parents and experts. The author Jonathan Haidt is a professor at New York University Stern School of Business who specializes in social psychology.
Haidt laments that with the advent of smartphones, today's adolescents ( 10-20 age group) are lost in the dark labyrinths of the digital world. They are drawn irretrievably to the friends and friendships of the virtual world rather than the solid realities of the physical world. True, adults are equally addicted to and influenced by the social media platforms. But, Haidt argues adolescents are more at risk, more vulnerable to the charms extruded by the virtual world. They could be permanently scarred, leading to the possibility of mental illnesses. Haidt suggestions for "a healthier childhood in a digital world" include No smart phones before high school, no social media before16 and phonefree schools"
Why adolescents are at risk? Though thankfully brief, adolescence, an essential phase of growing up, is indeed a very difficult time for both boys and girls. Hormonal influx initiates hitherto unexperienced and novel changes in the body and the child within struggles to come to terms with awareness of sexuality. Anxiety, curiosity, apprehension, doubts and above all questions abound. Overwhelming majority of the teenagers tide over this turbulent phase naturally without any serious repercussion. However there are exceptions. As Silvers point out " for some youth adolescence marks the beginning or worsening of psychopathology characterized by difficulties with emotion regulation."
During the transition phase more than parents/teachers/siblings, it is the peer group that becomes trusted confidante. To be accepted by them, to be like them, to be one of them means a lot. But tragedy is, instead of dealing directly with real friends, in the real world, in real time, today's adolescents opt for the social media platforms to interact. Where everything is easy and just a click away. To some extent parents are responsible for this trend, Haidt argues. Distrustful of neighbors and neighborhoods , paranoid parents feel their wards are safer in the digital world.
In a recent interview with BBC, Haidt warned that utter disaster is all set to descend on us in the form of AI, the all powerful Artificial Intelligence. As the boundaries between True and Fake tend to blur , societal set up as we know now may cease to exist.
Or who knows, perhaps AI disaster might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. When nothing can be trusted in the virtual world, innate human intelligence will win. Teenager might shrug off the digital world as easily and naturally as a child discards cartoons as it grows.
References
1. The anxious generation: how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness
Haidt,J
Penguin, New York, NY, 2024, ISBN-13 : 978-0241694909
Haidt to BBC
Pearson
Nature 2025 vol.640,pp26-28
4. The great rewiring,unplugged: Is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?
Odjers
Nature 2024 vol. 628, pp.29-30.
Sawyer, et al.
Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2018; 2:223-228
Somerville, L. H. (2013)
Current directions in psychological science, 22(2), 121-127.
Orben, A ∙ Blakemore, SJ
Nature. 2023; 614:410-412
Silvers, JA
Curr Opin Psychol. 2022; 44:258-263
Sahi et al
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 2023,August Volume 62, 101262
