Haidt lays out in pitiless detail what happened to the children of Generation Z when life moved online ... A bitter read but also a galvanizing one ... Haidt describes how we might spare rising generations the same afflictions.
Erudite, engaging, combative, crusading ... Whether or not you agree with the zombie apocalypse diagnosis, it’s worth considering the failure of prior absolutist stances ... This dialectic is compelling, but the moral matrix of the problem — and the scientific foundations — are more complex. Yes, digital absolutism might convince policymakers to change laws and increase regulation. It might be a wake-up call for some parents. But it also might backfire, plunging us into defense mode and blocking our path of discovery toward healthy and empowered digital citizenship.
The Anxious Generation is, to a considerable extent, a reiteration and expansion of Coddling. But it is also a vastly superior work. It’s less hung up on campus-outrage stuff, and it benefits from six additional years of research on how smartphones and social media dice the nerves and tamp the spirits of young people.
