{"id":38736,"date":"2024-10-14T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T16:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=38736"},"modified":"2024-10-09T08:15:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T15:15:45","slug":"gen-z-needs-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/gen-z-needs-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Gen Z Needs Us!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social psychologist Jonathon Haidt has written a timely book with an urgent message. I’m grateful for the opportunity to read The Anxious Mind<\/em> and will pass it on to my now-adult children. I’d like to think my kids escaped what Haidt describes as the “great rewiring.” Though my kids didn’t have access to smartphones until college, and only my youngest is considered Gen Z, I’m among the anxious parents who began raising children in the mid-1980s. I felt overwhelmed trying to keep up with all the new technologies, the internet, and social media websites my kids were engaging with, first at school and then at home. Is it too late to contribute to the solution?<\/p>\n

Because my children were born and raised in Southeast Asia, I had numerous unfamiliar situations to navigate and consider. But I remember vividly the day in 2006 when the tiny flip phone became a huge topic among my middle and high school-age children. After much debate, I acquiesced, and they received their coveted flip phones. My justification was primarily to give them more freedom and me some peace of mind as they made their way around a city of 8 million people. Fast forward nearly 20 years, and I still struggle to keep up. I’m dismayed by how much time we spend on devices. Yet, I’m grateful our smartphones keep us connected now that we’re spread all over the globe. However, regardless of age and in an era of mounting addictions, I fear the impact smartphones and other devices have on us all, especially our children. A frequent topic in my counseling office is the challenge of managing smartphones, the internet, apps, and social media in an effort to improve mental health and personal relationships.<\/p>\n

Jonathon Haidt identifies two plotlines that contribute to the “great rewiring” of the Gen Z brain. The first is the rapid changes in technology beginning with the new millennium. Haidt writes, “Gen Z became the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pockets.” This phenomenon led to less time playing and interacting with friends and family while opening a world of unsuitable information and stimuli. These factors negatively impact their developing brains and, among other things, their ability to focus and develop healthy social and relationship skills.<\/a>[1]<\/a> Because of the rapid changes in the brain, puberty is an especially vulnerable time. Haidt outlines the second plotline as beginning much earlier when, in the 1980s, a generation of parents who wanted to safeguard their children became over-protective and thus gave way to a generational shift from a “play-based childhood” to a “phone-based childhood.”<\/a>[2]<\/a> The added stressors induced by a “phone-based” childhood leave adolescents more susceptible to mental health disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder.<\/a>[3]<\/a> Haidt has practical suggestions for a course correction highlighting four foundational reforms and suggests parents take the lead and band together.<\/p>\n