Yes, But Also, There Are Critics.
I first heard of Johnathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation, when a friend from church suggested I read it. Instead, my husband, daughter and I listened to a very long podcast about it on a car trip from northern California back to Bend, Oregon. I feel the need to clarify that as my twelve-year-old daughter was and still is campaigning for her own phone, she was not happy about listening to this podcast.
As we listened, I nodded along, saying things like, “See, Eve, this is why I don’t feel like you should have a phone yet!” or, “I don’t want you to surround yourself in social media pressures, especially as you are in a critical time period of brain development!” Even though, these comments were coming from a place of love for my daughter, she did not see them this way, and continued to argue in favor of phones for tweens.
The Great Rewiring of Childhood
In his book, The Anxious Generation, Haidt explores the rising rates of mental illness among young people, attributing much of the blame to smartphones and social media. Haidt argues that since the early 2010s, there has been a shift from a “play-based childhood” to a “phone-based childhood,” which he believes has negatively impacted children’s mental health.[1] Referring to it as the “great rewiring of childhood” Haidt blames the rise of smartphones in the 2010s for the rise of mental illness in teens. He proposes several solutions, including delaying smartphone access until high school and implementing age verification for social media use.[2]
I agreed with everything he said: hook, line, and sinker.
But There Are Critics
And it’s not that I totally disagree. It is true that when we lived in Tennessee in the early 2000’s I’d throw my boys outside, lock the doors, and tell them unless one of them was actively dying they could not come back inside. (I exaggerate, a bit.) They played outside with other neighbor boys, negotiating, imagining, running, doing all the things kids do when they have a “play-based” childhood. Along comes my daughter in 2011, and though she played outside quite a bit as a young child, she’s definitely spent more time in front of screens at a younger age than her older brothers. And now she wants her own phone.
Seeing how my daughter’s mood changes for the worse when she spends a day on an iPad versus engaging with those of us physically present with her, my anxiety was already at an all-time high about giving her a phone when I read Haidt’s Anxious Generation. One might say I was primed to believe him, to accept his information as truth, to let it shape how I would parent my daughter.
That’s because I was using “Fast Thinking” instead of “Slow Thinking.”[3] If I had taken a minute to slow down and actually engage in the conversation around this book, I would have found a slew of credible critics critiquing Haidt’s work.
Critics of Haidt’s work argue that there is insufficient evidence to support his claims, suggesting that observed correlations between social media use and mental health issues do not imply causation. A widely-cited review of the book in Nature argues that there is “no evidence that using these platforms is rewiring children’s brains or driving an epidemic of mental illness.”[4] Instead, they found that “When associations over time are found, they suggest not that social-media use predicts or causes depression, but that young people who already have mental-health problems use such platforms more often or in different ways from their healthy peers.”[5] An analysis done in 72 countries shows no consistent or measurable associations between well-being and the roll-out of social media globally. Moreover, findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, the largest long-term study of adolescent brain development in the United States, has found no evidence of drastic changes associated with digital-technology use.”[6] In other words, Haidt, while perhaps on to something important, needs to provide more research-backed, peer-reviewed, evidence for his claims.
Critics also express concerns about the practicality and potential overreach of his proposed solutions. On one podcast I listened to, upon reading Haidt’s suggestion that social media platforms require proof of age, a host asked if perhaps we’d be required to provide eye or fingerprint authentication. In response, the other host laughed, “It would be more dangerous for social media to have access to our fingerprints or our eyes than to let kids use the platform.”[7]
Respond. Don’t React
The critiques of this book came as a surprise to me as I still don’t think it best for my twelve-year-old daughter to have her own phone. However, after slowing down, and engaging with the critiques, I have come to understand that while Haidt might have an important message, the research is ongoing and at this point in time, there are no easy answers to the rise in mental illness in our youth. Instead of allowing my reptilian brain to be triggered by fear,[8] I hope to respond rather than react, talking with my daughter, giving her access to a phone, to social media, to independence, at a rate she can handle well.
(I promised my daughter we’d go look at phones this weekend…with the caveat that there will be super-parental controls on it and she will not have social media accounts.)
[1] Johnathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation, Penguin Press, New York, 2024, 7.
[2] Ibid, 236, 287.
[3] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 1st edition. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2011, Kindle.
[4] Candice L. Odgers, The great rewiring, unplugged; Is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?, Nature, Vol. 628, April 2024, 29.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri, If Books Could Kill Podcast, August 8, 2024, Spotify.
[8] Russell, D. Moore, Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America, Penguin Publishing Group, 2023, Kindle Edition, 78.
About the Author
Kally Elliott
Mom of four. Wanna-be Broadway star. PC(USA) pastor. Wife. Friend. Sometimes a hot mess. Sometimes somewhat together. Is this supposed to be a professional bio?4 responses to “Yes, But Also, There Are Critics.”
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I really appreciate how honest and reflective this post is! You did a great job balancing your concerns as a parent with the critiques of Haidt’s work. Your vulnerability and willingness to slow down and reconsider your approach to the phone debate with your daughter shows a thoughtful, empathetic perspective. This is such a relatable and insightful read—well done!
Update: My daughter got a phone last week. Lots of parental controls but she got her phone. She’s happy.
Hi Kally,
I really do get where you’re coming from on this. For just about any research there are critics. My take away is that we need to be careful as the rise in mental illness is real and technology is a contributing factor. Let me add a caveat to that! Even the idea that mental illness is on the rise is questionable…we just have more trackable and defined diagnoses.
In my counseling program one of my professors stated something to the effect of, “Many mental health disorders are caused by the break down in primary relationships and most people come in for counseling because of break downs in those relationships.” As anecdotal as that statement is I have found it to be true in my counseling practice. It is also true that mental health disorders originate from a wide variety of complex factors. It is also true that relational support is one of the biggest factors in recovery. In the end, a holistic approach to mental health is very important. The use of technology is but one aspect of the mental health crisis, and how it impacts relationships is concerning.
I appreciate Haidt’s warning, suggestions, and giving us a greater understanding of how Gen Z has had an experience that no other generation has had.
Hi Jenny, I too, appreciate Haidt’s warnings and suggestions. Even if I no longer buy them all, hook, line and sinker, I do value what he has to say in this book – and I am applying them to my daughter’s use of her new phone (yep – she got a phone).
I have also found what your professor stated to be true. In my research for my NPO, we found that a sense of belonging was a huge factor in mental health. This has led to my project being a year-long holistic approach to encouraging mental health in the congregation. You bring up a good point when you say, “the use of technology is but one aspect of the mental health crisis and how it impacts relationships is concerning.” I wonder how I might address this in my project.
I addressed it last night with my daughter: “NO PHONES AT THE TABLE!” 🙂