The Anxious Generation

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness is a 2024 book by Jonathan Haidt which argues that the rise of smartphones and overprotective parenting have led to a "rewiring" of childhood and a rise in mental illness.

Haidt argues that the combination of the decline of play-based childhoods, exacerbated by what he describes as overprotective parents motivated by excess fear of kidnapping, and increasing smartphone use has been harmful to children since the late 2000s. Haidt cites numerous empirical reports and clinical studies. In an interview with Jonathan Haidt during the WSJ's Future of Everything Festival he advocates banning phones in schools.