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The Anxious Generation

Jon Haidt’s landmark book on the Great Rewiring of Childhood

By Jonathan Haidt

The Anxious Generation

Since 2024, The Anxious Generation has brought millions of people into the movement that’s dramatically changing how we approach technology in childhood and adolescence. For many, it put words and research to what we were already feeling, and it gave us actions we could take to fix things. The problems — and solutions — outlined in the book continue to be the foundation of our work at the TAG Movement.

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What people are saying:

“With tenacity and candor, Haidt lays out the consequences that have come with allowing kids to drift further into the virtual world . . . While also offering suggestions and solutions that could help protect a new generation of kids.”

— Time

“An urgent and provocative read on why so many kids are not okay—and how to course correct. Jon Haidt makes a powerful case that the shift from play-based to phone-based childhoods is wreaking havoc on mental health and social development.”

— Adam Grant, bestselling author of Hidden Potential and Think Again

“This is a crucial read for parents of children of elementary school age and beyond, who face the rapidly changing landscape of childhood. Haidt lays out problems but also solutions for making a better digital life with kids.”

— Emily Oster, bestselling author of Expecting Better

“Every single parent needs to stop what they are doing and read this book immediately. Jon Haidt is the most important psychologist in the world today, and this is the most important book on the topic that’s reshaping your child’s life right now.”

— Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus

About the book

Jon Haidt’s #1 New York Times bestseller documents how the rise of smartphones and social media, as well as the decline of independence and free play, rapidly rewired childhood and caused a global mental health crisis for kids and teens. In the book, Haidt proposes a set of tangible reforms — or norms — that parents, teachers, schools, and governments can take to protect kids, reclaim childhood in the real world, and create a future that allows them to flourish.

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