Book reviewed by Esther Roodenburg, November 2025
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
by Jonathan Haidt
UK: Penguin Press, 2024; 400 pages
ISBN 9781802063271, first edition, paperback
AU$18

Jonathan Haidt’s timely book presents a high level of research scholarship, yet is delivered in an appealing, communicative style for a non-expert readership. He initially makes engaging use of an allegory, introducing some of the complexities a child today must navigate while growing up in the increasingly uncharted territory of adolescence—a very different experience from that of their parents. Part 1 “A Tidal Wave” picks up this theme, with the surprisingly poignant chapter title, “The Surge of Suffering.”

While much of the research cited could also support the now-common general reference to a “tsunami of depression,” Haidt differentiates one form of suffering from another, focusing on anxiety as the ubiquitous concern. As an insightful social psychologist, he convincingly argues that while other factors like climate change, social unrest, and the COVID-19 pandemic contribute to youth suffering, the primary culprit can be recognised as the rise and acceptance of digital platforms and smartphones between 2005 and 2010. With careful use of research, Haidt builds a compelling case asserting that this “Great Rewiring” has had a profoundly negative impact on Gen Z (those born from 1995 onward) who potentially will experience ongoing concerns. This technological shift continues to affect the next generation (Gen Alpha?) now entering the fray of childhood and adolescence, all with “a need to develop competencies, overcome innate childhood fears, and prepare to rely less on their parents” (p. 8). The prevalence of health repercussions on this vulnerable generation abounds. But parents, too, are caught in this struggle, grappling with how to protect their children and effectively mitigate these outcomes.

Clarity is given in Part 2, “The Backstory,” where Chapters 2–4 inform us about what children need to develop into healthy adults. He contrasts the valued freedoms of previous generations’ childhoods—rich with play, discovery, and risk-taking—with the current reality where these experiences have been eroded by the ubiquitous presence of phones. Problems associated with social media’s immediate availability are clearly identified, with relationship-building opportunities now at risk, whether for social learning or for developing strong, healthy bodies. Instead, children are enticed into exploring an unreal virtual world, created by others. Play-based learning, with discovery possible through safe, nurturing, risk-taking environments, has  been thwarted. Instead, their young brains are inundated with mass media influences well before the child is ready to understand or reflect on the impact of what is being advocated. Childhood play-based activities that had previously enabled a healthy transition into readiness for adult demands is lost. Haidt helps us reconsider those important skills that foster independence, including those that enable an awareness of risks, learning to be less self-preoccupied, becoming more resilient, and having a greater ability to choose beneficial rather than destructive behaviours.

Part 3, “The Great Rewiring” (Chapters 5–8), provides Haidt’s understanding more directly on the downsides of a life entrapped (“rewired”) within a phone-based childhood. He draws attention to major differences between boys and girls, and how the invasion of the smartphone and its controlling effect on the way people “think, feel, judge, and relate to others” (p. 216) creates a personally alienating isolation from their real world. Harmful effects are outlined, not the least of which are digital addictions, massively contributing to how children have become deprived of interpersonal connections. These are demonstrably shown to be crucial in developing mature adult relationships. His cogent recognition of many well-established psychological theories such as attachment and attention-deficit issues support a sound empirical basis to his work.

The final Part 4, “Collective Action for Healthier Childhood” (Chapters 9 –12), constructively suggests necessary actions now crucial for a healthy childhood to become a realistic possibility. Haidt sets this book in the context of an anxious generation, already “wired up” to pressures that have created an epidemic of “mental illness.” Psychologists have long believed that proactive prevention is far better than prescribing a cure. A collective response is now proposed to reverse some of these unhealthy trends. Such actions are framed in positive “how-tos” for each nominated group: tech companies, governments, schools, and parents, encouraging all to seriously reconsider their respective responsibilities. The author’s challenge is imperative: to act now! Pertinent psychological, spiritual, and practical solutions throughout his book leave us with few grounds on which to believe it is too late.

In Haidt’s concluding chapter, his appeal returns the reader to his initial allegory: today’s child is akin to the child taken to Mars, hence this chapter’s title, “Bring Childhood Back to Earth.” Haidt’s understanding of the current epidemic of mental illness is that children have been taken from the real world into a dominant virtual world. In contrast to the real world, that virtual world, with brief reference to AI, is concisely depicted (p. 9) as one that “promotes anxiety, anomie, and loneliness. The Great Rewiring of Childhood, from play-based to phone-based, has been a catastrophic failure” (p. 293).

For the reader with more questions than the book presents, there remains an extended and impressive Notes section with many references for each of the chapters. A full Index also provides a helpful paginated resource for terms used throughout, to efficiently enable a review of the author’s perspectives.

As a retired practitioner psychologist of many years, then a post-graduate teacher of clinical psychology at Monash University, and a grandmother of 12 developing children—all at various stages of managing the world of phones and the impacts of mass media—I am heartened to read this book. Collegial findings support the clear outlines presented herein: both of the enormity of the problem and the need to act. A gracious way forward is carefully offered to encourage readers to respond with a concerted effort to stop the ship from sinking. A new generation is already in the making. Let us encourage them by being the leaders we need to be.