Free The Anxious Generation

We rewired childhood and created an epidemic of mental illness.

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures.

See the evidence

The mass migration of childhood into the virtual world has disrupted social and neurological development.

This disruption includes social anxiety, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction. Alarmed by the rates of anxiety and depression in adolescents, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote The Anxious Generation. The book explores these growing phenomena and attributes them to the transition from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood.

Order the book to learn more About the movement

It’s not too late to change course.

Together, we can reclaim childhood in the real world.

How can we free the anxious generation?

Roll back the phone-based childhood

This means delaying children’s access to smartphones until high school and social media platforms until 16. Schools need to go phone-free.

Restore the play-based childhood

Children and adolescents need more opportunities for independence, free play, and responsibility.

Reclaim life in the real world

Replace screen time with real-world experiences involving friends and independent activity, so that limits on devices don’t feel like deprivation but the opening up of a world of opportunities.