The Anxious Generation: Essential Strategies for Rewiring Childhood with Jonathan Haidt

The St. John Parent Association, in partnership with ParentMap, provided an opportunity to hear Jonathan Haidt speak to our community on October 15, 2024. As an American social psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation, Haidt explored the key factors behind the rising rates of anxiety in kids through research and his own expertise. In sum, Haidt believes we, as parents, overprotect our kids in the real world and underprotect them online. We need to work to reverse this trend.

Haidt shared practical steps parents can take to protect our children’s mental well-being through four norms helping to move away from a phone-based childhood. These include:

• No smart phones before high school
• No social media before age 16
• Phone free schools (not just phone free classrooms)
• More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world

Click here to access resources from ParentMap on the Antidote for the Anxious Generation. This site includes many useful articles and tools to support parents on the topics of smartphones, social media, and screen time as well as youth mental health, the importance of play, and more.

Click below to access the recording of the event. Use the password: ed*talks*replay