Book Club: Monday, February 1, 2027, 2-4pm. Fellows and External Fellows – Zoom only event

February 1, 2027,  2-4 pm – Fellows and External Fellows

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt (2024)                                                                             

Discussion Leader: John Yeomans

In The Anxious Generation, NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt describes the epidemic of teen anxiety, depression, and self-harm that hit many countries in the early 2010s at the same time as iPhone use increased. He then shows how “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, to be replaced by “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. Building on data from experimental psychology and elsewhere, he suggests more than a dozen mechanisms by which this has interfered with children’s social and neurological development. He then reviews evidence that internet companies have designed algorithms that disrupted the lives of vulnerable children, and that the companies are aware of their culpability. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world. Haidt also considers how AI is likely to cause further harm. Finally, he suggests how parents and schools can improve the social lives of children, teens and adults.

Controversial in places, Haidt’s strong and clearly stated views on social phenomena stemming from technological developments are sure to spark discussion. (Available in all formats; 293 pages)

The link to register is https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/ry2KQp0CMA

The deadline to register is the Monday morning the day of the event at 8 am. The Zoom link will be sent to registrants only.

If you have any questions, please contact the organizer, Mary Jane Ashley at maryjane.ashley@utoronto.ca.