Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation is available on Audible as a 10 hrs 32 mins unabridged audiobook, narrated by Sean Pratt and Jonathan Haidt.
Publisher’s Summary
THE ACCLAIMED #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER with over two million copies sold • A must-read for all parents: the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood. • A cultural catalyst for the resulting $17.1 Billion Meta Settlement.
Named one of the best books of the year by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Time, The Economist, New York Post, and Town & Country • One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year • Named finalist for the PEN Literary Awards
“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
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. Why?
In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt (pronounced “height”) lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.
Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems” that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.
Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.
Audiobook Details
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt and Jonathan Haidt
- Length: 10 hrs 32 mins
- Publisher: Penguin Audio
- Release year: 2024
- Audible category: Health & Wellness / Psychology & Mental Health / Mental Health
Listener Ratings
The Anxious Generation holds an average listener rating of 4.8/5 from 7402 Audible ratings.
On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:
- Performance (narration): 4.8/5
- Story: 4.8/5
- 5-star ratings: 85% of all ratings
What Audible Listeners Are Saying
5/5 stars — “Everyone should read this!”
I didn’t expect this to be a good parenting book. But I’m pregnant with my first child and this was EYE OPENING for the kind of childhood I want to give my son. Thank you Jonathan for this research!!— Brenna Douglas, Audible listener
5/5 stars — “No Phones in Schools”
I am a teacher. This book made me see how much damage social media and lack of access to free play is doing to our students. I now have to try and make changes at my school. Hopefully parents, legislators, administrators, and other teachers will, too.— Amazon Customer, Audible listener
5/5 stars — “Review from the perspective of the “Anxious Generation””
I’m a member of Generation Z who experienced my own childhood and adolescence pretty close to as it is described in this book. I believe the conclusions Mr. Haidt has drawn about this kind of childhood and the impacts these technologies have had on my life and the life of my peers as adults is shockingly accurate. We can do better to raise the next generation.— Audible customer, Audible listener
For full pricing and the 30-day Audible free trial offer, see the link on this page.
