MAIN IDEA:

The main idea of the book is that the rapid shift from a “play-based childhood” to a “phone-based childhood” over the past few decades has significantly contributed to a surge in mental health issues among young people, particularly Gen Z and younger generations.

Haidt argues that the widespread adoption of smartphones and social media, combined with a cultural shift toward overprotection and reduced unsupervised play, has “rewired” childhood in ways that undermine mental well-being. He identifies key factors such as:

1. Excessive Screen Time: The constant access to smartphones and social media has displaced real-world interactions and free play, exposing kids to addictive digital environments, cyberbullying, and unrealistic social comparisons.
2. Decline of Play and Independence: Modern parenting and societal norms have limited opportunities for children to engage in unstructured, real-world activities, which are essential for developing resilience and social skills.
3. Mental Health Crisis: Haidt links these changes to rising rates of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and even self-harm, particularly among adolescents, with data showing a sharp increase in these issues coinciding with the smartphone era (post-2010).

The book suggests that this “great rewiring” has left young people more fragile, anxious, and disconnected, creating a generational crisis. Haidt proposes solutions like delaying smartphone use until later adolescence, promoting free play, and rethinking how technology is integrated into childhood to foster healthier development.

MY TAKE ON IT:

I think the problem is not so much phones, social media, and other technologies, but the conflict between opportunities created by these technologies and the process of raising and educating children in a format appropriate for the industrial age. Society has already moved beyond this period of historical development, and to resolve this conflict, this process should be radically changed.  During the industrial age, the objective of the process of raising and educating children was to produce reliable and compliant workers and soldiers who knew their place in the hierarchy of industrial production and consumption. This objective was supposed to be achieved by shifting the process of raising and educating children away from family to educational factories: schools, universities, and various other organizations for sport, religion, and so on.

In the current society, in which information processing technology has dramatically decreased the need for compliant workers and soldiers while providing unlimited access to knowledge, entertainment, and networking, many children have lost the meaning of growing and the objectives to achieve. So instead of being oriented to the future, something like:” I have to be X to meet the requirements of my family and have a good life, therefore I should do steps A, B, and C”, children have no other objective as to be popular now and feel good about themselves. This creates dependency on the approval of peers rather than on the approval of elders of the family, who are much more mature and could provide better directions to the good life.

In my opinion, the solution could not come from limitations on the use of technology but from a complete change in the objectives for raising and educating children. The aim should be to raise self-sufficient individuals capable of setting meaningful and challenging goals for themselves, which would also be valuable for others, and independently learning new skills and developing new abilities required to achieve these goals.

Instead of industrial-type schools, when educational workers run conveyors manufacturing future workers, it should be a direct adult mentor – child artisanal type process when the child is perceived not as raw material(student) that should be turned into a final product (graduate) but as a human being that has intrinsic value that should be honed and expanded. It should include children’s active participation in all productive processes that are not yet automated, so they would feel equal, even if they are not yet sufficiently mature members of society. It should also be noted that if children can produce something valuable, they should be paid for it because voluntary pay for goods and services is the only indicator that individuals do something useful for others who pay. If children are busy developing themselves to be of value to others and would receive pecuniary rewards for this, they would have little time and interest in drugs and other forms of waste. At the same time, popularity could become an unimportant side product of successful self-development.