Is it all the phone?
A post from when I was thinking through these bestsellers.
This part month two different books on teen or gen z mental health were released. One, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and two, Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier. Both are good books and I hope they’re widely read but my feeling Haidt’s book will gain a wider audience and following while Shirier’s book will be ignored outside of more ‘conservative’ media. As a couple of reviewers note her book isn’t written in a way that might off putting to those unconvinced, I don’t think much will be convincing for those unwilling to see. (And it is clear those reviewers don’t share in concerns about SEL and therapy). But there’s also the divide that Haidt is an academic and Shrier is a journalist so that will give him more legitimacy with people. My concern is that while Haidt’s book tackles the surface level problem head on it misses what’s below the surface.
In Haidt’s own words these are action steps he hopes his book produces.
No smartphones before high school
No social media before 16
Phone-free schools
More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world
These are great, I hope they are widely adopted. But if I had to guess idea the first three will gain traction while four on independence and free play will struggle. There’s a lot of reasons for that but ideas 1–3 are about protecting your kid while the fourth one is about lowering parental anxiety and protection. The first are pulling on the lever of concern while the fourth suggests there is a better way.
This is where Shrier’s book is better equipped to help parents and teens. Instead of taking to narrow a look at the problem as Haidt does (all phones and social media) Shrier looks more holistically at the world we’ve created. Her book lacks a clear goal like Haidt’s but it narrates the upside-down nature of what we’ve done and the world we’ve created that is producing damaged young people.
If you have time read both books. But if you only read Haidt’s you might begin to think the problem is only removing phones and not symptom of a larger crisis. This review from Mary Harrington is a wonderful place to start at seeing the larger picture.
(A flaw with both books is the assumption that adult mental health is fine. Haidt unleashing the hounds at 16 and Shrier’s assumption that adults are capable of controlling the relationship to therapy both are naive. The world we’ve made for our young people is the one we inhabit as well and health needs to start from above.)