Jonathan Haidt’s Way Forward for an Anxious Generation

When it comes to building communities that nurture the next generation, it’s hard to identify a universal standard for success. But as social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt looks at the trends among today’s children, he sees both common concerns and shared opportunities to address them.

On this episode of The Russell Moore Show, Haidt and Moore discuss the alarming rates of anxiety and depression among children and adolescents, which Haidt explores at length in his new book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Haidt and Moore consider the factors that lead to childhood mental health crises, including access to iPhones and social media. They talk about the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic affected (and didn’t affect) young people. And they look back on the last several decades of American history, during which parents have increasingly treated raising children like a school project or professional endeavor.

While much of their discussion outlines the challenges young people face today, Haidt and Moore’s conversation hinges on hope. They propose meaningful opportunities for cultivating good mental health, confidence, and a sense of purpose in children and adolescents. And they encourage all who are investing in the next generation with practical advice for healthy homes and communities.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
• The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt
• iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood—and What That Means for the Rest of Us by Jean Twenge
• High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley
• The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children by Alison Gopnik
• Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World by M. R. O’Connor
• “What Is Attachment Theory?”
• American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert D. Putnam

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