Just came across this article about a book titled:
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing An Epidemic of Mental Illness
I haven’t read it, but I’m a little concerned that the article has zero mention of the built environment. Thoughts?
I like more this article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00902-2
It’s a good counterpoint on the book’s premise, but I think completely disagreeing with the potential for social media to cause mental harm is toxic and avoids a conversation worth engaging with. If we are going to give our kids social media or highly incentivizing games at a young age, we should be prepared for a generation that is completely dependent on artificial dopamine rushes.
Of course the science will have a hard time proving that when there’s hundreds of billions of dollars invested against finding substantial evidence to suggest social media and gaming can create toxic feedback loops.
Doesn’t mention what transitioned the Millenials into phones: The Game Boy. And before that, the television. However television is much more passive than gaming, the video games came first then social media and mobile phones gamified real-life simulation.
Edit: I like games as much as the next person, but come on let’s be real. I have a very difficult time putting my phone down and when I was a kid I had a difficult time putting the Game Boy down. It’s a habit first. It’s a dependence second.
