THE ANXIOUS GENERATION:

THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt

I closed this book and sat in silence for a moment. As a momma I feel like I am in constant battle for my family in today's world EVERY DAY, and I am. There is no doubt that there are a lot of big, shiny, agendas out there attached to hooks in the pond of life where our children swim. What's crazy is, half the time, the fishers aren't even trying to hide what they're doing.

The Anxious Generation is a book that deals with the affects of social media, video gaming, and the loss of childhood play, and what it's doing to our children. The research, the scientific data is sandwiched right in alongside what everyone of us is observing: kids lost in mindless activity, throwing fits when disconnected, hopeless, anxious, depressed in numbers we've never seen before. It lays out the reasons why this is happening. It covers the hooks that are laid to capture kids, It explains what the difference is between my generation (who watched hours of TV and played video games) and what we're seeing today. I would tell you this is a MUST READ!

Now, do I agree with everything that Haidt is saying in this book? I do not. He comes from an evolutionary mindset of how brains evolved over millions of years, what we were wired for, etc. He is also an atheist. However, this is a man who talks with lots of people in life. He has Christian friends and discusses things like the God shaped hole that everyone has and is trying to fill. His lack of belief and origins ideas do not change the studies and data that he has collected regarding our current situation.

The technology is here, and we are going to have to learn how to live and navigate through it. Haidt's got some great suggestions to help us do that! Highly recommend this book!