Book: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing An Epidemic of Mental Illness

https://lemmy.world/post/14029638

Book: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing An Epidemic of Mental Illness - Lemmy.World

Just came across this article [https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-we-save-our-children-from-smartphones-03eaf449?st=k1u42llqbj9jr4e] 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?

The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?

The evidence is equivocal on whether screen time is to blame for rising levels of teen depression and anxiety — and rising hysteria could distract us from tackling the real causes.

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.