The Observer: How social media is rewiring Gen-Z into the 'anxious generation'

I’ve been reading up on Gen-Z. That’s the cohort born between 1997 and 2012 (and maybe later).  They are now between 12 (or younger) and about 27 years old.  Some of my grandchildren are Gen-Zers. I worry about them all.

Before Gen-Z we had the Millennials (born after 1980 and now in their late 20s to mid-40s).  After Gen-Z, who knows? A new generation may already be forming or perhaps Gen-Z will be extended to include children born after 2012. There is nothing firm about when one generation ends and another begins.

Regardless of how you divide it up, one thing is clear: Gen-Z has not had an easy time of it. And it shows. COVID disrupted their education and distorted their socialization. Technology has dominated their days while social media has stolen their attention.

Some experts have characterized Gen-Z as “the anxious generation.” This is the label that first attracted me to this subject. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has written a currently top-selling book about Gen-Z called “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”

Talk to schoolteachers you may know, and you likely will hear confirmation of the mental health challenges being faced by students today. It is a booming time for therapists, counselors and other mental health professionals. The question is: what is causing Gen-Z members to be so anxious?  And what can be done to reduce it?

Professor Haidt places the blame squarely on the shoulders of technology giants like Apple and Google; and on social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp. He also looks at parenting, claiming that parents today are insufficiently attentive to the dangers of their children’s online lives and too controlling when it comes to their children’s real-world lives. The result has been to foster the anxieties children experience in their everyday lives. Phone-based childhood, he claims, is largely to blame for adolescents’ declining mental health.

His book is divided into four sections.

Part 1 documents the mental health crisis (e.g., increasing rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide) among adolescents since the start of the 21st century.

Part 2 provides background data. Haidt says that the current adolescent crisis is rooted in “parental fearfulness and over-protection,” which serve to block experiences that are essential if one is to become a healthy-minded adult.

The childhood mores of Boomers were far different from those of the generations that followed — especially Gen-Z.  Readers born between 1946 and 1964 (Boomers) often were exposed to what we now call “free range” parenting; something that’s relatively rare these days.

Part 3 presents research supporting the idea that phone-based childhood disrupts normal adolescent development.  Here Haidt focuses on the harm being done by predominant parenting practices, resulting in sleep deprivation, social deficiency, attention fragmentation, and addiction.

Part 4 talks about what can be done to reverse the unfortunate trends observed. This section looks at what governments, tech companies, schools and parents can do to address the problematic interaction of smartphones and adolescent development.

A recent story in The Boston Globe reports on phone-free school experiments being tried in Norway.  Authorities there wanted to know how student outcomes and mental health would be affected if schools banned smartphones altogether.  Preliminary results reveal fewer student visits to school counselors. They also show improved academic performance and a decline in incidents of bullying.

Haidt has a series of recommendations for parents. His four principal guidelines are no smartphones before high school, no social media before 16, phone-free schools, and more unsupervised play opportunities along with greater childhood independence.

The problem with smartphones must be addressed as a first priority. There are alternatives, of course, to internet-based smartphones. A recent story in the British publication The Guardian describes what some are calling “boring phones” in place of trendy smartphones.

Apparently, some Gen-Zers are turning to digital minimalism, voluntarily limiting the amount of time they spend on social media. Some have referred to this as digital detoxing. A recent study found that Gen-Z was the only generation whose time on social media had fallen since 2021.

“The Anxious Generation” is essential reading for school administrators, parents and anyone else interested in the well-being of children and adolescents who deserve protection from the predatory practices of high-tech and social media companies.

Ron McAllister is a sociologist and writer who lives in York.  

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: The Observer: How social media is rewiring Gen-Z