BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Library Market//iCal Export//EN BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Book Discussion: "The anxious generation : how the great rewi ring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness" by Jonath an Haidt UID:216731 DTSTAMP:20260423T071500Z DTSTART:20260716T160000Z DTEND:20260716T170000Z LOCATION:Boone's Trail Branch, 10 Fiddlecreek Ridge Rd, Wentzville, M O 63385, United States ROOM: Community Room DESCRIPTION:After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the ment al health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many m easures. Why? In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haid t lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit ma ny countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhoo d, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the 'play-based chil dhood' began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped ou t by the arrival of the 'phone-based childhood' in the early 201 0s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this 'great rew iring of childhood' has interfered with children's social and ne urological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to atte ntion fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social compa rison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families , and their societies. Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action . He diagnoses the 'collective action problems' that trap us, an d then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes ste ps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can ta ke to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childho od. Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most d ifficult landscapes--communities polarized by politics and religion, campu ses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Ge n Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children --and ourselves--from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.Searc h for the ebook and/or eaudiobook at stchlibrary.org URL:https://stcharles.librarycalendar.com/event/book-discussion-216731 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR