Culture Club – The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt

This month's cultural work is the 2024 nonfiction book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, by Jonathan Haidt:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anxious_Generation

From Wikipedia:
Haidt argues that the combination of the decline of play-based childhoods, exacerbated by what he describes as overprotective parents, and increasing smartphone use has been harmful to children since the late 2000s. In an interview during the WSJ's Future of Everything Festival, he advocates banning smartphones in schools, arguing for feature phones with limited features instead.

About Culture Club:
Our fourth-Wednesday meetups are dedicated to discussion of a piece of culture – be it a book, a movie, an outside lecture, or something else – that is of interest to the group. Even if you have not read, listened, or watched this month's selected work but merely think it sounds intriguing, we hope that you will join us, since an outsider's perspective enhances every conversation.

You can browse the list of works we have already covered, and peep the queue of candidates for future meetings, here. If you would like to suggest a work for consideration, please check the link above first, and if you don't see it already listed, use this form.

Agenda:
6:30 - 7:00: Meet and greet
7:00 - 8:30: Discussion of featured work
8:30 - 9:00: General discussion and selection of next work

How to be:
Come with an open but critical mind, awareness of your own biases, and respect for your fellow humans. We're here to have a good conversation and a good time, and to that end your participation is subject to the Triangle Skeptics events code of conduct.