A Different Perspective on ADHD Evaluations

In his New York Times bestselling book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” social psychologist Jonathan Haidt writes about the impact of smartphones (really, all internet-connected personal electronics) on child development. He describes a phone-based childhood replacing the play-based childhood that existed prior to the rise of smartphones.

Haidt identifies four foundational harms of a phone-based childhood—social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction—then proposes four foundational reforms: no smartphones before high school, no social media before 16, phone-free schools, and far more unsupervised play. For many people who are raising or working with children, the book stirs up concerning dilemmas and meaningful solutions. As a mother, I was alarmed and experienced the book as a call to action.