Adolescents these days live in a time of prosperity. Around the globe, life expectancy is rising, education is widespread, homicide rates are dropping, and diseases are increasingly curable. If one is lucky enough to have been born in a high-income country, they’ve come of age at a time when risky teenage behaviors, such as sex, drug use, and crime, are in steady decline. Schools now provide increased social-emotional learning and mental health support. Yet contemporary teenagers are experiencing rates of anxiety at all-time highs.
This has prompted social psychologist Jonathan Haidt to label Gen Z (and older Gen Alphas) “the anxious generation.” If you happen to be an educator or parent these days, you are probably familiar with the playground summary of his book: The current mental health crisis dovetails not-so-coincidentally with the rise of smartphones and social media, and parents should take steps to limit their use.
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