The Anxious Generation: Quotes

"Between 2010 and 2015, the social lives of American teens moved largely onto smartphones with continuous access to social media, online video games, and other internet-based activities. This Great Rewiring of Childhood, I argue, is the single largest reason for the tidal wave of adolescent mental illness that began in the early 2010s."

Section: 1, Chapter: 1

"Smartphones are like the cuckoo bird, which lays its eggs in other birds' nests. The cuckoo egg hatches before the others, and the cuckoo hatchling promptly pushes the other eggs out of the nest in order to commandeer all of the food brought by the unsuspecting mother. Similarly, when a smartphone, tablet, or video game console lands in a child's life, it will push out most other activities, at least partially."

Section: 2, Chapter: 2

"We have stretched our attention bandwidth to upper limits and continuously divide it between ever more activities and interruptions. We think nothing of emailing during a 'conversation' or texting during a lecture. We don't even notice anymore when everyone at the table is staring into their own screen. This is just the way we live now. The trouble is, when we live in a constant state of distraction and partial attention, full engagement becomes impossible."

Section: 3, Chapter: 5

"We can imagine human existence as unfolding on two planes - the profane and the sacred. The profane is the everyday world of petty concerns, personal ambitions, and material pursuits. The sacred is another order of reality - it's what gives life meaning, elevates our values, and inspires our noblest aspirations. Traditionally, communities created sacred spaces and times - temples, sabbaths, ceremonies - to lift people, bind them, and remind them they are part of something bigger. Social media keeps us incessantly immersed in the most profane, frivolous aspects of existence. There's no sacred space or time anymore, just an endless stream of performative posting and competitive consumption. If the soul is real, social media shrinks it."

Section: 3, Chapter: 8

"When we give children independence, they blossom. They discover they are capable of much more than we - or even, they - thought possible. This takes practice, for them and us. The first time my son walked to school alone, at age 9, I held my breath watching his GPS dot cross the busy street. But as he did it again and again without incident, my anxiety receded. By middle school, he was navigating public transit solo. At 13, he went to a sports event on his own, got stranded without a train, hailed a cab, and made it home safely at midnight. I'd never have let him do that if I hadn't practiced letting go for years prior. Step by step, he earned my trust, built competence, and grew taller in his own eyes. That's the gift of a free-range childhood."

Section: 4, Chapter: 12