Realm of wisdom's Key Ideas from The Anxious Generation
by Jonathan Haidt

Healthy brain development depends on getting the right experiences at the right age and in the right order.

Humans have several “sensitive periods,” which are defined as periods in which it is very easy to learn something or acquire a skill, and outside of which it is more difficult.

Discover mode turns on when you detect opportunities. Defend mode turns on when threats are detected.

People who go through life in discover mode are happier, more sociable, and more eager for new experiences. (except when directly threatened)

Conversely, those who are chronically in defend mode are more defensive and anxious, and will learn less and grow less.

The attachment system evolved to help young mammals learn the skills they’ll need to reach adulthood while retreating to their “secure base” when they feel threatened.

Every child needs at least one adult who serves as a “secure base.”

A securely attached child usually settles within a few seconds or minutes, shifts back to discover mode, and heads out for more learning.

1. Safetyism:

The worship of “safety” is called safetyism.

It prevents children from getting the quantity and variety of real-world experiences and challenges that they need.

2. Smartphones

Once they enter a child’s life, they push out or reduce all other forms of non-phone-based experience.

1. Social deprivation
2. Sleep deprivation
3. Attention fragmentation
4. Addiction

When we put these four foundational harms together, they explain why mental health got so much worse so suddenly as soon as childhood became phone-based.

Each of us, acting alone, perceives that it’s too difficult or costly to do the right thing. But if we can act together, the costs go way down.

Collective action problems require collective responses from governments, companies, schools and parents.

1. Assert a duty of care: To have some moral and legal responsibility for how to treat minors.
2. Raise the age of internet adulthood to 16
3. Develop better age verification features
4. Encourage phone-free schools (with phone lockers or lockable pouches in schools)

1. Stop punishing parents for giving children real-world freedom
2. Design and zone public space with children in mind
3. More vocational education, apprenticeships, and youth development programs