“Anxious Generation?”

“Anxious Generation?” – On how anxiety arises and how to deal with it

When exactly did this era creep in, in which childhood turned from a phase shaped by play into one dominated by the smartphone? And that is precisely the insidious thing: it happened on silent feet. In his book “The Anxious Generation”, Jonathan Haidt identifies a development that had already begun in the 1980s: at that time screens became increasingly a matter of course and increasingly shaped our everyday lives. In parallel, according to Haidt, another trend began to gain in importance – the over-protection of childhood. Many will recognise this: today even infants have mattresses that monitor their breathing.
A further area that has joined in unnoticed is the virtual world – a space that opens up ever more possibilities for children, without our knowing exactly what they actually do there. Haidt's central thesis is therefore: precisely these two trends – over-protection in the real world and under-protection in the virtual world – are the main reasons why children born after 1995 have become a “generation of the anxious”.

A contribution by Karin Michael to the school doctors' conference of the Medical Section at the Goetheanum in October 2025.

German | Translation · EN
Publication: 31 October 2025