Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

9 reviews

katdixon's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

Well researched and well argued. A better editor would have nixed the tangential (and disappointing) chapter 8, which weirdly veers into spirituality, but overall there's a lot of value here which I will absorb into my own parenting. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Body shaming and Suicide

puifaii's review against another edition

emotional informative fast-paced

2.0

A mixed bag of really good points on social media and personal anti-human right, anti-transgender right agenda driving.

The premise of the book is very good, with important issue needed to be discussed, especially in an era where we are all spending most of our time on the screen, unfortunately the writers harm and the possibilities for the legitimization of pathways for the legal killing of transgender people using debunked research and excluding sources on this topic in the book extra reference material have made it believable that this part is added to drive his own agenda, not for the science.

TLDR: The book outline important issues that we really need to talk about and tackle, unfortunately, the author insert his own pseudoscience belief that might kill millions of people worldwide. It would be great if human as a society prioritize looking into this issue.

Rec: Read the book with the awareness that many of the observation are opinionated, not originating from the original studies. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Transphobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, and Eating disorder

skyfluff's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria

whitne_ey's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jehansen127's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

himpersonal's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

5.0

I’m not really sure how relevant the observations and advice in this book will be in a couple of generations. I think our current younger generations (mostly whom will be unaware of the practices outlined) will figure out how to get through life in different ways out of necessity. What we know about child development will change epigenetically. So I’d be interested in testing this book against the world in about 30 years. Until then, what’s provided seems infinitely beneficial. I can already see it play out in my life a little - my older nephew learned to read and write in Korean as a toddler on YouTube, but there’s a distinct and immediately noticeable difference between him and my niece who only knew Elmo through books and only started getting screen time probably at age four or five, and it was one episode of Daniel Tiger a week and a yoga program she did with her dad. My niece is a lot more excited about new experiences and meeting new people. There are many factors that distinguish them, but I’ve kind believed their access to screen times was a big contributor.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

vireogirl's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Wow, super depressing on smart phones may be affecting the brain development of children. The ideas to fix it seem doable. I hope he's able to get a conversation started that makes a difference. 
There is a surprisingly magical chapter in the middle of the book. It is called Spiritual Elevation and Degradation. "The phone-based life produces spiritual degradation...in all of us." He goes on to talk about collective effervescence and how being together lifts us to a different plane. It was inspiring, and I was surprised to see it between the depressing facts and the practical steps. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

razkat's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

overbookedmama's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

3.0

 It pains me to say that like most parenting and non-fiction books I read, this could’ve been a blog post. Jonathan Haidt explores several key ideas including the decline of play-based childhoods and the rise of phone-based childhood which disrupts social, emotional, and cognitive development in adolescents, leading to increased anxiety and depression. Some of the negative impacts of social media he calls out are comparison and perfectionism, sleep deprivation, attention deficit, and cyberbulling. Interestingly, he reprimands today’s helicopter parents and says a culture of risk aversion has made children more vulnerable. It’s more important now to foster resilience and encourage independence to give them skills to navigate challenges in life. Haidt recommends that parents reduce screen time now for younger children and delay smart phones until age 16, encourage unstructured play, model coping and problem-solving skills, and freshen up on critical media literacy skills. Most of the tips in the book were things parents hear over and over again. It’s up to us to prioritize face-to-face interactions, set clear boundaries surrounding screen use, and lead by example. I’m a proponent of having open dialogue with my children even though they’re quite young. I’m seeing their attention being impacted by their iPad use and I’m glad that their schools are phone-free. There was a good amount of fear mongering in this book but I think the author uses it to drive his point home. The Anxious Generation is rooted in opinions but does provide some data behind the author’s claims. I’m not sure how I feel about the inclusion of gender differences and the impact of social media on girls vs. boys. I think you could skip this chapter if you’re skeptical. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts