May Book Club
Long story short, my children are mega active at the moment, which means my usual pre-bedtime reading session has been shortened as I’m working later and falling asleep almost immediately. So this month, I want to share one book in particular because it means I get to talk about my favourite topic ever: Why social media and smartphones, overall, suck.
(I also read Gone Girl. Very good.)
BOOK OF THE MONTH
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
(Penguin, March 2024)
So this month’s title is way more than a BotM - it’s one of the most important books I’ve ever read. If I could, I’d buy a copy for everyone I know, or at least anyone with children, a digital addiction or both. In short, it is about how kids are growing up with way too much freedom in the digital world, and not enough freedom and access to independent play in the real world. This ‘great rewiring’ is damaging their brains during one of the most important periods of their development, somewhere around those horrible early teen years when you’re physically and emotionally all over the place anyway, regardless of likes or selfies. This is leading to a multitude of horrors, from addiction and inability to focus, to self-harm and suicide.
According to the internet, I am a member of the Spice Girls generation, which means I grew up with the internet (from my teens onwards) but also retain childhood memories that predate it. My childhood was very much tech-free. Four channels, a couple of PC games on CD-ROM (this, this and this were firm faves), and an expensive dial-up modem we were never allowed to use.
By my mid-teens, MSN and MySpace were popular but my mum wouldn’t let us get shiny new broadband until I was in sixth form college - something I was furious about at the time but now feel very grateful for. Digital technology wasn’t the spectral presence it has become since then, and even allowing for the inevitable rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia, I remember my childhood being simple, analogue, creative and multifaceted.
I’m devastated my kids won’t know what it is like to grow up low-tech, but books like this one are - comforting, I suppose? Which is strange, as the data is pretty terrifying. I suppose it’s comforting in the way that Millennials and Gen Z have been such guinea pigs with social media and digital technology, embracing all this stuff without any knowledge of the consequences, and this book not only looks at this scientifically for the first time, but also reassures the growing number of parents and non-parents like me who are realising this stuff is corroding not only our brains, but our very souls. (Dramatic, oui, but not untrue.) This technology has been normalised for so long now that we are made to feel eccentric if we question it, so when a highly intelligent psychology Professor confirms your doubts with a load of scientific data and evidence, it’s nice to feel like reason is on your side.
This book is brilliant. Please read it. It’s clear, scientific, empathetic and ultimately optimistic in its approach to what many people believe is one of the most dangerous social issues we are facing. You guys know I have struggled with social media for a while now. The ‘constant companion’ (Cal Newport’s phrase) of our smartphones; the ping-ping-ping distraction of notifications; the ability to post photos of your children and shape their digital footprint without their consent (a hill I will die on); the void into which we must shout if we want our creative outputs to be seen or heard by a single soul. I could do a whole TED talk on why I think a large chunk of digital technology - but particularly social media - is doing way more harm than good. Sometimes I feel like I’m taking crazy pills because it seems so infuriating, so beyond outrageous, so completely unacceptable that we have allowed ourselves to become hooked on these devices and their platforms. If it weren’t so red-pill-esque I’d be yelling WAKE UP at every passer by with their heads down, faces illumined with the cold, sapphire glow of the Metaverse. (The reality is I’m so non-confrontational IRL it hurts, which is why Substack is such a joy for my angry tappy hands.)
There are so many good books coming out these days about living in a more mindful, analogue way, but this one really is a must-read. Buy it, borrow it, listen on audio. And if any big technology companies are reading this (I know you are, you superfans), can I please request something? In a world where we have 5,000 versions of every item we could possibly need, and then another planet-full of crap we don’t even want, can you please invent a smartphone alternative for people who aren’t 97 years old? One that has Maps, Spotify, a good camera and none of the horrible extras.
I will pay you ANY PRICE if you can replace my iPhone with something useful and non-addictive. Preferably a flip-phone for the vibes. You have until my daughter starts secondary school. GO.
If you’re looking for books to read, might I suggest preordering my next one?
Ebb and Flow: A Guide to Seasonal Living is an illustrated guide to slowing down and tuning into the rhythm of the year. I’ve poured many happy hours into it, illustrating every page and writing essays, poems, crafts, recipes and other tidbits, all designed to help you embrace each season and find peace, mindfulness and joy throughout the year. I really feel like there’s a little piece of my soul in this book!
The hardback is published with Bloomsbury on 12 September 2024, and it can be preordered anywhere you buy your books, including Bloomsbury, Bookshop, Amazon and Waterstones.
I feel your rage! (And love it! 😂)
I saw him being interviewed last week and found what he said both deeply unsettling, but also heartening. It seems that finally the adverse impact of social media is gaining more attention and do think that, in years to come, we will look back in horror at how we allowed it to happen.