Generation Z is a testbed for a radical new way of growing up: one entirely removed from the real-world interactions of the small communities in which humanity evolved.
Let's call this the 'Great Rewiring of Childhood'.
It's almost as if they were the first generation to grow up on Mars.

--- From "Preface: "Would You Send Children to Mars?"

One in four teens said they are online “almost always.”
By 2022, that figure had nearly doubled to 46%.
This unusually high percentage suggests that even when Gen Z youth appear to be away from their devices or engaged in other real-world activities, they devote a significant portion of their attention to watching or worrying (or perhaps even anxiously) about events unfolding in the social metaverse. As MIT professor Sherry Turkle wrote about life with smartphones in 2015, “We are forever somewhere else.”
--- From "Chapter 1: The Surge of Pain"

Adult-led classes can provide useful information, but the information doesn't play a significant role in shaping the developing brain.
On the other hand, play plays a big role.
This ties into a core insight of cognitive behavioral therapy: that the key to emotional development lies in experiences, not information.
The best way for children to learn to tolerate hurt feelings, regulate their emotions, read other children's emotions, take turns, resolve conflicts, and compete fairly is through unsupervised, child-directed play.
--- From "Chapter 2: What Children Should Do During Childhood"


Could it be that children can also grow up antifragile online? Don't they experience frustration, stress, and challenges online too? I've seen little evidence to suggest that smartphone-based childhoods foster antifragility.
Human childhood evolved in the real world, and the child's mind 'anticipates' real-world challenges, (…) whereas the virtual combat of video games offers little or no physical advantage.
For social development, it is necessary to learn friendship skills in an embodied way.
--- From "Chapter 3: Discovery Mode and the Need for Risky Play"

Smartphones are like cuckoos laying eggs in other birds' nests.
Cuckoo eggs hatch before those of other birds.
Just as a hatchling cuckoo immediately pushes all the other eggs out of the nest to monopolize the food, (…) similarly, when a smartphone, tablet, or video game console infiltrates a child's life, it crowds out most, or at least some, of the rest of their activities.
Children spend countless hours each day glued to a screen, motionless (except for one finger), ignoring everything outside the screen.
--- From "Chapter 4 Puberty and the Blocked Transition to Adulthood"

The endless stream of distractions (constant distraction) eats away at a teenager's thinking skills, leaving permanent marks on their rapidly rewiring brain.
Students who have access to cell phones are significantly less likely to pay attention to their teachers while using them in class, a fact confirmed by numerous studies.
People can't actually multitask.
The best we can do is switch our attention back and forth between tasks, but each time we switch back and forth, we waste a lot of attention.
--- From "Chapter 5 Four Basic Harms"

For girls, the correlations were larger and more consistent.
The more time you spend on social media, the higher your risk of depression.
Girls who report spending more than five hours on social media on a weekday are three times more likely to be depressed than those who report not spending any time on social media.
--- From "Chapter 6: Why Social Media Is More Harmful to Girls Than Boys"

Since the dawn of the digital age, the tech industry has found increasingly powerful ways to help boys do what they want, even without taking the social and physical risks that once were necessary to fulfill those desires.
As what were traditionally considered "masculine" skills and attributes became less valuable economically and culturally, and a culture of safety-first masculinity grew, virtual worlds stepped in to directly satisfy those needs, but not in a way that facilitated the skills needed for the transition to adulthood.

--- From "Chapter 7: What's Happening to the Boys"

To address the anxiety that plagues this generation, there are two whales we must confront.
It involves banning cell phone use in schools and encouraging more free play.
I believe that implementing these two measures together will be far more effective in improving students' mental health than all the other measures schools are currently taking combined.
--- From Chapter 11, “What Schools Can Do Now”

In this book, I argue that we have unnecessarily overprotected children in the real world.
To borrow Gopnik's expression, many people have adopted a carpenter's mindset of trying to be too controlling, which actually hinders their children's growth.
At the same time, we underprotect our children in the virtual world, leaving them to play with their electronic devices alone and neglecting to pull weeds.
We've allowed the internet and social media to take over our gardens.
We have allowed young people to grow up on digital social networks instead of in communities where they can put down roots.
Then we are surprised to find that children feel lonely and starve for real human connection.
--- From "Chapter 12: What Parents Can Do Now"

Humanity evolved on Earth.
Childhood evolved to pursue physical play and exploration.
Children thrive when they are rooted in real-world communities, not in disembodied virtual networks.
Growing up in a virtual world promotes anxiety, anomie, and loneliness.
The great restructuring of childhood, from a play-based childhood to a smartphone-based childhood, was a near-catastrophic failure.

--- From "Conclusion: Let's Return the Children to Earth"