This week we're covering chapter five from The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, "The Four Foundational Harms." In this chapter, Jonathan Haidt outlines four foundational harms of the phone-based childhood: social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction. He argues that excessive smartphone use reduces face-to-face interactions, critical for social development, leading to increased loneliness and weakened relationships. Sleep deprivation, caused by late-night screen time, contributes to anxiety, irritability, and impaired cognitive function, particularly in teens. Attention fragmentation results from constant notifications and multitasking, diminishing focus and deep engagement with tasks. Lastly, Haidt describes addiction to smartphones and social media, driven by dopamine-fueled apps, which disrupts healthy development and well-being. These harms collectively exacerbate the mental health crisis among adolescents, with evidence showing a sharp rise in anxiety, depression, and self-harm since the widespread adoption of smartphones around 2010. If you want to join the discussion, please click here to join our online book club community! Head to patreon.com/theslpbookclub/membership to become an SLP Book Club supporter! You'll get episodes early and ad-free and a resource from Laura's TPT store every month. You can check out Adrianne's new app, Say Hello, by going to sayhellospeech.com/say-hello-app . View the app in the Apple App Store here and on Google Play here . If you love what we're doing at the SLP Book Club, please consider leaving us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen. This is the best way to support the podcast and help other SLPs and educators find us! Join the discussion on instagram @slp_bookclub . Find us on TikTok @theslpbookclub . A lot of the resources mentioned in the podcast are free to download in the Laura G SLP store on TPT, find them here! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
