Members of the community who are interested in participating in this year’s Westmoreland Reads are invited to request a free copy of the book or audiobook, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” by Jonathan Haidt. Approximately 100 copies each of the hard copies and the audio copies can be requested here (while supplies last).
Westmoreland Reads is a community initiative that is led by the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg with support from Westmoreland County organizations and individuals. The books are being made available at no cost to community members through signature funding provided by the University of Pittsburgh’s The CuPID Project—The Community, Partnership, Identity, and Dialogue Project—that is committed to building and supporting communities through education and engagement across disciplines and identities.
“The Anxious Generation,” a New York Times best-selling non-fiction book, is described as a must-read for all parents and is the generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech. The book also provides a plan for a healthier, freer childhood. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies. (from Amazon book description).
After detailing the problems and their causes, Haidt issues a call to action and provides a four-step plan to counteract these issues.
“We think that this year’s book will be of particular interest to parents, teachers, and anyone who regularly interacts with Gen Z,” said Sheila Confer, EdD. “’The Anxious Generation’ details what the younger members of our society are experiencing and offers insights into how we can help them with the anxiety and other mental health issues that are the result of the digital network that frames their lives.”
Confer, an assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and director of the Academic Village, chairs the two Westmoreland Reads committees that decide on each year’s book, theme, and resulting year of associated activities.
She also encourages members of the community who participate in this year’s Westmoreland Reads to complete the pre-reading survey and post-reading survey. The short surveys are designed to explore the reader’s experiences, habits, and perspectives related to technology use, social media, anxiety, childhood freedom, and generational differences BEFORE and AFTER reading the book.
“The responses will help us better understand how different generations relate to these topics and how reading the book may influence awareness and behavior,” explained Confer. “Participation is completely voluntary and anonymous. The survey takes approximately five to 10 minutes to complete, and there are no right or wrong answers.”
Westmoreland Reads invites members of the community to come together in their own organic, small groups to read and discuss each year’s book with the ultimate goals of looking at the topic through an interdisciplinary lens, making connections, and engaging in conversations across disciplines, interests, and age groups.
More than 19 Pitt-Greensburg classes will be using the book as a common read this fall, and Confer hopes that other schools and institutions will join the common read to help their Gen Z students better navigate today’s digital culture.
Plans are currently underway to host a panel discussion on October 27 that will feature community members in the fields of education, mental health, social media, communication, and healthcare. A Gen Z student representative and a Gen Z workforce member will also participate. Details about this and other activities will be released closer to the event date and posted to the Westmoreland Reads webpage as they are confirmed.