If you're involved in Education you have probably heard about the book "The Anxious Generation". I read it last spring and I enjoyed many of the insights.  I found some of the claims and correlations to be thought provoking and they inspired me to dig a little further on the topic.

Haidt's main claim is that "We have overprotected kids in the physical world and under-protected them in the digital world".

He presents correlations between a lack of child based play (replaced by screen time) and its link to mental health, but many critics claim that his research is not conclusive. Personally, I feel very strongly that childhood nutrition is drastically under-researched in connection to teenage mental health. But I digress....

I really liked the book and think it is worth a read. If you don't plan to read it you can get good information on this topic from other, more brief, resources online. I have included some below. 

Carl Hooker is  an educator who has been an advocate for focussing on purposeful use of technology in an education system where technology is abundant. In his post "Antidotes for the Anxious Classroom" he writes about balance and suggests tactics and strategies to help students learn about tech balance while also preparing them for a tech rich future.  

While these two resources offer different viewpoints, they both offer interesting insights and data. If nothing else, they are a good exercise in thinking critically about the differences between correlation and causation in research data. 

More resources:

• NPR - Discusses the Anxious Generation - the harmful effect of growing up online

• Lesson from "The Anxious Generation" for Educators and Parents - this post does a nice job at providing some key takeaways from the book while also linking to different sides of research.

• Youtube: A video summary of  "The Anxious Generation" by Four Minute Books