How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness is a 2024 book by Jonathan Haidt which argues that the
spread of smartphones, social media, and overprotective parenting
have led to a "rewiring" of childhood and a rise in mental illness.
Haidt argues that the combination of the decline of play-based
childhoods, exacerbated by what he describes as overprotective
parents, and increasing smartphone use has been harmful to
children since the late 2000s. In an interview during the Wall Street
Journal’s Future of Everything Festival, he advocates banning
smartphones in schools, arguing for feature phones with limited
features instead.
