The Amazing Generation by Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price

The Amazing Generation informs middle-graders and early teens of the dangers of excessive screen use, while steering them in more productive directions

The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World by Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price, illustrated by Cynthia Yuan Cheng. Rocky Pond Books (PRH), 2025. 228 pages.

• Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12
• Recommended For: Ages 8-15

Once upon a time, a group of wizards created magical, glowing stones studded with glittering gems. They promised that these stones would bring friendship, freedom, and fun to anyone who picked one up. People rushed to grab them, and before long, anyone without a stone felt left out.

Does this sound familiar? It might, if the wizards are tech masters and the glowing stones are those slabs of silicone and circuits that lay close at hand to nearly everyone you know. The introductory story describes how “the wizards’” promises began to seem like lies as loneliness and anxiety spread among the young. But then, “a few brave young people found the strength to look up” and start interacting, finding new interests, practicing real skills. These are the rebels: teens who put the phones down and returned to analog living.

As a result of his research forThe Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt has made smart-phone use among the young his bête noire. The Amazing Generation hopes to spark a movement or encourage a movement that’s already happening. The authors back up their claims (claims that once seemed alarmist and extreme) with facts: That “free” apps actually cost a lot in time and attention; that young, malleable brains are being hacked and rewired;, that social-media users are being trained like Pavlovian dogs by response-and-reward stimuli. “The tech wizards aren’t selling apps – they’re selling you.” If it sounds a little too scary, at least there’s a lot of thought and research behind the scares.

The Amazing Generation is not anti-tech, but argues that, like all innovations, phones and other screens should be used responsibly: as a tool, not a companion or life coach. Almost every page features a quote from someone in the teen-to-twenties age bracket testifying to regret for wasted time or gratitude for real-life experiences. Graphic-novel episodes tell the story of six middle-school friends and their contrasting experiences with screens vs. real time friendship and fun. The content may not be effective for young teens who are already addicted – provided they pick up the book in the first place. But the information is valuable for the entire “anxious generation” (and their parents as well) so that some of them, at least, will stop experiencing life online. Which isn’t really living at all.

Considerations: None.

Bottom Line: A useful resource for kids and parents who may be debating whether to get a phone.

Recommended Reading at Redeemed Reader

• Reviews: We’ve reviewed several books for adults on this subject, such as The Tech-Wise Family and 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You. See also My Tech-Wise Life for teens.
• Reviews: Cautionary tales for younger readers are Polly and The Screen Time Overload (picture book) and Josh Baxter Levels Up (middle grade).
• Reviews: Get the inside view of just how technology has developed through the ages with The Way Things Work andThe Way Things Work Now.

You may purchase The Amazing Generation from Amazon.

As with many books, we received a free copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair, unbiased review.