How Phones Ruined Everything

In 'Who Owns the Future? ', Jaron Lanier critiques the current digital economy, highlighting how 'Siren Servers' exploit data to concentrate wealth and power. He proposes an alternative economy where creators are compensated for their work, aiming to preserve human dignity and economic balance. The book explores themes of privacy, economic inequality, and the future of technology.

In 'The Anxious Generation', Jonathan Haidt examines the sudden decline in the mental health of adolescents starting in the early 2010s. He attributes this decline to the shift from a 'play-based childhood' to a 'phone-based childhood', highlighting mechanisms such as sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, and perfectionism that interfere with children’s social and neurological development. Haidt proposes four simple rules to address this issue: no smartphones before high school, no social media before age 16, phone-free schools, and more opportunities for independence, free play, and responsibility. The book offers a clear call to action for parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments to restore a more humane childhood and end the epidemic of mental illness among youth.