A Must-Read for Parents of Gen Z and Gen Alpha: “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt

As a parent, it’s natural to be concerned about the impact of social media on our children. In recent years, we’ve seen an alarming rise in anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues among young people. That’s why I was excited to dive into “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt, a thought-provoking book that sheds light on this critical issue.

I really enjoyed reading this book, which offers a comprehensive analysis of how social media is affecting our children’s lives and the world at large. As someone who values play-based childhoods and more independence for kids, I found myself nodding in agreement with Haidt’s arguments throughout the book. Although, I’m not always the best at executing these principles in my own children.

One of the most compelling aspects of “The Anxious Generation” is its accessibility. Written in an approachable tone, Haidt breaks down complex concepts into easy-to-understand language, making it a must-read for parents and caregivers alike. The author’s passion for this topic shines through on every page, inspiring readers to take action.

What I appreciated most about the book was how Haidt tackles tough topics like social media addiction, pornography, and the impact of technology on relationships. He offers practical advice for parents, educators, employers, and policymakers on how to mitigate these effects and promote healthier habits among young people.

As a parent of Gen Z or Alpha children, I highly recommend “The Anxious Generation” as an essential read. It’s not just a book – it’s a call to action. By speaking up and supporting the four foundational reforms outlined in the book, we can create a better future for our children. Haidt encourages readers to connect with others who share their values, creating a powerful movement that will inspire positive change.

If you’re looking for a thought-provoking read that will make you think about your role as a parent and how you can support your child’s well-being in the digital age, “The Anxious Generation” is an excellent choice. Sign up at www.afterbabel.com to access Haidt’s Substack posts on related topics and join the conversation.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I highly recommend this book to anyone concerned about the impact of social media on our children’s lives. It’s a must-read for parents, educators, policymakers, and anyone who wants to make a difference in creating a healthier digital landscape for future generations.

ChatGPT Learning Possibilities

…and ways people can take advantage of this new artificial intelligence.

I’ve been hearing a lot about ChatGPT and I wanted to explore more of what it can do. I wanted to see how easy it was to use myself. I created a user account and typed in my prompt:

write an information article about software bill of materials in easy to understand terms

I published what I got as a post on this website. This strikes me as interesting initially in two ways. First, I can type in questions and have this AI produce short and easy to understand articles for me to learn more about whatever topic I want, probably cybersecurity for the moment.

Secondly, I could also have it write lots of content for this blog or any other along with google adwords or anything else. All I’m doing is posting content, and I don’t even have to write it anymore. ChatGPT comes up with the content about a subject I want it to write about and people visit the site to read the content. I mean it’s not horrible content after all. Nothing really wrong with it.

This could flood the internet with many useless sites that are written by the same AI. Yes, I’m well aware that the internet is already flooded with lots of useless content, but not all of it is generating revenue for the owners. Just an idea. This is pretty neat, but getting a little scary quickly too!

Vegan Food Review: Field Roast Breakfast Sandwich

Field Roast Classic Style Sausage, Egg & Cheese Plant-based Breakfast Sandwich

Would I buy it again? No.

The good: In my opinion Field Roast has the best breakfast sausage I’ve tried. It has great texture and taste and most of all is the correct size (large) to fit nicely in a bagel or English muffin. They did a fantastic job on this. The “egg”; Just Folded Egg is your only option. It is simply the best vegan egg on the market. It has no challengers as far as I am concerned.

The bad: It’s the cheese. That is where this falls apart. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been vegan for 2 years, I know good plan-based cheese is hard to find, but this stuff just has a bad flavor that ruins the rest of the sandwich. I think they would be better leaving it off. The English muffin bun did get hard in the microwave, that could have been user error, but in my experience it happens to most of these breakfast sandwiches when microwaved. So no points off for that.

Summary: I would not buy this again, but I would buy all the components separately save the cheese. Field Roast makes a delicious breakfast sausage and Just Folded Egg does not disappoint. Buy your favorite plant-based cheese (if at all) and make your own.

2021 Books in Review

I was only able to read 17 books this year. This is the least number of books I have read since 2009. I’m not very happy with that, but 2022 is a new year and another opportunity to read more books!

Stats

  • Only 5 books from outside the US
  • 63% of books were written by Men
  • 69% of books I read were on the Kindle (4 audiobooks, 1 real book and the rest were kindle books)
  • 3,286 pages
  • 1,879 minutes of audiobooks (~31 hours)
  • Almost half the books I read where about the environment (44%)
  • 4 audiobooks came from the library, saving me $89.10

Top rated (5-star) books:

Book Review | The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff
The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and our Health—and a Vision for Change by Annie Leonard
PagesRatingGenre
3525 / 5Non-fiction, environment

Wow! I wish I would have read this years ago! I learned so much about all our crap! I’m already on the road to simplify and minimize, but this really got me thinking about what more I can do.

Similar books that I’m interested in:

The video that started the conversation…

Other book recommendations from the book:

Other Notes:

  • 350.org – Climate change non-profit fighting the use of fossil fuels.
  • waterfootprint.org – The Water Footprint Network is a platform for collaboration between companies, organizations and individuals to solve the world’s water crises by advancing fair and smart water use.
  • sustainable-economy.org – Center for Sustainable Economy.
  • eartheconomics.org – We all rely on services provided by nature, often without realizing it or in ways we don’t fully recognize. Earth Economics identifies and quantifies those benefits to ensure they are included in the decision-making process at all levels, so communities can mitigate risk, increase resilience, and protect their natural capital wealth.

Paradigms are so pervasive and invisible that they can be easily mistaken for truth. When this happens, we limit our creativity in finding solutions to the problems we face, since our thinking is cramped and predefined by society’s dominant framework.

There are the downshifters, those who voluntarily live simply, unplugging from commercial culture, working, and buying less.

…downshifting, enough-ism, or voluntary simplicity–involves embracing a shift towards working and spending less.

Annie Leonard

2020 Books in Review

I had high hopes for 2020 as far as reading went. But 2020 had other plans for all of us. My wife and I welcomed a new baby girl into our lives and the world gave us a global pandemic. You would think I would have more time on my hands with a global pandemic, but preparing and having a third little girl did divert my time slightly. While I planned to read many more books in 2020 I only made it through 36 books this year. Less than the 55 I was able to read in 2019.

Although I read less I think I did better with reading diversity. In 2019 I read only 23% female authors’ books, while in 2020 I managed 40%, still less than half, and something I can still improve upon, but better. 89% of the books I read were non-fiction. I believe fiction is important to read, but my favorite genre is definitely non-fiction, I really feel like reading those books is time well spent. Back to diversity; I also look at the nationality of the writers I read. In 2020, I read 77% from United States writers. I did manage to read 3 Canadians, but that’s still the North American continent.

As far as how I liked the books, my average score was 4, the lowest was 2, and the highest was 5. I’ll make sure to link to all the 5-star books below. My favorite binding or way of reading was Kindle (48.6%). This makes sense when you see how many books I read about minimalism this year and last. Next was audiobooks, 31.4%. I’m sure I would have read even more audiobooks in 2020 if my commute would have lasted past March.

I read 6,524 pages digital and real this year. I listened to 6,170 minutes (102.8 hours, 4.3 days) of audiobooks. I enjoyed listening to books on walks while riding an indoor bike and sometimes laying on the ground waiting for a child of mine to fall asleep.

Topics or why I read the books I did this year. 9 books were related to minimalism, 5 were general education, 4 on the environment and cycling (4 each). This is a big one. I saved $310.09 by using the library in 2020.

One thing that was different this year is that each book got a blog post, something I have not been very good at doing in the past. I hope to get better at this.

5 Star books I read in 2020:

If you can only read one of these books read, How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger.

Book Review | How to Be an Antiracist

How to Be an Antiracist
by Ibram X. Kendi
PagesRatingGenre
3054 / 5Non-fiction, Race

This year changed a lot of things. A major one of those things was the Black Lives Matter movement. It brought to the forefront hundreds of years of oppression. I’m no expert on this movement and as a privileged, white, heterosexual, male, I can’t begin to understand the struggle of African-Americans in this country. Having said that, not trying is failing. Reading a book doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make a huge difference. I’m trying to learn and see things from another person’s eyes.

Ibram’s book does that. I encourage you to listen to this 6 minute NPR story about this book:

Book Review | A Rose for Emily

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
A Rose for Emily
by William Faulkner
PagesRatingGenre
364 / 5Fiction, short story, classic

Emily is a member of a family in the antebellum Southern aristocracy; after the Civil War, the family has fallen on hard times.

A very short story that you can read online here. A bit of history and a somewhat sad story. Very well-written and an enjoyable read. Only 4 stars as I wish it was longer. Looks like the whole movie is available on youtube:

Book Review | Ninety Percent of Everything

Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate by Rose George
PagesRatingGenre
3043 / 5Non-fiction, Economics, Travel

Rose George writes a very extensive (verbose) description of the shipping industry as it is today. In order to accomplish this she actually gets on a ship and sails with the crew of a cargo ship through their normal route, including pirate infested waters. I read the book more for the economics of shipping. I wanted to understand how we got to this place where it is insanely cheap to ship via cargo ships and cargo containers. She covers this and so much more.

The extra is where she loses me. At times she dives into the history of shipping, then she passes to the legality of it, then the a short biography of the current captain of the ship she is on, then the shipping company Maersk, then it reads as a travel book, then she covers a short history of harbor towns. You can see what I am getting at here. It’s just too much. She managed to pack in 3 or 4 book subjects into one book. While the title speaks to me, the economy of shipping, there is so much more in this book. For this reason, it gets only 3 stars.

Book Review | The Truths We Hold

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris
PagesRatingGenre
3364 / 5Non-fiction, autobiography, politics

Good biography from Harris. Obviously focusing on her professional career the most. People who want to know her stance on things may benefit from reading this. Boiled down to fairness for all and climate change is important. Not bad, but you have to wonder how much of this was her telling us exactly what we want to hear.

I’m really glad that I read this before she became America’s first female, first Black, and first South Asian vice president-elect. That’s a lot of first and she has a lot to be proud of already. I’m looking forward to seeing what she and Biden can do.