I’ve had many questions from parents (okay fine: moms. They were all moms.) about how we hosted an Anxious Generation book club at my kids’ school. It was a fun evening and word spread—there’s real momentum behind the being-smart-about-smartphones movement right now, thanks in large part to author Jonathan Haidt’s tireless advocacy.
So if you’re Anxious Generation book club-curious—and oh! How I encourage you to be!—then I can’t recommend it enough. The discussion was fascinating because everyone has something to contribute to it, even if they hadn’t finished the book before the meeting (me. That was me. And I was the one facilitating the discussion).
Here’s how we held our Anxious Generation book club in nitty gritty detail:
First, figure out what works for you
We wanted our event to be low-key and low-pressure—even for those of us who brought it to life. We wanted the conversation to be casual and constructive so we planned the whole thing with that in mind.
Reach out to your parent group and school admin
Those of us who organized it were already on the parent group executive (but if we weren’t, we would have reached out to them first) so our first step was to get our admin on board, which they very much were (our vice principal attended).
We set a date a little over a month in advance to give everyone time to read the book beforehand (I may have been the only one who failed at that!).
Collect RSVPs
We sent an invitation in the school e-newsletter and collected RSVPs (via email). We knew we’d have about 20 parents and caregivers in attendance so we booked our school’s library in the evening (we like a 6:30 start but there’s no magic to it) and planned to run 60-90 minutes.
Borrow what works from your other book clubs
When I’m feeling ambitious in in my real-world book club, I encourage everyone to come prepared with one question to pose to the group. They don’t even have to have an answer—it’s simply a way to encourage everyone to participate and keep the discussion moving. If that feels right for your Anxious Generation book club; go for it!
Cans and canapés
We brought baked goods and Bublys because we’re the hosts with the mosts—and also because we’ve found little gestures like that add warmth to our events. Don’t ask me why: they just do. But! If that feels like a bridge too far, you could absolutely skip this step.
Set the tone
We had the space to set chairs out in a circle. And because I am disciple of Priya Parker, who speaks often about “Magical Questions,” we kicked things off by having everyone introduce themselves and answer two questions that reflect major themes of the Anxious Generation:
- How old were you when you first got a phone?
- And how old were you when you were allowed to roam your neighbourhood freely?
Low-key, low-pressure preparation
Come how you are, learn from each other. Approach the whole thing like a conversation—don’t let the pressure of preparation stop you from participating. (The fact I hadn’t finished the book before facilitating the book club turned out to be totally okay.)
We *did* have a list of questions prepared in advance in case conversation lulled, which it never did, so we never needed them, but they were a nice security blanket. I’d recommend having some questions in your back pocket, even if only for your own sanity. This could be as simple as having Jonathan Haidt’s thought-starters handy on your phone. Or printing them out in advance if you’re analog like that.
Bonus points: take notes
If someone at your event is so inclined—and someone at ours was!—make note of all the resources people mention during the meeting to share afterward. I would let everyone know that’s happening, though, so everyone feels comfortable with what they choose to share—and everyone’s crystal on what’s being recorded.
A big resource that came out of our event was Unplugged Canada, a group of parent volunteers who are currently advocating for Canada to become the new Australia, I.e. to set a social media minimum age of 16.
One last thought
One of the most fascinating things about our Anxious Generation book club was that the group makeup was different from that of our usual school parent events. Often our parent meetings are majority moms, but the Anxious Generation brought out many more dads than usual. And every single one of them worked in tech. Make of that what you will.
Questions? Ask away!
Send me a note at KDundon@TheAnthology.ca. If this topic is one you’re also passionate about (which I’m assuming it is if you’ve gotten this far), read my Op-Ed for the Vancouver Sun about phones in school: Algebra vs. the Algorithm. And subscribe to my Substack: The Waited to get updates (and inspiration!) straight to your inbox.
Thank you! Have fun! Let me know how it goes!
