H. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-Chief, Science journalsSpecial to Valley NewsJonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” is a hot seller that makes the case that smartphones and social media are largely responsible for the current mental health crisis among young people and that restricting their use below certain ages – 14 for smartphones and 16 for social media – can have a positive effect on reversing or slowing the problem. A social psychologist at New York University Stern School of Business, Haidt has an ability to capture the public zeitgeist and shape thinking around contentious issues. Just this week, the U.S. Surgeon General called for parental warning labels on social media platfo
