During the month of October, seniors in Mrs. Hall’s AP English class read an informational novel called Anxious Generation, a novel that comments on a trend over parental protectiveness in the real world, but a lack of those same restrictions in the virtual world. The novel explores the exposure of children at a much younger age to elicit websites and other profanities easily accessible through the unrestricted World Wide Web, a topic relevant to all students living in today’s society. When asking AP student Connor Riker how he felt about the novel, he said, “I liked the book; it opened up my eyes to some of the things that seem normal to me but in the past were things most kids didn’t start using until they were [older].” The AP class also participated in a discussion about the book at the Hart Public Library, in which the students had to sign up for times before, during, and after the school day in order to receive class points. Mrs. Hall was the coordinator, and along with senior Julia Mctaggart, they’d start the discussions giving topics and letting others discuss their opinions. Mrs. Hall commented on the structure of the discussions saying, “All the discussions were student-led. Others who led were Lexie Nienhuis and Harriet Kidder. We talked about phone use in boys vs. girls, about the benefits of risky play (and shared some play-based memories from our own childhoods). We talked about social media use and harms. We shared memories of our early technological experiences. We talked about what rules our parents enforce around phones and what we'll do when and if we are parents.”
The novel emphasizes what can/could be done to prevent early exposure to profanities and also shows the mental toll that the unrestricted internet has on kids today. Anxious Generation provides thought-provoking content that parents and students alike should consider in regards to the role of phones and technology in their own lives today.