Is the “anxious generation” really a thing?

💰 Today is Tax Day in the U.S. — 66% of our tax dollars fund human services like education, Social Security, and veterans benefits.
Today: The so-called anxious generation, tax poetry, and the 50/30/10/10 rule
By Harris Sockel

Generations are an invention. A French philosopher came up with the concept in the late 19th century. Economists started using it a few decades later to roughly keep track of national demographics after World War II.

I mention that by way of pointing out that whenever you read anything that generalizes about millions of people based on their generation, you should question it. Case in point: Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s bestselling The Anxious Generation, published last month.

Haidt argues that social apps spawned “an epidemic of mental illness” in Gen Z. (And Millennials, but to a lesser extent.) The data does track:

But… correlation does not equal causation. (Though here’s an interview in which Haidt claims it sort of does.) Business school professor Enrique Dans counters with, “We don’t have to ‘protect the children’ from smartphones or computers. What we have to protect children from are the morons who believe that by virtue of being born into an age of digital technology, children don’t need to be taught how to use the internet properly.”

Or as technology and society researcher Danah Boyd put it in a story last year about re-reading Fahrenheit 451, “the badness of screens is not about screens themselves but the social configuration that made screens the dominant social, entertainment, and interactive outlet.”

What else we’re reading

• People think Benjamin Franklin coined the phrase, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes,” but he merely popularized it — it first appeared in an 18th century farce about a drunken cobbler by British playwright Christopher Bullock. Anyway! Here is a poem about taxes.
• Speaking of taxes, here are Warren Buffett’s 18 top tips for investing and retiring well. Tip #14: Don’t swing at every pitch. “The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything — you can wait for your pitch.”
• You will never convince someone of something without building a relationship first, writes Medium’s resident philosopher Argumentative Penguin.

🌱 Your daily dose of practical wisdom (about growth)

No matter what you want to achieve this week (or this lifetime), think of it in terms of Jason Gutierrez’s 50/30/10/10 rule. Reaching any goal is:

• 50% determination (You have to want it. Wanting it is half of the battle.)
• 30% preparation (Eat. Hydrate. Sleep. Do your homework.)
• 10% execution (Literally do the thing.)
• 10% luck (Because you can’t control everything.)

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Edited and produced by Scott Lamb, Jon Gluck, and Carly Rose Gillis

Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.com