We're thrilled to be partnering with The Anxious Generation Movement, the nonprofit initiative inspired by social psychologist and New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Haidt, focused on dismantling the phone-based childhood and reclaiming the play-based childhood.
This partnership launches alongside the release of The Amazing Generation: Your Guide to Fun and Freedom in a Screen-Filled World, a new book co-written by Haidt and Catherine Price, author of How To Break Up With Your Phone. Designed for kids aged 9-12, the book speaks directly to kids and offers a practical, empowering guide for navigating smartphones, social media, and digital pressure, grounded in real-life stories and research-backed solutions.
As part of the partnership, we are launching a limited-edition collection of our signature hand-embroidered sweaters, with 20% of proceeds benefiting The Anxious Generation Movement, a fiscally sponsored 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
I’m the mom of two boys, ages 12 and 14, and I’ll never forget when The Anxious Generation tore through my community in early 2024. Almost overnight, it changed the conversation.
Soon after the book started circulating, the parents in my younger son’s class banded together to sign “Wait Until 8th” pledges, agreeing that none of our kids would get smartphones until eighth grade. Strength in numbers matters when your kid comes home insisting “everyone but me has one” and you can calmly say, actually, that’s not true.
Unfortunately, the pledge skipped my older son’s grade. We decided he would wait anyway, but more than half his classmates got phones in sixth grade. One teacher who taught both of my boys through sixth grade later remarked how profoundly different the pledge grade was from those before it. More focused. More engaged. Less distracted. That stuck with me.
Since then, I’ve followed Jonathan Haidt’s work closely, as have many parents I know. He’s become something of a north star in our circles. And the dangers he writes about are not abstract. Everyone I speak to has a painful story about social media pressure wreaking havoc on a child’s mental health.
My oldest finally got his phone a few weeks ago, on his 14th birthday. He’s in eighth grade and was one of the last in his class. Before handing it over, we made him sign a contract and read the new book by Haidt and Catherine Price, The Amazing Generation. I’m not sure how much of it sank in at first, but then something happened.
We were in Australia over winter break, where—thanks in part to the work of The Anxious Generation Movement—the social media age limit is now 16 and up (what a dream!). One morning, my son came to me panicked. Snapchat had stopped working and he wanted me to sign in as him to regain access. I told him I would absolutely not break a law so he could use an app he technically should not have.
He was furious. Truly distraught. I asked him to slow down and explain why it mattered so much. He said, “If I don’t check in by 9, I’ll lose my daily streak with all my friends.”
And there it was. In real time. Exactly what the book talks about.
I was able to point out that these tools are designed to create addiction, and he could feel it happening in his own body. Because we had already had the conversation and because he had read the book, he was able to pause and see it for what it was. I know there will be many more moments like this ahead, but I am deeply grateful that our kids now have language, tools, and support to become more intentional users of technology.
This addiction is unlike anything we’ve seen before. It’s unregulated, incredibly powerful, and disguised as something necessary and productive. I believe the kids who will thrive in this new ai-driven world will ironically be the ones with strong real-world communication skills, built through actual human interaction.
Parents need tools too. I’m writing this while both of my boys are out skiing with friends, and we just realized their phones and watches are sitting at home. The old me would have panicked and tried to track one of them down. The newer me, armed with this work, knows it’s my job to let them move through the world without me in their pocket.
One idea from The Anxious Generation and The Amazing Generation that really stuck with me is the call for both kids and parents to be “rebels,” which happens to be one of the phrases in this collection.
Being a rebel does not mean breaking rules for the sake of it. It means pushing back against defaults that are harming kids, especially the idea that constant phone use is normal, inevitable, or harmless.
Protecting childhood is an act of courage, not control.
So join the movement! Support the spread of healthier kids. Be a rebel.
xo Rachelle
