Restoring Childhood: How to Set Kids Free in the Age of Anxiety

What if the cause of the youth mental health crisis wasn’t social media at all?

When was the last time you actually saw a group of kids—without adults—playing on a playground? Forty years ago, an American ten-year-old could expect to walk to school, bike to a friend’s, or play pick-up games with other kids in the neighborhood. Today, our children are supervised and controlled at every opportunity.

As author, researcher, and psychology professor Peter Gray shows in Restoring Childhood, kids ar...