The Anxious Generation vs. Make It Stick

A Bridge of Ideas

What connects the deep dive into the cognitive architecture of learning in 'Make It Stick' with Jonathan Haidt's profound diagnosis of a generation's mental well-being in 'The Anxious Generation'? Both books, though operating in seemingly distinct spheres of psychology, reveal a shared, underlying principle: the profound impact of the *environment* on individual and collective cognitive and emotional development. 'Make It Stick' champions active recall and spaced repetition as superior learning strategies, implicitly arguing that a passive, rote-learning environment hinders true knowledge acquisition, much like Haidt argues that a 'phone-based childhood' environment stunts the development of crucial social and emotional skills, even impacting cognitive resilience.