Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (and Adults Are Missing)

Teen Screens, Few Surprises

I learned surprisingly little from this book. It offers some useful surveys and specifics, and I like the idea of making it a teen-centered approach, but the analysis rarely cuts deep.

The strongest sections show how cancel culture becomes a social battleground for high schoolers, and how platforms themselves shape behavior—“the medium is the message.” Performative compliments as the default register online, or the way Snap streaks keep the platform alive, are more telling than the broad claims about “social media” as if it were a monolith.

Compared to The Anxious Generation, which may overshoot the evidence but at least has a clear thesis on parental concerns, Behind Their Screens spends most of its energy reminding parents that abstinence-only strategies don’t work or listing caveats about its research scope. The result is inoffensive but thin.