THE RHETORIC OF ANXIETY :A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS TO “THE ANXIOUS GENERATION” BY JONATHAN HAIDT

Abstract

The concept of anxiety may be characterised as feeling of tension, sense of uncertainty and emotional situation of inner turmoil that perhaps cause of fear, restlessness, worried thought and rapid heartbeat of any creature. Thus this concept introduced by Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation that examined  rise in mental health issues among the generations born after 1995.The vast rewiring of infancy that fundamentally changed experience of young generation lead to an epidemic rise of anxiety, depression and other mental health problem. The purpose of this research is to examined the rhetorical strategies, discursive devices and linguistic features in the way that how children interact with technology. It explored how language is use to assemble a narrative of anxiety and technological deterninism. This research highlight how the play-based child becoming phone-based child due to immense use of modern technologies, Thus the finding of this research highlight Haidt’s contribution to a deeper understanding of the role of language in shaping public perception of mental health, technology and have implications for promoting healthy technology use and justifying its negative effects.