Are We Facing A Global Crisis in Childhood?

On the first of February, Amritha, Lolowah, and I finally kicked off JaleesCast and we recorded our Pilot episode. It was such a fun experience, I love these ladies so much and I admire how they analyze and think about social issues deeply, with the utmost compassion and understanding.

Allow me to begin by elaborating on the reason behind selecting the topic of the Pilot. We had recently hosted an insightful discussion about a book that moved all of us as a community. We featured this book with so much intention and curiosity over a subject that became a social dilemma over the past 12 years. The topic is not only dear to our hearts as parents, leaders, educators, and creators in the society. It's also originating from our passion for knowledge, self-challenge, and deep community connection. The Anxious Generation, by the social scientist Dr Jonathan nudged our hearts and minds into reconsidering the effects of social media on our mental wellbeing.

As a team, we spent weeks brainstorming the ideas of the book. We wrote two articles, Living with Anxiety which featured selected stories from the community, and Are You Really There for Your Pre-teen? which had a collection of heartfelt reflections of adolescence. We then invited child psychiatrist Dr Fadia Al Buhairan who discussed the concepts of The Anxious Generation with our members. Morever and most excitedly, we knew that if we published some Reels about the Pilot, Dr Jonathan Haidt would give us a shoutout, and he did! 😀

As the featured and promoted book of the month of January, the next question was the cherry on top.

Are we facing a global crisis in childhood? Or are we misreading the change?

I have attached one of the Youtube shorts below, please subscribe to our new channel! and I highly recommend watching the full episode, which is only 54 minutes. I look forward to reading your comments.

With love,
Rana Hajjar