The Anxious Generation and the Next Customer Experience Challenge

Younger customers may not need more digital; they may need more human.

The debates in the UK and Ireland about banning social media for under-16s finally prompted me to read Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation.

The book has become part of a much wider conversation about children, smartphones and social media. Australia has already introduced world-first social media age restrictions, requiring platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from creating or keeping accounts. The UK Government has announced plans to ban social media platforms from offering services to under-16s from spring 2027, explicitly framing the move as giving children “less time for scrolling and more time for play.” Ireland has also signalled that it is prepared to move ahead with restrictions if progress is not made at EU level.

But I came to the book with a slightly different question. Not only is Haidt right about childhood, but also what might this tell us about the next generation of customers?

For years, retail and service businesses have comforted themselves with the phrase “digital natives.” It sounds modern and strategic. It also allows us not to think too hard. Digital native, mobile-first, app-led, social-first and frictionless are all useful phrases, up to a point. But they may also be hiding something important.

Younger customers may be digitally fluent. That does not mean they are doing well digitally. It certainly does not mean they want every interaction with a brand to become faster, noisier, more automated, more gamified and more dependent on a screen. That is where The Anxious Generation becomes unexpectedly relevant to customer experience.

Haidt’s core argument

Haidt’s central argument is simple and powerful: we have overprotected children in the physical world while underprotecting them in the online world.

In his view, a play-based childhood, built around movement, risk, friendship, boredom, negotiation and independence, has been replaced by a phone-based childhood, built around notifications, social comparison, algorithmic feeds and constant connection.  The movement around the book promotes four norms: no smartphones before high school, no social media before 16, phone-free schools, and more independence, free play and responsibility in the real world. (anxiousgeneration.com)

Whether or not you agree with every part of Haidt’s argument, he gives language to something many parents, teachers and young people already feel. Something has changed. Children may be physically safer than previous generations in many ways, but they are often less independent. They may have more contact with friends, but fewer friendships in the room. They may have more information, but less attention.

The critique matters

Haidt’s argument is persuasive, but it should not be treated as if it explains everything. Young people’s mental health has worsened in many countries, and the timing overlaps with the rise of smartphones and social media. That is highly relevant. But correlation is not causation. Young people have also grown up with economic insecurity, academic pressure, pandemic disruption, climate anxiety, political instability and a relentless 24-hour news cycle.

There is also a risk that bans push young people into less regulated online spaces or limit online communities that provide identity, support and belonging. The House of Commons Library briefing on proposals to ban social media for children notes these concerns as part of the wider policy debate. (GOV.UK)

So, the lesson should not be that technology is bad and the real world is good. That is too simple; the better lesson is this:  We should judge technology by what it displaces, what behaviours it rewards, and what kind of human experience it creates.

That is just as relevant to retailers, banks, restaurants, hotels, transport providers, telecoms companies and public services as it is to parents and schools.

The lazy assumption about younger customers

Retailers often talk about younger customers as if they are a single behavioural segment. They want apps, self-service, social commerce, and everything on mobile. They do not want to speak to anyone and want speed, personalisation and convenience. Some of that is true some of the time. But the danger is that we confuse familiarity with preference.

A young customer may be perfectly capable of ordering through an app, scanning a QR code, managing a return online, using a chatbot and checking reviews before they buy. That does not mean they enjoy being forced through those channels when the situation becomes difficult.

There is a world of difference between digital convenience and digital captivity.  Convenience says “Here is a faster way if it suits you”, and captivity says, “There is no other way, even when this one fails”.

The QR code menu that works well is convenient. The QR code menu that requires registration, an app download and a mandatory service charge before you have even ordered a coffee is captivity wearing a trendy jacket.

The chatbot that answers a simple delivery question is useful. The chatbot that traps a frustrated customer in a loop while carefully avoiding the possibility of human help is not innovation. It is a complaint-generation machine with better branding.

Younger customers may tolerate these things because they have grown up with them. That does not mean they trust them.

Calm could become a competitive advantage

If Haidt is even partly right, younger customers are growing up in a world of constant stimulation, interruption and comparison. Retailers should ask a simple question: Are we adding to that pressure, or relieving it?

Many digital retail experiences are designed to increase urgency: countdown timers, push notifications, flash sales, loyalty nudges, endless recommendations, review requests, share buttons and abandoned basket emails that follow you around like a needy ghost. Some of these tactics work in the short term. But they can also create fatigue.

A business that wants to build long-term trust with younger customers should think carefully before copying the engagement mechanics of social media. A retailer is not TikTok. A bank is not Snapchat. A hotel booking journey should not feel like trying to beat a slot machine before the price changes again.

There is a positioning opportunity in being calmer: clear pricing, fewer tricks, fewer interruptions, honest availability, simple returns, control over notifications and no forced app unless it genuinely improves the experience.

Calm could become a competitive advantage.

Physical stores as social infrastructure

The second opportunity is to think differently about physical places. For years, the store has been described as being under threat from digital. That is only partly true. A dull store with poor availability, indifferent service and no purpose beyond stock distribution is rightly under threat. But a good physical environment offers something increasingly valuable: real-world experience.

A store, café, gym, bookshop, garden centre, restaurant or hotel lobby can provide low-pressure social contact that online channels cannot replicate. This does not mean every retailer needs to become a “community hub,” a phrase often used with great enthusiasm and very little operational thought.  It means asking: What can customers do here that they cannot do on a screen?

They can try things, touch things, ask questions, learn skills, meet people, be recognised, be reassured and be surprised.

A cycling shop can run beginner maintenance evenings. A DIY retailer can run practical workshops. A beauty retailer can create low-pressure advice sessions. A bookshop can host reading groups. A café can design tables for conversation rather than laptop colonisation.

The commercial logic is not fluffy. Customers who feel they belong come back. Customers who learn from you trust you. Customers who feel comfortable in your environment stay longer, spend more confidently and recommend you more naturally.

Happy employees create happy customers who put money in the till. But the same principle works in reverse too: human environments create human behaviours.

Help without humiliation

One implication of The Anxious Generation is that some younger customers may have less confidence in face-to-face interactions than previous generations.  That does not mean they dislike people. It means the emotional risk of asking for help may feel higher.

This is where colleague behaviour becomes commercially important. A young customer who does not understand a returns process, product specification, banking form, travel delay or appointment system does not want to be made to feel stupid. Nobody does. But a customer already carrying low confidence may retreat quickly if the interaction starts badly.

The worst colleague response is: “You have to do that online.” The better response is: “Certainly, I can show you how to do it, or I can sort it with you now.” That small behavioural difference matters because it moves the customer from embarrassment to competence.

Retail store employees are often Gen Z themselves. They are also part of this anxious generation, navigating face-to-face interactions from the other side of the counter. A colleague who lacks confidence may hide behind the process. A colleague who feels equipped can lower the temperature.

The best service training does not just teach employees what the policy says. It teaches them how to help a customer recover from confusion without embarrassment. They explain without patronising. They offer help without crowding. They give the customer control without abandoning them.

This is not soft. It is commercial. A confused customer who feels foolish leaves. A confused customer who feels helped buys, returns and tells someone.

Digital when it works. Human when it matters.

The answer is not to reverse digital transformation. That would be nonsense.  Younger customers do expect digital convenience. They want to check stock, compare prices, book appointments, track orders, manage accounts and resolve simple tasks quickly. The issue is not digital; it is forced digital.

A well-designed customer journey gives people choice. It allows customers to self-serve when the task is simple and reach a human when the situation becomes emotional, complex or high stakes.

In telecoms, banking, utilities, travel, healthcare, insurance and public services, the customer is often not simply buying something. They are trying to solve a problem that may affect money, time, safety, family or peace of mind. When the process fails, a human escape route is not an optional extra. It is the point at which trust is either protected or broken. The digital journey should not be a maze with a chatbot at the centre. It should be a well-lit path with clear exits.

A practical framework: calm, connection, control and confidence

If retailers and service businesses want to apply the lessons of The Anxious Generation without becoming amateur psychologists, they could use four simple tests:

Calm: Does this experience reduce pressure or add to it?

Connection: Does this experience create better human contact where it matters?

Control: Can the customer choose how they engage, or are they being forced into one channel?

Confidence: Does the experience help customers feel capable, informed and respected?

That may be especially powerful for younger customers whose confidence has been shaped by an online environment full of judgement, comparison and interruption.

The customer experience challenge

The retail lesson from The Anxious Generation is not that young people need less technology. It is that they need better-designed environments in which technology supports agency, relationships and confidence rather than undermining them.

For years, the trends have been clear: more digital, more automation, more self-service, more personalisation, more data, more content, more prompts and more efficiency. But the next stage of customer experience may not be won by the brands that add the most technology. It may be won by the brands that know when to stop, simplify, and slow down. When to offer a person, create a real-world experience worth leaving the screen for. When to remove pressure rather than add stimulation, and when to help customers feel more human, not more processed.

That does not sound like a retreat from innovation. It sounds like the next form of it, because businesses are not just designing journeys; they are shaping behaviours. In retail and service businesses, behaviours are where the commercial outcomes begin.

At RetailCX, we specialise in helping organisations harness the power of leadership and employee engagement to enhance customer experiences. Contact us to learn how we can support your journey toward a more innovative and customer-centric future.