GIRLS®: Gen Z and the Commodification of Everything

by Freya India

GIRLS®: Gen Z and the Commodification of Everything is a passionate, provocative and deeply personal journey into the pressures shaping young lives today. Freya India shows that age-old anxieties of girlhood are now being amplified by modern life and exploited like never before. While previous generations of women were relentlessly sold products and procedures, we have become the product. We display our lives on Instagram, advertise ourselves on dating apps and package ourselves into personal brands, making anxiety feel overwhelming and unmanageable. We have transformed from girls into GIRLS®, from people into products.

Each chapter of GIRLS® focuses on a common anxiety in adolescent girls' lives, from insecurities about our faces and bodies, to our reputation and social status, to our friendships and romantic relationships. Along the way, India traces how rapidly culture and technology have evolved over the past decade.

This isn't just a book for girls. For young women, it offers a nostalgic, if unsettling, reflection on the world they've grown up in and reassurance that they're not alone in their struggles. For younger girls, it provides context for where these challenges began and warns where they might be headed. And, for parents, teachers and older generations, it serves as a reminder that these issues have never been so intense.

GIRLS® concludes with a message of hope, reminding readers how to reclaim their privacy, defend their dignity, and, above all, return to being people instead of products.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Audiobook, Cultural, Self Help, Adult, Politics

350 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 26, 2026

Reviews

[Madeleine Sachdev · Rating 1 out of 5]

What starts off as disappointing through its lack of nuance and depth, many contradictory points and statistics that feel cherry picked in order to back up points the author is desperate to make, quickly descends into Conservative pearl clutching before ultimately concluding as a manifesto for getting girls back to ‘family values’ and baby making that could be written by Serena Joy of The Handmaid’s Tale herself. The premise of the book is interesting and important, the reason I picked it up in the first place, yet it somehow manages to miss the mark entirely. Side note: I have never read the term ‘age old’ so many times in my life (does no one edit any more?)!

[louz · Rating 1 out of 5]

if i could give zero stars i would.

as someone who loves books about feminism and pop culture, at first glance this one seemed perfect. it starts by mentioning many interesting aspects, so it's even more disappointing that when you read more than the first paragraph of each chapter, it turns into what feels like insane rage-bait mixed with the archetype of "pick-me" energy. plus it's a textbook example for confirmation bias.

this book puts big complex social issues in neat little sections with quirky subheadings, cherry-picks a few random examples and a statistic to underline the point the author decided to make and completely ignores any complexity or layers that topic has to offer. she also fails to connect any of the points to the bigger issues like patriarchy and capitalism (unless she criticises influencers, who seem to be the root of all evil. no matter whether they do bland advertisements or educational, well-researched content –it's all the same to her). in her world, all of the issues she mentions only affect "girls" and now, at 26, she speaks to these young girls in the most condescending tone imaginable.

intersectionality doesn't exist in this book so i cannot say i am surprised this was written by a white, presumably straight, cis, american woman. non-white, queer or disabled perspectives on any of the topics she mentions don't exist. instead, her takeaway seems to be: "therapy and critical thinking is bad - let's all become puritan girlfriends (or even better: wives) to those poor lonely misunderstood men and live a big happy life with our big happy family and a million children where we don't care if half of of our relatives and neighbours vote for right-wing parties or are abusive, misogynistic or general assholes."

honestly i guess this is what i get for buying a book written by a fucking substack influencer (yes, she also is one of those evil influencers she hates so much) who has zero qualifications other than wrong but loud opinions and the ability to look up a fitting statistic or research – not to get a better understanding of a topic, but solely to underline whatever stupid point she feels like making.

if you really wanted to give the author grace, you could say this was written by a deeply insecure woman. but with the amount of anti-"woke", anti-queer and ableist talking points in this, i don't feel like she deserves any.

(she also called christina hoff summers a "feminist" and criticised the students who - understandably!!! - didn't want her to visit their university. i guess freya india can join right in, i doubt any actual feminist would want her on their university campus either.)

[Emma Bayles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks Libro.fm for the ALC! I devoured this in a day.
I’ve read a a lot of Freya’s articles so I was so pumped to see she has a book coming.
In a world where the problems and online challenges of young girls are often trivialized, Freya outlines them in a compelling way to show that while many of the emotional challenges we face are age-old, the context in which we faced them are entirely new and exacerbating.

[Morgan Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Freya is an undoubtedly a generational talent and a powerful voice for Gen Z! I have never had a book physically make me pull faces of shock / horror reading through statistics like this. Freya has clearly dedicated herself to lifting the veil on the dark reality of growing up the modern world, GIRLS should be a bible for young girls and parents to understand what they are being exposed to and how to push back. Freya practices what she preaches, living a life without personal social media accounts which I have a huge respect for. A young writer with an exciting future! This labor of love needs a place on your bookshelf.

[Athena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to LibroFM's educator program for the ARC!

Can't recommend - absolutely not nuanced in any way.

This was incredibly challenging to listen to, particularly as discussion often related to the personal challenges of the author and did not explore the topic from a wider lens. Some of the discussions around mental health and the supposed over-diagnosing was dangerous, especially with the fact that female-identifying individuals are often not diagnosed with ADHD and ASD as regularly and as accurately as their male counterparts. I encourage those who are reading this to take what is said with a grain of salt, and to consider other research and books available. Often, research has a bigger story to tell than the one-sentence summary provided.

[Lindsey (endless_tbr_list)]

I am so disappointed that this took a turn towards transphobia and anti-“woke-ness” after a somewhat promising start. This could have been both an incredibly important and interesting discussion, if done correctly. Ultimately, if you’re looking for nuance and consideration of any non-white, non-cishet views, don’t look here.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Co. and Goodreads for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Vanessa Valenzuela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Net Gallery & Freya India for allowing me an ARC!
It is a surreal thing to read a book that documents internet discourse that I have vivid memories of. ED/SH tumblr pages, the glorification of mental illness, the rise of the word “stigma” and peoples subsequent abuse of it. Bye Sister, the Facetune Epidemic, brands pretending to care about “self care” to push product, and the use of therapy speak to pretend we know how to process our feelings when really we’re explaining them away.
All of this leading young women to commodify themselves like cows to slaughter.

It’s a good read. Nostalgic and painful. We should stop being products. We should invest in communities and get off this damn phone.

[Ferenc Holyba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to put down.
India accurately describes the commodification and gaslighting of young women in the last few years. Her message of trusting one’s instincts instead of outsourcing thinking and feeling to “experts” is very important to spread to the up and coming generations of girls.

[Anna]

DNF at 72%

This started out strong and with significant promise, but quickly lost me. The author presents contradictory information and seems to have cherry-picked data that supports her positions.

My hope for an examination of the elements of culture that create challenges for girls and young women did not pan out. Instead, it took an unexpected turn and I could not continue reading.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

started out ok, made me question its integrity with a nuance-free “actually we’re TOO aware of mental health issues” narrative, then got deeply transphobic. dnf

[DARREN AGER · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Gen X father , some of the statistics in the book were frightening. I also learned what I could have done better in bringing up my children .
However, Freya’s book gives hope and I would encourage parents and Gen Z to read this to get a full understanding on what effect social media has had on a generation & focusing on what really matters will lead to a more fulfilling life

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

A woman in her twenties with no life experience telling women to get back in the kitchen.

[Mai H.]

Non-fiction November TBR

Women's History Month TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co.

[Jocelyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

so bad i went on a 2000 word rant

Full review: https://writethroughthenight.com/2026...

**i received an alc of this audiobook from netgalley**

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this wasn't a library copy, I think I would have burned it in my firepit on a nice summer day, made a smore over it & taken a sip of a seltzer while cheersing my childfree existence.

I cannot even fathom having the concept to write a book about how our generation (Gen Z b.1997-2012) went through a particularly unique experience growing up with the introduction and popularization of the internet/social media and online consumerism, only to hard pivot into things like "gender dysphoria and being transgender is a trend, source: i made it tf up" and "the lost of religion (re Christianity because she never once discusses other religious communities) in girls lives is detrimental to community and values, while also contributing to mental health decline" as well as "flaunting childfree life and villainizing motherhood/birth", and don't forget the part where we "demonize SSRIs and say that getting therapy is now a trend we are being pushed into, but also there is no mental health stigma and we be out here pill popping for no reason", and worry not if you felt like we forgot anything we also have "divorce is bad because think of the kids, but kids don't cut out your toxic relatives because family :)"

I cannot think of a more blatant example of cisgendered Christian White Women feminism, we barely acknowledge the perspective of other races or religions, despite the fact that it would realistically bolster the main argument about the detriment to teens health, instead she avoids it in favor of focusing exclusively on white Christian girls and women.

I recommend reading this only if you want to hate read something that had a good concept but dropped the ball so unbelievably hard that it's actually buried 6 feet under the court.

[The Reading Raccoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

GIRLS®: Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything is a non-fiction look at the rapidly changed world that the young women now in their teens and twenties grew up in. They are considered the first generation to never know a world without social media and smartphones, and it’s beginning to show in impacts on their self-confidence, mental health, social skills, and interpersonal relationships. Freya India examines the toll that existing in a world that emphasizes likes and clicks over connection and authenticity has led to young women that are frequently anxious, lonely, and driven to consume. As a parent and someone that works with tweens, this was very eye-opening and addressed many of the concerns I’ve had myself. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in taking a closer look at issues around modern girlhood.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Narrator notes: Girls is read by the author herself, who does an excellent job with the material.

Disclosure: An advanced listening copy was provided by Macmillan Audio for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Hannah Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A scary honest (and desperately needed) look at how Gen Z girls are being impacted, influenced, and commodified from every angle — media, medications, AI, filters, and pretty much everything in between. Very eye-opening.

[Dhruv · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate as a man I’m not really the target audience here. Nevertheless, there are some good insights in this book about the pressures that Gen Z women go through, written by someone who has first hand knowledge of going through the same things herself. What drags this book down, however, is that there is a lot of repetition - not just with ideas, but the cadence of writing - that makes this book longer that it needs to be and more difficult to read than it ought to be.

[Kuu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC.

This rating is generous. The author is obnoxious as hell and acts like she just invented the wheel when she's just regurgitating other people's findings and then using it to basically shame "the left" and progress by saying it's not actual progress and instead is the reason everyone is miserable. She fails to make any meaningful analysis. The author also very clearly lives in a wholly different reality than I do, because some of the claims she makes are WILD. Absolutely wild. And yet, this is a published book?? Baffling.

One of those wild claims is that there is no stigma against mental health medication, and instead everyone and their mum takes some pill, for issues that don't need to be medicated, because taking pills is cool or something. Like, I don't know your social circles, but if this is your life, that's definitely an issue of your social circles because in MY world people will literally ghost/block you while dating if it turns out you take mental health medication/have a diagnosis/whatever. Wanna switch maybe, Ms India?

Then she also makes some statements, very brief, just thrown in there, that imply things I'm very unhappy with, such as her mention of some psychiatrists questioning if DID even exists, like, at all, as a mental health condition. She doesn't address this further, but clearly has a reason to throw this in, which is to further delegitimise people with DID (whom she claims just have it for TikTok clout, basically).

Then there's the whole anti-liberal thing, where liberal women have higher rates of (diagnosed!!!!!!) mental illness because uhhh eat hot chip, scroll phone and lie or whatever, young girls are trans now because all the young girls on their FYP are trans, divorce now being seen as aspirational and a #girlboss win, being very against cutting off people in your life because obviously you are not doing this because these people genuinely are harmful but because social media tells you to, the weirdly Christian undertones without ever really discussing Christianity (though she does mention how being religious is found to lead to better mental health outcomes - girl these studies are about any spirituality and not just about Christianity but I know you think they are), etc. etc.

There's potential here for real discussion, but Ms India just completely fails to do any of that. She's just very anti-psychiatry but like, in a regressive "mental health is fixed by just focusing less on mental health" way, and obviously sees the whole problem with commodification of everyday life but fails to connect it to capitalism. Like, there was potential!!! We could have had real anti-psychiatry discourse here! We could have discussed how psychiatry is used as a tool against marginalised people and how institutionalisation is weaponised and used as an excuse to strip people of their most basic human rights, but somehow I don't feel like she actually takes issue with psychiatry as long as it's about the forced institutionalisation and medicalisation of those with "scary" disorders. Same with the "cutting off" thing - she COULD discuss the negative consequences of assigning everyone the label of "narcissist" and how this further stigmatises an already vulnerable population but instead she's like "don't cut off your parents, think of what YOU did wrong instead", which is Not It.

This book was a disappointment and now I am angry.

[Amy Jo McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The things that girls (and women) struggle with in today’s society that is covered in patriarchal oppression, consumerism propaganda, and detached from reality as social media consumes our culture. There were lots of points I enjoyed and could connect with in this book. However, there were also a few things that I disagreed a bit with. But overall, I think there are some great insights and outlooks on the things that are most important to us as women.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Freya India and loved this book. Insightful, truthful and wise beyond her years. Recommend.

[Jorge Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I’m not very into the topic, I just thought of it as interesting, but it sort of shines light into common sense.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

GIRLS was equal parts eye opening and heartbreaking. As a mother of a young woman who is Gen Z, it gave considerable insight as to how this generation moves through the world. The amount of pressure growing up with social media puts on young girls is horrendous. They are turning inwards as everything private has been made too public and subject to ridicule by strangers. I can't say I liked this book, but it was definitely an interesting and thought provoking read. Thanks to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced audiobook.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every experience of girlhood is intruded upon by the market. Now the solution to every age-old anxiety is a purchase. Girls are being taught that they can buy their way out of bad feelings, buy their way into belonging, and buy their way to empowerment.

This captures the angst of the female Gen Z experience so well, going beyond the usual Instagram beauty standards, cyberbullying, and bad TV. I’ve never really seen anyone speak so clearly about the constant micro-exhaustions of adolescence online: having your every tiny move surveilled by your peers, overanalyzed by your teenage insecurity, and swallowed up by algorithms. There’s a peculiar, particular feeling that comes out of growing up this way (and still kinda living this way for those of us in our 20s) that makes strangers feel both extremely unreal and inaccessible and also too present, too able to pry inside your life.

And yes, I really do think TikTok made everything so much worse. My most Boomer opinion.

Every interest, every diversion online is overtaken somehow by people trying to advertise something (whether explicitly with sponsorships or implicitly with “don’t you want to be like me/be a part of this?”), and people diluting their experiences into that of a trendy, consumable stock character. You act like this if you have this haircut; you think like this if you enjoy this show; you aren’t a true member of X group or Y belief if you don’t read this book/have this piercing/collect this toy. Cottagecore girls do this. Dark academia girls do that. This is everywhere and it isn’t cute.

We aren’t happy with how we look, because billions are made making sure we never will be.

And thank god, honestly, that she also took aim at the mental health discussions on places like TikTok. Mental health is the newest version of fashion, and it’s so naive to think people don’t want to be included in the trend. When I was young, girls used to try to break their own ankles because they wanted crutches; we’d play with each other’s medical stuff because we thought it was quirky and unique. I legitimately recall girls wanting asthma for the cute accessory of an inhaler. Nowadays, being a part of a community that loves and legitimizes everything you do, turning all your symptoms (real or imagined) into cute and #relatable quirks, is easier than ever—just say you’re an autism girlie and you’re in.

Why, on Tumblr, do so many people’s bios have their physical and mental illnesses? It’s a social indicator; it makes your opinions more valid, your voice more respected, with the kinds of peers they want. I also appreciate that alongside things like Tourettes, India also discussed the skyrocketing rates of gender dysphoria. To address everything but that would be dishonest, even if that isn’t very #feminist of her.

ADHD is the current trend, and advertisers have noticed. I get ADHD/AuDHD banner ads on Goodreads on the daily; I feel like every memoir I read now has a section about the author’s ADHD. Therapy apps promise everything you’ve ever done wrong isn’t your fault (it’s probably your narcissist mom’s fault!) and medication will save you.

… The founder and clinical president of Done were arrested and accused of running a $100 million scheme to distribute Adderall without proper evaluations. […] It was claimed Cerebral had an internal goal of prescribing medication to 95 percent of patients after their first thirty-minute appointment. At one point, the company was allegedly pushing to raise its stimulant prescription rate for ADHD patients to 100 percent.

So, all that to say…this was definitely cathartic. However. On a few topics, I felt like I was being given countless stats to back up a fact that concerned India, but not anything about why the fact mattered to the health and safety of girls. Take how she referred to declining birth rates as a sign of Gen Z refusing to grow up, when even a cursory look into that topic will tell you that there are countless reasons (including a drop in teen pregnancy, which is, you know, an extremely good thing). The entire section on sexuality took it as a given that everyone would agree with her that porn, OnlyFans, sexualizing oneself online, etc, is awful and destructive (which, like, I do agree!), but the concept of this book counts on Gen Z not believing that’s the case—so are we trying to convince them or no? Her constant referrals to Gen Z’s declining participation in organized religion were kind of annoying; as a subsection of the discussion on lack of community ties, sure, that fits right in, but it kept being brought up to blame things like lack of moral guidance and overreliance on social justice scolding. Do we think there’s perhaps other reasons Gen Z aren’t religious, or…?

Plus the part about how Gen Z are very liberal. I was compelled by the discussion on the locus of control—“conservatives, on average, tend to have a more internal locus of control, while liberals lean more external, and the more external your locus of control, the more likely you are to feel anxious, hopeless, and depressed”—as this tracks with my own understanding of my life and that of my friends’. The more you frame every single bad thing that happened to you as part of some grand structural issue, the less able you feel to fix it. Not to say that people are always wrong, but it does create a sort of kneejerk reaction to escalate small issues into symptoms of enormous, unfixable problems. But this was brought up alongside how girls are being intimidated and tricked into hating themselves, deepfake abusive porn, and how we’re turning our personalities into purchasable fashion trends. It did feel like the answer she was proposing was “you know, stop being liberal, you got tricked into being liberal!”

So this did what a good nonfic does—presented some stuff I’ll take with me into the future, and some stuff I’ll consider and then dump aside. I still commend her for tackling such a huge and sprawling topic in a way I haven’t seen in this form before.

[Madison ✨ (mad.lyreading) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I ended up DNFing this book at 39% because I already had misgivings, but then it started talking about the "increase in hormone therapy" and other transphobic or transphobic-adjacent arguments, and I refused to keep listening.

My initial reaction to this was, "Wow, this is white feminism 101, and I could have written this book in my feminist awakening in like 2011." I began to give it some grace, remembering that I grew up with an extremely different digital world, and Gen Z girls likely need books like this written by other gen Z people (and not some old, out-of-touch millennial who grew up having to REMEMBER PHONE NUMBERS). Despite that, the points the author were making were extremely obvious and well known (filters have done damage to young women's self esteem) and extremely generalized. In the 39% I listened to, race was not mentioned once. This is of note because I have read that women of color have had different responses to instagram than white women, which would be an important and interesting thing to discuss! Particularly because the author continuously was referring to the Kardashians, who have made their image by whitewashing aspects of Black (and I"m sure other ethinicities) styles and body types. Further, when discussing the issue with internet mental health diagnoses and the rise in internet therapy and companies trying to make a buck by over prescribing mental health meds (all actual issues that should be discussed), the author went into some anti-med discussion. While we can have a discussion about the over reliance on medication, or the lack of long term studies on the effects of these medications (I don't even know if there is a lack of these studies, honestly), brushing all mental health medication into this bucket just made me roll my eyes and want to turn it off.

Then she started conflating teenagers faking tourrettes with the rise in girls (she specified girls -- she did not mention trans women in any capacity) beginning to reconsider their genders and using hormone treatment. I am not going to lie, anytime I read a book about feminism by a white British woman, I am aware that I may be accidentally tiptoe-ing into anti-trans territory. And THAT IS THIS BOOK. The more I think about it, the angrier I get that this was even put in this book.

Oh, another complaint I had. The first chapter of this book had a giant section that was the typical "these are my opinions, this is a nuanced conversation, I may not be hitting everything" blahblahblah that I hear in the beginning of so many reels and tiktoks these days. Internet hate has truly made us so annoying.

I would normally give feedback on my thoughts on the narrator, but because the narrator is the author, and she's at least dabbling in transphobia, I will not be doing that. Anyway AVOID THIS BOOK AND READ A BOOK BY A TRANS AUTHOR INSTEAD.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review telling people not to touch this with a ten foot pole.

[Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with access to this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.
First I’ll note that I had some concerns with the production of the audiobook that I shared with the publisher directly. I think Freya did a nice job, her voice is calm and her accent is lovely. It’s likely that the issues I experienced will be addressed prior to publishing.
The book itself, is a hard one for me to review. I did not know Freya India prior to this book but looked her up while reading and hearing so many negative reviews - which I didn’t understand or agree with. I think much of the negative reviews are from folks who do not agree with Freya India’s politics (neither do I, to be honest) instead of a critique of her book.
Things I enjoyed about the book: Asks big questions including encouraging us to consider what media / information we’re consuming. Highlights the influence social media has on young women. Speaks to big effects: confidence, suicidal ideation, body dysmorphia / body image issues, sexualization, etc.
Things that leave me with more questions: I can’t speak to how accurate her statistics are. She is very young, though in my attempt not to be dismissive due to her young age, I’ll just say that I wish there were ways to check her references. Perhaps the physical copy of the book is well referenced. Within the audiobook, some statistics seem to contradict each other. I also wonder how helpful a book can be when it just highlights all the problems without outlining solutions / options. I also think it leans very “traditional values” especially towards the end. It makes a weird turn. And I cannot agree with what seems to be her stance on mental health care (I’m pro mental health care - we to to PCP, we should all go to therapists/counselors as well, IMO) and think she missed some important aspects and intersections of sex work, body autonomy, misogeny, etc. These are nuanced things that I think she just wrote off as one combined kind of thing. And I’m not sure of inclusive this book is experiences by those with differing identities than the author; feels a bit singular.
I think there is value in reading and understanding what a twenty-something influencer thinks about what is affecting women - because young women are already listening to Freya India. So whether I agree or disagree with her, she is voicing things that young people are listening to. It’s just important to check sources, hold steady to personal values, and take everything with a grain of salt. It’s critical thinking 101 - take in a lot of information then review it, comparing to other information and personal experiences.
There is a lot of vitriol aimed at this book online, which are readers’ right. I think it raises a lot of good questions that society, and I as a mother, should be thinking about.

[Samantha H · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oof. This book started out so promising and quickly devolved into contradictions, carefully selected data points or anecdotal examples that lacked nuance or context, and critiques that sound great on the surface but don't really hold up to even mild scrutiny. I actually really enjoyed Jonathan Haidt's the Anxious Generation (which is referenced many times in this book), focused on the negative impacts that social media and digital evolution have had on our mental health, particularly for young people, but his praise of GIRLS has me questioning his expertise. I think we can all probably agree that there are loads of issues with social media today, likely making anxiety and depression worse for many people; however, this author also basically states that use of mental health resources and psychotropic medications have become wildly overused and are essentially harmful. This is all presented under the guise of criticisms of for-profit online mental health providers, which would be valid, if it didn't then generalize across all mental health services more broadly. As a licensed mental health professional, I can assert that -- YES, even mental health medications can have harmful side effects, similar to many other life-saving medications--but this is not evidence that they are not effective at treating severe mental health disorders when used appropriately. At one point the author laments that the TV show Euphoria is being marketed as appropriate for girls as young as 12, while sharing explicit scenes from the show - - not bothering to mention that this TV show has a rating of TV-MA (that's for mature audiences only). Other things I took away from this book: too many kids are learning about sex from pornography, while not mentioning the rampant removal of age-appropriate sex-education from schools. Things like witchcraft, astrology, crystals, spirituality, or atheism more generally are all portrayed as having a negative impact on our cultural, vs. the more preferred option of traditional religious institutions and beliefs [like we've never seen that be used for malicious purposes!]. If you don't want so many people resorting to Only Fans, maybe advocate for a guaranteed living wage. You don't like algorithms manipulating people, maybe advocate for tougher restrictions on data mining and social media companies. By the end of this book, I felt quite ragey and could not wait for it to be over. I could go on and on, but ultimately, I was definitely not the target audience for this book, hindered by critical thinking skills and higher research standards, and I would not recommend.

ARC of this audiobook received courtesy of Macmillan Audio and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

[cypher · Rating 2 out of 5]

not easy to rate. i appreciate all of the details and examples (some of which are absolutely concerning) and the topic is important, but some of the remarks did not necessarily land with me.
in many of these cases external factors are blamed, when it is simply a matter of choice and values. as an example, really caring about posting another selfie and how many likes it gets is a choice. true, a choice that many pick (the question is why, though). people who, despite everything said in this book, pick to not follow superficial values exist, and others can be more like them. instead of being told that they are victims, people need to be told more to take responsibility, pick better, detach from what is toxic and heal what is broken. culture has shifted from one generation to another, but that doesn’t mean we can’t challenge it, as individuals, when we find ourselves wanting to engage in it, or already engaged.
if someone somewhere is doing it, no matter who that is, you don’t necessarily have to do it too.
a bit of a violin playing with some of the things in the book.

and i also can't say that i agree that a woman who does not want to have kids must be like that out of "resignation"...even a book which wants to be feminist is telling women that if they don't want kids they must have something wrong inside, otherwise they would want them...yeikes! gender roles much?
resignation = "the submissive acceptance of an unpleasant situation that cannot be changed"
i don't think the fact of a woman not wanting a child should be considered something unpleasant, a thing that she needs to secretly dream about changing and be upset that she can't, just saying. women were made to make kids, yey?!
and wanting to be a girl-boss was also a bit too toxic, the book says, all that caring about performance is just bad, the book implies...maybe you just feel like that if you don't like being performant because it's not as easy as just being more of whatever.
i am resigned with the fact that this book is not that great.


(strange that this appears as not yet published, the book is currently in shops and the audiobook on audible…is this a way to block early reviews and control them, say that the book is not yet published and not accepting reviews, when it actually is both in shops and on audible?…hm, i hope not. i guess the publisher gave us all, at least in the UK, an advanced copy, since it’s actually available)

[Auguste Meyrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read and will probably become huge, all for good reason since it discusses the many problems plaguing young women today. Sure, most of us knew that the internet wasn't great for young people, but India shows just how toxic it has been. The great majority of Gen Z women really have had their souls stripped away, with many now feeling miserable, insecure, and woefully unprepared to act as independent adults.

India places the blame squarely with social media platforms which were fine-tuned to addict girls by offering instant validation, superficial connection, and infinite remedies for their infinite imperfections. Unsuspecting female users fell ever deeper into morass of contradictory messages, constant ads, and corrosive content. To make matters worse, they were never allowed to escape it because everyone was on these platforms, influencers were celebrated and highly compensated, and no one thought to question it. All of it fell under the guise of progress and empowerment, and criticism instantly earned a person the status of "dangerous bigot"

For anyone over the age of 30 (like myself), there is much to learn in this book. Even I didn't know just how widespread some of these problems were, and I've been teaching this age group for several years. It now make sense why so many otherwise well-adjusted girls mysteriously suffer with anxiety and depression, why so many fall into radical ideology, and why so many fail to realize their natural potential.

Some readers will reflexively reject India's argument because of her right-of-center politics, but any reasonable person will see that she remains relatively neutral in her analysis. The feminist veneer used to sell all these digital products was always BS, and the sooner people see this, the sooner they can move on from it.

If any criticism could be made, it's that India really doesn't go far enough. It seems fairly obvious that social media offers little benefit for young people and that they should steer clear of a smartphone indefinitely. Simply "knowing better" isn't going to fix these problem. Actual steps need to be taken. Plus, we should hold accountable the people who pushed these products. They ruined this last generation of girls (often knowingly) and they have been allowed to make billions doing it.

In any case, this was an impressive work from someone so young. India really is the voice of her generation, and we should all listen to her.

[Bethany Mock (bethanyburiedinbooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you @henryholtbooks @macmillan.audio #partner for the gifted copies of this book!

Woof…there is a LOT to unpack here and I’m really hoping I can do this one justice.

I picked this up because I have so many friends navigating life with daughters, and even though I have boys myself, I’m always trying to better understand what young girls are facing today. I want to be the friend that can show up, listen and support where I can.

Before I started, I noticed this book has some pretty low ratings…and after reading it, I think that might come down to people feeling uncomfortable or challenged by the author’s perspective.

Freya India is Gen Z. She writes very personally about her own experiences with feeling empty, disconnected, and honestly…a bit lost. And what she explores is how much of that ties into growing up in a world completely saturated by social media. You can tell she did her own research and it shows.

And listen...I’m not here to point fingers or blame anyone. But I do think this book raises some really important points.

It digs into how algorithms work and how content is fed to you. It also explores how easy it is, especially for young girls, to get pulled into cycles that shape how they see themselves. One small interest can snowball into a very specific (and sometimes harmful) narrative being reinforced over and over again without parents knowledge.

Whether you agree with every single point or not, it’s hard to deny that the online world is powerful It 100% plays a role in identity, self worth and even struggles like anxiety or body image issues can develop.

What I appreciated most is that this didn’t feel like a blame game. It felt like someone trying to understand her own experience and in doing so, offering insight for others.

There is also a thread of hope here. As the book came to a close Freya talks about girls starting to push back in today's digital world. That more are stepping away from using filters, questioning what they consume and trying to take back some control. That part made me really hopeful.

✨ What stood out to me:
💭 Honest, personal perspective from a Gen Z voice
📱 Thought provoking look at social media + algorithms
🖤 Conversations around identity, mental health, and self worth
🌱 A sense of awareness and potential change

I think this is one of those books you have to go into with an open mind and an open heart. You don’t have to agree with everything but it’s worth listening, reflecting and maybe even having some bigger conversations because of it.

I will leave you with this...there was a quote in this book that completely stuck out to me and it was "Perfect on the outside, insecure on the inside." I truly hope that one day we wake up to the damage being caused to people with social media. 

This is definitely a thought provoking read that will stick with me.