Are phones bad for kids?

And if so... what do we do?

Are phones bad for kids?

“The sudden switch from play-based childhood to phone-based childhood is—we believe—the leading candidate for being the major cause of the international collapse of adolescent mental health.⁸ The evidence of causation is particularly strong for girls. In fact, nobody has yet put forth an alternative theory—one that can explain why the same thing happened at the same time in so many countries.” (Zach Rausch & Jonathan Haidt, 2023).

Where does that leave us?

“The societal instinct in recent times is to take away young people’s freedoms whenever we think there are dangers, rather than teach safety. We have done that with the outdoors. Decades ago, we taught children how to be safe outdoors—how to cross streets, what to do if a stranger wants you to get in their car, and the like. Now we ban them from the outdoors, so the only regular way they can get together without adult interference is through social media. And now the hue and cry, from some, is to ban them from social media, leaving them no way to connect with their peers away from adult surveillance and control.” (Peter Gray, 2023)

What can we do?

“Of course, some kids are more genetically prone to anxiety disorders, and some living situations are so tough, they’d increase anyone’s anxiety. But if the problem, at least in part, is simply that many kids are growing up over-supervised, the solution would be simple, too: Start letting them do more things on their own.” (Lenore Skenazy, 2023)

What do you think?