The decline of Generation Z’s mental health raises a red flag about the role phones play in childhood development. Although generations “are not monolithic,” Jonathan Haidt writes, “if a generation is doing poorly … the sociological and economic consequences will be profound for the entire society.”
Haidt looked to the 2010s for answers. What he found was the watershed transition from flip phones to smartphones, which likely contributed to rising levels of depression and anxiety in adolescents. “Once young people began carrying the entire internet in their pockets, available to them day and night, it altered their daily experiences and developmental pathways across the board,” he writes.
Today’s newsletter brings you stories about how smartphones have changed children’s lives.
• “End the Phone-Based Childhood Now,” by Jonathan Haidt. The environment in which kids grow up today is hostile to human development.
• “The Overprotected Kid,” by Hanna Rosin. A preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood of independence, risk-taking, and discovery—without making it safer. A new kind of playground points to a better solution. (From 2014)
• “I Won’t Buy My Teenagers Smartphones,” by Sarah P. Weeldreyer. Denying a teen a smartphone is a tough decision, and one that requires an organized and impenetrable defense. (From 2019)
• “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” by Jean M. Twenge. More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they’re on the brink of a mental-health crisis. (From 2017)
• “The Dangerous Experiment on Teen Girls,” by Jonathan Haidt. The preponderance of the evidence suggests that social media is causing real damage to adolescents. (From 2021)
— Stephanie Bai, associate editor
Article link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/terrible-costs-phone-based-childhood-the-atlantic-rg1ce
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