In his new book “The Anxious Generation,” Jonathan Haidt argues that there’s a correlation with…
Rates of depression and anxiety among U.S. adolescents were "fairly stable in the 2000s" but "rose by more than 50% in many studies from 2010 to 2019," Haidt writes in The Atlantic.
His proposal
- No smartphones for kids before high school — give them only flip phones in middle school.
- No social media before age 16.
- Make schools phone-free, by putting devices in phone lockers or Yondr pouches.
- Give kids far more free play and independence, including more and better recess.
Others believed that it was correlation and not causation.
In Platformer, they agree that the lived experiences are valid despite the questioned research.
At the same time, we shouldn’t set aside the lived experiences of so many everyday smartphone users. For many of us, constant connectivity feels bad, and doomscrolling can heighten feelings of anxiety and depression. Meanwhile, getting outside and spending time with loved ones face to face can be the antidote to despair. I’m sympathetic to researchers who call attention to that dynamic, even if disputes remain about which claims are grounded in unassailable evidence.
Yondr is a pouch that locks up a phone during the school day. They put them in on the way into school and can unlock them on the way out.