added by Jonathan Simcoe · updated 3mo ago
The Terrible Costs of a Phone-Based Childhood
We think social media has changed childhood and adolescence for the worse, so much so that it constitutes a “great rewiring of childhood.” Beginning in the 1990s, a childhood based heavily on outdoor play began to fade away and was replaced by a phone-based childhood in the early 2010s, when teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones.
Can we
... See morefrom Do the Kids Think They’re Alright? by Jonathan Haidt
sari added
- Jonathan Haidt is right when he talks about the sudden switch from play-based to phone-based childhoods and how it destroyed mental health—particularly for young girls. Our childhoods weren’t spent toying with risk and danger, teaching ourselves we could cope with it, learning that it’s baked into life. We had bans on play fighting. Health and safe... See more
from Risk-Aversion Is Killing Romance - By Freya India - GIRLS by freyaindia.co.uk
Agalia Tan added
Let me be clear: there is no way to make social media safe for children by just making the content less toxic. It’s the phone-based childhood that is harming them, regardless of what they watch . Kids need to be freed from the grip of smartphones and social media, especially through early puberty. This is why two of the four norms I propose for sol
... See morefrom Marshall McLuhan on Why Content Moderation Is a Red Herring by Jon Haidt
simon added
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
The clearest impact of technology on teen development to date has been starkly negative. According to psychologist Jean Twenge’s 2017 book, iGen, smartphone use has caused a spike in depression and anxiety among people born from 1995 on, and a diminution in sociability and independence. An excerpt of her book in The Atlantic was aptly titled, “Have
... See morefrom The War on Normal People by Andrew Yang
Andreas Vlach added
- Let’s be open to letting go of cultural myths. We know that the benefits of teenage smartphones do not outweigh the risks and harms. There are thousands of reasons for buying a phone for your child, but there is only one reason to skip it: your child’s health and well-being. And that reason matters more than all the others.
from How to Delay the Age At Which Kids Get Smartphones by Melanie Hempe
simon added
- But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can give future generations a real-world childhood. We can prioritize play. We can delay entry to social media platforms until at least 16. We can encourage young people to just hang out with each other, without supervision and without smartphones. We can take elements of childhood from previous eras and re-in... See more
from A Time We Never Knew by Freya India
Brian Wiesner added
kev and added