What is the most common thing teenagers do outside of school? The answer is using their smartphones. They look at them while driving, at events, on vacations, at dinner, and before, after, and sadly, even during church. Wherever kids go, looking at screens inevitably follows.
In his bestselling book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” Jonathan Haidt argues children’s constant use of smartphones is causing a mental health crisis — one that can be avoided.
Mental illness cases including depression, loneliness and suicide are growing, and Haidt argues the cause is moving away from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood which has rewired childhood completely.
Smartphones and social media have damaged the foundations of a healthy childhood through social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation and addiction. Worst of all, the phone-based life produces spiritual degradation, and living in virtual networks rather than personal communities prevents people from thriving because as you immerse yourself in apps, the more isolated you become.
Haidt calls for four new norms to reverse these trends:
- no smartphones before high school
- no social media before turning 16
- phone-free schools
- more free play, responsibility and independence in the real world for children
Reducing smartphone usage, especially during school, seems completely obvious. Catholic High has never allowed students to have their phones, and head of school Steve Straessle called it the most intuitive decision of the past 25 years. Amber Bagby, principal of Our Lady of the Holy Souls School, said students having their phones during school “would be an absolute nightmare.” Other school districts are making similar bans, including one in Los Angeles with half a million students.
Governors are calling for laws to keep phones out of schools, and the U.S. surgeon general is calling for warning labels on social media apps. Haidt shows evidence that when phones are banned, students feel better, focus more, make better grades and forge stronger friendships with their peers.
The hardest norm for parents, including me, to follow is giving more free-range to children. Parents have been bombarded with fears of terrible things happening to them and their children for the past three decades, including going to jail for child neglect for simply allowing children to play at neighborhood parks by themselves. This has led to overprotecting children which prevents the development of self-reliance and personal independence.
Parent-guided play has also become a way to protect children from getting hurt, physically or emotionally. Teachers and principals report that parents will demand that all recess activities be structured by teachers so that no one is picked last and everyone gets a turn for fear of hurt feelings. We all want our children to be safe, but Haidt argues that overprotection is preventing growth into adulthood.
Haidt uses an analogy with this lack of resilience and the failure of biospheres. Trees fall over in biospheres because they need wind to grow strong. Trees develop “stress wood” which enables them to sustain greater wind storms, and inevitably, live longer.
“Children need to experience frequent stressors in order to become strong adults,” he writes. Doing so creates “antifragile” children. Haidt argues we have it backward: we have overprotected children in the real world but underprotected them in the virtual world.
Haidt presents a universal rationale with evidence that shows a clear path forward yet makes you wonder how we arrived at this point. Teachers, parents and grandparents should read “The Anxious Generation” and implement these norms. Haidt believes the mental health crisis can change within two years, but it starts with adults being strong enough to say, “Turn off the screen, and go play outside.”
Steve Aday is the assistant principal at Catholic High School in Little Rock, where he also teaches English and religion.
