The Atlantic article - End the Phone Based Childhood now

[Anonymous]

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/teen-childhood-smartphone-use-mental-health-effects/677722/

"Early 2010s. By now you’ve likely seen the statistics: Rates of depression and anxiety in the United States—fairly stable in the 2000s—rose by more than 50 percent in many studies from 2010 to 2019. The suicide rate rose 48 percent for adolescents ages 10 to 19. For girls ages 10 to 14, it rose 131 percent."

The data and information has been out there for quite a while but this is so alarming. I personally plan on holding off on phones/social media as long as humanly possible for my kids, especially my girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/teen-childhood-smartphone-use-mental-health-effects/677722/

"Early 2010s. By now you’ve likely seen the statistics: Rates of depression and anxiety in the United States—fairly stable in the 2000s—rose by more than 50 percent in many studies from 2010 to 2019. The suicide rate rose 48 percent for adolescents ages 10 to 19. For girls ages 10 to 14, it rose 131 percent."

The data and information has been out there for quite a while but this is so alarming. I personally plan on holding off on phones/social media as long as humanly possible for my kids, especially my girls.

another boomer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt

[Anonymous]

Good luck with that! Sincerely.

These things are an integral part of our lives now. For better and for worse.

[Anonymous]

Cell phones are not the issue.
Lazy parents are.

Phones are not the only problem social media is.
Which can be accessed by a laptop or desktop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/teen-childhood-smartphone-use-mental-health-effects/677722/

"Early 2010s. By now you’ve likely seen the statistics: Rates of depression and anxiety in the United States—fairly stable in the 2000s—rose by more than 50 percent in many studies from 2010 to 2019. The suicide rate rose 48 percent for adolescents ages 10 to 19. For girls ages 10 to 14, it rose 131 percent."

The data and information has been out there for quite a while but this is so alarming. I personally plan on holding off on phones/social media as long as humanly possible for my kids, especially my girls.

another boomer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt

Can you actually argue against any of this or are you just going to attack the messenger because you can't do anything else?

[Anonymous]

It’s not the phones. It’s the social media.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how you can separate the two, really. It's not like kids are on their phones reading the news. Seems a lot of parents are pretty touchy about this, either because of their own tech/SM addiction or they've already relented where their kids are concerned. It'd seem prudent to me to ban them from the classroom, at least.

[Anonymous]

If instagaram and tik tok etc didn’t exist phones would be used for information and communication only. It’s the constant portraying of images of unattainable life and fake happiness that makes people depressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If instagaram and tik tok etc didn’t exist phones would be used for information and communication only. It’s the constant portraying of images of unattainable life and fake happiness that makes people depressed.

Some of it is that, sure.

But some of it is just what the constant digital interaction is doing to the way the brain is wired and functions, even if kids aren't on social media but use the phone for texting and gaming and such.

I'm so glad I didn't grow up in this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If instagaram and tik tok etc didn’t exist phones would be used for information and communication only. It’s the constant portraying of images of unattainable life and fake happiness that makes people depressed.

Some of it is that, sure.

But some of it is just what the constant digital interaction is doing to the way the brain is wired and functions, even if kids aren't on social media but use the phone for texting and gaming and such.

I'm so glad I didn't grow up in this time.

Also even if not on social media, kids are using the phones to bully - which means that bullied kids don't get a break even when they go home after school. Too many kids stay up late on their phones which means sleep lost which leads to mental health issues, and some of that being up late includes being bullied by phone into the late hours.

[Anonymous]

I just can’t go

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how you can separate the two, really. It's not like kids are on their phones reading the news. Seems a lot of parents are pretty touchy about this, either because of their own tech/SM addiction or they've already relented where their kids are concerned. It'd seem prudent to me to ban them from the classroom, at least.

Yup, there is a lot of denial here. My own kids have phones, but (AFAIK) no social media yet. They give the phones up without too much fuss when asked, I have their passcodes so I can check periodically (which they are aware of) although I rarely do, and phones stay out of bedrooms at night.

It’s not ideal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the phones. It’s the social media.

This is akin to saying it's not the guns, it's the people. Yet we have laws around gun ownership.

[Anonymous]

What gets me is parents are so afraid to let their kids put yo socialize in person and give them any freedom, but they refuse to see the dangers of excessive screen time, free range of the internet and especially social media. Kids are in more danger with that then they are going outside to socialize in person.

[Anonymous]

Screens and sugar and junk food need to be banned for all children under the age of 18.