END THE PHONE-BASED CHILDHOOD NOW

The environment in which kids grow up today is hostile to human development.

I agree one hundred percent. Dramatic changes need to be made in the school systems and at home if we want to change our kids addiction from being on line to being outdoors, creating art and friendships in real time. 

By Jonathan Haidt
Photographs by Maggie Shannon

"Something went suddenly and horribly wrong for adolescents in the 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 rose131 percent.
The problem was not limited to the U.S.: Similar patterns emerged around the same time in Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, the Nordic countries, and beyond. By a variety of measures and in a variety of countries, the members of Generation Z (born in and after 1996) are suffering from anxiety, depression, self-harm, and related disorders at levels higher than any other generation for which we have data.

The decline in mental health is just one of many signs that something went awry. Loneliness and friendlessness among American teens began to surge around 2012. Academic achievement went down, too. According to “The Nation’s Report Card,” scores in reading and math began to decline for U.S. students after 2012, reversing decades of slow but generally steady increase. PISA, the major international measure of educational trends, shows that declines in math, reading, and science happened globally, also beginning in the early 2010s."

To continue to read this article:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/teen-childhood-smartphone-use-mental-health-effects/677722/?utm_medium=cr&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=tta_haidt_prospects_march24_a&utm_content=A&utm_term=march24_haidt_tta_prospects