How cell phones are killing our kids, and what we can do about it
By Matt Villano, CNN 8 minute read Updated 11:16 AM EDT, Tue April 16, 2024 16 comments Here's when a social psychologist recommends letting your child use smartphones and social media 03:50 - Source: CNNGet inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN’s Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. CNN — Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt probably has become a pretty unpopular guy among teenagers over the last few weeks. His new book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” essentially calls for a revolution in how parents administer smartphones and social media to their teens. Put simply, Haidt writes that kids should have little to no access to either until they turn 16. "The Anxious Generation" argues kids should have little or no access to smartphones or social media till they're 16. Dave Cicirelli, Courtesy of Penguin PressWhile some have questioned the science behind Haidt’s thesis, Haidt argues the perspective is informed by years of research — investigations that depict climbing mental health struggles among American tweens and teens, and statistics that indicate many teenagers in the United States already are depressed or anxious in some way. Put simply, Haidt writes that kids should have little to no access to either until they turn 16. While some have questioned the science behind Haidt’s thesis, Haidt argues the perspective is informed by years of research — investigations that depict climbing mental health struggles among American tweens and teens, and statistics that indicate many teenagers in the United States already are depressed or anxious in some way. The American Psychological Association echoed his concern in a new report that calls out social media platforms for designs that are “inherently unsafe for children.” The APA’s report, released Tuesday, says that children do not have “the experience, judgment and self-control” to manage themselves on those platforms. The association says burden shouldn’t be entirely on parents, app stores or young people — it has to be on the platform developers. But parents probably can’t count on developers, which leads to Haidt’s jarring conclusion: We’re at a tipping point as a society, and if grown-ups don’t take action, they could risk the mental health of all young people indefinitely. Haidt, the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business, has spent countless hours publicizing the book’s message since its March 26 release. CNN recently talked with Haidt about his data, the book and what lies ahead for parents and teens alike. This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. What do you think?Join 16 others in the comments View CommentsCNN: How did we get ourselves into this predicament? Jonathan Haidt: Kids always had play-based childhoods, but we gradually let that fade away because of our growing fears of kidnapping and other threats in the 1980s and 1990s. What arose to fill all that time was technology. In the 1990s, we thought the internet was going to be the savior of democracy. It was going to make our children smarter. Because most of us were techno-optimists, we didn’t really raise alarms when our kids started spending four, five, six and now seven to nine hours a day on their phones and other screens. The basic argument of the book is that we’ve overprotected our children in the real world and we’ve under-protected them online. And for both halves of that, you can see how we did that thinking that it was going to be OK. We were wrong on both points. Social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt says parents have overprotected their children in the real world and not protected them enough online. Jayne RiewCNN: What is some of the most startling data you found? Haidt: The one that comes immediately to mind was the discovery that teenage boys used to have by far the highest rates of broken bones before the great rewiring of childhood. Before 2010, teenage boys were much more likely than any other group to go to a hospital because they broke a bone. Once we get to the early 2010s, their rates of hospitalization plunge, so that now teenage boys are slightly less likely to break a bone than are their fathers or grandfathers. They’re spending most of their time on their computers and their video games, and so they’re physically safe. But I would argue that this comes at the cost of healthy boyhood development. RELATED ARTICLEOutside the US, teens’ social media experiences are more tightly controlled CNN: Does this mental health crisis affect boys and girls differently? Haidt: The basic facts about gender differences are that when everyone got a smartphone in the early 2010s, boys went for video games and YouTube and Reddit, while girls went more for the visual social media platforms, especially Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr. A second difference is that girls share emotions more than boys do. They talk about their feelings more, and they’re more open to each other. Girls’ levels of anxiety go up a lot in this period (the tween and teen years), as soon as they get hyper-connected to each other via social media. Self-harm is a way that some girls have historically coped with anxiety, and those rates also went way up in the early 2010s. It used to be that (self-harm) was not a thing that 12- and 13-year-olds were doing, it was more older girls. In the 2010s, hospital emergency room visits (for self-harm) for 10 to 14-year-old girls nearly tripled. That’s one of the biggest increases in markers of mental illness that we see in all the data that I’ve reviewed. RELATED ARTICLESocial media presents ‘profound risk of harm’ for kids, surgeon general says, calling attention to lack of research CNN: You’ve said we’re at a tipping point in this crisis? Why? Haidt: I think that this year is the tipping point for several reasons. In 2019, the debate was really getting started. Then Covid-19 happened, and that obscured previous trends. Now we’re a few years past Covid-19, past the school closures, past the masks, and what has become clear to everyone is that kids are not all right. And the data on rates of mental illness shows us that most of the increase was in place long before Covid-19 arrived. Nowadays, in families across America, one of the biggest and most prevalent dynamics is fighting over technology. What I found since the book came out is that almost everybody sees the problem. Parents are in a state of despair. They feel like the genie is out of the bottle. They say, “You can’t put toothpaste back in a tube, can you?” To that, I say, “If you really have to do it, you’ll do it.” When you look at the wreckage of adolescent mental health and you look at the increases in self-harm and suicide, you look at the declining test scores since 2012 in the United States and all around the world, I think we have to do something. My book provides clear analysis of the multiple collective action problems and of the four simple norms that will solve them. Parents need to roll back the phone-based childhood and restore the play-based childhood, Haidt says. Rouzes/iStockphoto/Getty ImagesCNN: What are the norms that will solve this crisis? Haidt: No. 1: No smartphones before high school. We must clear them out of middle school and elementary school. Just let kids have a flip phone or phone watch when they become independent. No. 2: No social media until 16. These platforms were not made for children. They appear to be especially harmful for children. We must especially protect early puberty since that is when the greatest damage is done. No. 3: Phone-free schools. There’s really no argument for letting kids have the greatest distraction device ever invented in their pockets during school hours. If they have the phones, they will be texting during class, and they will be focused on their phones. If they don’t have phones, they will listen to their teachers and spend time with other kids. No. 4: More independence, free play and responsibility in the real world. We need to roll back the phone-based childhood and restore the play-based childhood. RELATED ARTICLETeens are exhausted by phone notifications but don’t know how to quit, report finds CNN: Rethinking smartphone privileges is a huge departure for many families. How do you convince parents to buy in? Haidt: Elementary school is easy. If you’ve already given your kid a phone or their own iPad, you can take it away. Just be sure to coordinate with the parents of your kid’s friends so that your kid feels they’re not the only one. They can still have access to a computer; they can still text their friends on a computer. But if your kids are in elementary school, just commit to not giving them these things until high school. Middle school is harder. Most middle school kids are entirely enmeshed in smartphones and social media. The key in middle school is to have some very severe time restrictions. The problem is the move from a couple hours of access a day to potentially having access all day long. That’s what does a lot of the kids in. Half of all American teens say they’re online almost constantly. If your kids already have these devices, I think you want to make some strict rules about when they have access to them. RELATED ARTICLEYou don’t need to surveil your kids to protect them on social media CNN: What do you think will happen if we don’t change soon? Haidt: Given that the rates of mental illness and self-harm and suicide are still going up, we don’t know where the limit is. We don’t know whether it’s possible to have 100% of our kids be depressed and anxious. We’re already getting close to half for the girls; we’re already in the ballpark of 30% to 40% having depression or anxiety, and about 30% currently say they’ve thought about suicide this year. Things are already really bad, and the levels could just continue to rise to the point where the majority of kids are depressed, anxious and suicidal. This has enormous social implications, too. Because kids are somewhat sex-segregated online (they interact less with kids of the opposite sex), the situation is unconducive to heterosexual dating and marriage. I think the separation between boys and girls and their rising rates of anxiety are going to drive rates of marriage and heterosexual childbearing down much faster than they’ve been going — and they’ve been dropping for decades. RELATED ARTICLEWith the decline in youth mental health comes another concerning trend, study finds Lastly, I think there could be huge economic implications. Already, you have dozens of state attorneys general suing Meta and Snapchat because of the sheer amount of money that the states spend on psychiatric emergency services for adolescents. Another economic implication is that if we have one or two or three anxious generations where young people are afraid to take risks, our free market economy, our entrepreneurial culture, all the things that make the American economy so vibrant and dynamic will suffer. That’s why I think we have no choice. We (must) put a stop to this now. Matt Villano is a writer and editor based in Northern California. Learn more about him at whalehead.com.
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By Kristen Rogers, CNN 6 minute read Updated 12:50 PM EDT, Wed April 10, 2024 The unique stressors faced by college athletes could partially explain the rise in suicides among this group, experts say. PeopleImages/iStockphoto/Getty ImagesEditor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988 to connect with a trained counselor, or visit the 988 Lifeline website. CNN — Suicide rates among people of all ages in the United States have increased over the past two decades, making it a serious public health problem. Among US college athletes, suicide is now the second leading cause of death after accidents — and rates have doubled from 7.6% to 15.3% over the past 20 years, according to a study published April 4 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the US, but for Americans ages 10 to 14 and 25 to 34, it’s the second leading cause, and for those ages 15 to 24, it’s the third leading cause. “Collegiate athletes are often thought to have protective factors like the sense of community with their team (and) support of coaches, trainers, doctors and others,” said the study’s first author, Bridget Whelan, a research scientist in the department of family medicine at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, via email. RELATED ARTICLEIf your teen is socially withdrawn, be on the lookout for more serious problems, study suggests “Unfortunately, this study shows that collegiate athletes are just as susceptible to these mental health concerns,” Whelan said. Suicide had previously been identified as a leading cause of death among athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which has put more emphasis on the well-being of athletes in the past decade by publishing a consensus document on best practices for mental health. Those recommendations include creating an environment that supports mental health by following a written plan that considers risk and protective factors in multiple areas of the students’ lives, and screening students for psychological distress using validated tools at least annually. But past research on how these recommendations and participation in different sports affect suicide rates has been mixed, the authors of the new study said — so they looked into the rates of suicides by NCAA athletes from July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2022, by consulting NCAA memorial lists and insurance claims, the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury database, the Parent Heart Watch database and media reports. The authors also studied how suicide rates were affected by factors such as age, sex, race, division, sport and time of year. Of the 1,102 deaths that occurred during the 20-year time period, 128 were suicides among people who ranged in age from 17 to 24 and were predominantly male (77%) and White (59%). However, most suicides occurred at age 20, which is typically the middle of a collegiate athlete’s school career. RELATED ARTICLEHow to cope with a loved one’s suicide, from someone who’s been through it There weren’t significant differences when considering sex, race or sport, but there were contrasts among divisions — Division III athletes had a 59% and 66% lower rate than Division I and II athletes, respectively, Whelan said. Male cross-country athletes had the highest rates compared with anyone else in the study — a finding that surprised the authors since previous research found higher rates in football, Whelan said. “This trend highlights the need for better screening methods, prevention strategies and support systems for student-athletes, as well as continued training (and) education for those working with student-athletes,” said Dr. Jacob Kay, clinical research affiliate at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health, via email. Kay wasn’t involved in the study. The study also found suicides were more common in months outside of June through August and on Mondays and Tuesdays. “Understanding the timing of suicides may help inform targeted intervention efforts and support systems to better meet the needs of student-athletes, particularly during these windows of vulnerability,” Kay added. Mental health risks among athletesBoth the authors and experts uninvolved in the study acknowledge some shortcomings of the research. “The accuracy of determining the cause of death is particularly tricky with suicides (and) may vary depending on the availability of autopsy and even family reports surrounding circumstances,” said Dr. Urszula Klich, an Atlanta-based clinical psychologist who wasn’t involved in the study. RELATED ARTICLEWhat people should know about stress, according to a doctor “Relying on media reports and public records to identify causes of athlete deaths will likely result in underreporting,” Klich added. “Not all suicides will be covered in media. Athletes from lower-profile sports will be less visible.” However, experts have some ideas on the contextual factors that might explain the findings.. “Suicide is the tragic outcome of medical illness and multiple, often interacting, biological, psychological and social risk factors,” said Dr. Rebecca Bernert, a suicidologist and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, via email. Bernert, who wasn’t involved in the study, is also founding director of the Stanford Suicide Prevention Research Laboratory. There’s the pressure to perform both academically and athletically and balance the responsibilities of each, which can lead to anxiety and depression, experts said. This loaded schedule can leave less time for social connection, resulting in feelings of isolation even if they’re part of a sports team. “Student-athletes routinely experience physical injuries or can wind up with chronic pain due to the physical requirements of their sport,” Klich said. This possibility is especially true for cross-country athletes. “The psychological impact of injuries, including fear of losing scholarships or opportunities for advancement, can further amplify feelings of hopelessness and despair,” Klich added. RELATED ARTICLEAsking yourself Socratic questions can calm your irrational thoughts An athlete’s sense of value may also be affected by social media, according to the study. “Athletes are competing during a time when levels of self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism are at an all-time high,” the authors said. “Even though athletes are more likely to spend time on non-screen activities than their non-athletic peers, the perceptions or messaging around their performance on social media often leads to worse feelings of well-being.” These issues are likely especially true for Division I and II athletes who, compared with Division III athletes, are more subject to media coverage, online criticism and stressors associated with the “recent emergence of name, image and likeness … deals in the NCAA, where athletes may earn payment for their personal brand,” the authors added. Reducing the risk of suicideIf you’re a college athlete and concerned about your mental health, experts want you to know you’re not alone and that the biggest step you can take is to reach out. “There are people willing and wanting to help, and some really good treatments for mental health concerns. There is hope that things can get better,” Whelan said. “You can reach out to someone close to you that you trust, or if you feel like you want something more anonymous, you can reach out to the (988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) via call or text at 988.” Make sure to also take time for self-care amid busy schedules, Kay said. RELATED ARTICLEWhy being present is a mind-body exercise you should practice more If you’re someone wanting to help, get to know these potential warning signs of suicide and how the way you talk about suicide can reduce stigma. “Overall, it is important to remember that these individuals aren’t just athletes, but students as well,” Kay said. “A comprehensive approach that includes promoting mental health awareness, reducing stigma, providing accessible and culturally sensitive screening and support services, and fostering an inclusive athletic culture that prioritizes the well-being of all student-athletes is needed to address this critical issue.” 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 Ontario school boards sue Snapchat, TikTok and Meta for $4.5 billion, alleging they're deliberately hurting students
By Kristin Rushowy - Queen’s Park Bureau Thu Mar 28 05:00:00 EDT 2024 "Four Ontario school boards have launched $4.5-billion in lawsuits against social media giants Snapchat, TikTok and Meta — which owns Facebook and Instagram — accusing them of deliberately hurting students, interfering with their learning and harming their mental health, leaving educators to “manage the fallout.” In four separate but similar cases filed Wednesday in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice, the public boards in Toronto, Peel and Ottawa and the Toronto Catholic board allege the popular social media platforms were "designed for compulsive use (and) have rewired the way children think, behave, and learn" and are calling on the companies to make improvements, say their statements of claim. School boards have had to bring in staff, resources and programming to mitigate the "significant impacts that these addictive platforms are having on our students," said Colleen Russell-Rawlins, director of education at the Toronto District School Board, the country's largest. "We're managing mental health challenges, loneliness and … discrimination — the slurs that we're seeing students use, some of that emanates from what's on social media," she added. "We really want to raise awareness and ultimately get these companies to acknowledge and to make these things safer," added Brendan Browne, director of education for the Toronto Catholic District School Board. The Star reached out via email to the social media companies for comment about the allegations, which have not been tested in court. A spokesperson for Snapchat said it "was intentionally designed to be different from traditional social media, with a focus on helping Snapchatters communicate with their close friends. Snapchat opens directly to a camera — rather than a feed of content — and has no traditional public likes or comments." While "we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence," the spokesperson said. Responses from the other social media companies were not received by deadline. Russell-Rawlins said boards have struggled, adding "our students are not fully present" given studies have shown that more than 90 per cent of kids in Grades 7 to 12 use social media daily, and 45 per cent of them for more than five hours which "takes them away from the social relationships that are part of the fabric of their growth and development and socialization." Add cyberbullying into the mix, with the "escalation of aggression that shows up in schools for teachers, vice-principals, principals and other professionals to help students manage and de-escalate." The four boards are represented by Neinstein LLP, and will not be out of pocket for legal costs as the firm will take a contingency fee. Duncan Embury, the firm's head of litigation, said the boards "view this as part of a process designed to create change, because we're hearing first-hand from educators about the enormous harms that are occurring day-to-day in the school system because of these products." About 500 school districts in the U.S. have launched similar cases now making their way through the courts, as have some states, but Embury is unaware of any other cases in Canada. Just this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ushered in a new law banning kids under 14 from social media and requiring parental permission from those ages 14 and 15 amid concerns over their mental health and well-being. Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, said it's up to other boards to decide if they want to take part. "There's been all kinds of encouragement for students to prank, and it's resulted in violence in schools, and things being posted online … and it's really landing in our classrooms where teachers are having to deal with behaviours" and boards have to direct "so many of our resources to it," added Browne. Pino Buffone, director of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, said "we encourage the integration of technology … but there's no question that (these platforms) are distracting students and leading to a number of wellness issues — concerns that our students, our parents, guardians and caregivers are expressing." The boards allege the social media companies have "knowingly and/or negligently disrupted and fundamentally changed the school, learning, and teaching climate by creating and sustaining prolific and/or compulsive use of their products by students," say their statements of claim. "The defendants knew, or ought to have known, that their negligent conduct seriously and negatively impacts the student population by causing maladaptive brain development, compulsive use, disrupted sleep patterns, behavioural dysregulation, learning and attention impairment, and other serious issues that impact the school, learning, and teaching climate," the statements of claim also say." https://ktla.com/video/teen-dies-after-alleged-fight-with-bullies-at-south-l-a-high-school/9535154/
Are the public schools so scared about getting sued? They hide bullying issues occurring at their school. Are the teachers properly trained with trauma sensitive programming? Is the community trained? Is public school a safe place for kids anymore? |
Al BernsteinAl works in film/tv and the theatre in New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles some highlights include: the award-winning short film Walled IN (written & produced by Al), Workin’ Moms, The Umbrella Academy, The Novice, Nikita, How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days, Showtime’s Street Time, Off Broadway: The Interrogation, Will (written by Al), 2013 Winner! LA Drama Critics Awards for Best Production, Director, Adaptation, CYRANO (World Premiere, DeafWest/Fountain Theatre), 2011 Ovation & LA Weekly Award winning Best Musical, Best Musical Director, Best Director, HOBOKEN TO HOLLYWOOD, The Sunshine Boys (with Hal Linden and Allan Miller) plus, many more. Today, Al is a finalist at the Actors Studio and works as an actor, writer, filmmaker and acting professor in Toronto. Archives
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