by Maureen Ferguson
The revolution is underway. Parents, doctors, and school administrators have seen the devastation wreaked on a generation of screen-based children and are taking bold steps to end the “phone-based childhood.” Politicians are also joining the cause, with Congress on the verge of passing a bipartisan bill legislation to protect children online – the first significant law of its kind in almost 30 years. The catalyst for this revolution is a modern bestselling book by Jonathan Haidt, Generation Anxiety: How the Big Change in Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.
Haidt’s book was on New York Times bestseller for three months, and its impact is reverberating. Professor Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University, and his extensive research paints an eye-opening picture of the damage done by smartphones and social media. He shows how screens literally rewire the neurological pathways of the adolescent brain, calling it “The Great Reprogramming.” The impact of smartphones and social media apply on a child’s development is so profound that Haidt calls it “the greatest uncontrolled experiment that humanity has ever conducted on its own children.”
Haidt’s thesis is uncomplicated—a “phone-based childhood” is incompatible with human development. Any parent who has witnessed their teen’s transformation into a screen-based one has a hunch that Haidt’s thesis is correct.
There are no reasonable security measures in the virtual world. Anxious generation documents how children are drawn into addiction, depression, anxiety, self-harm, extreme political views, eating disorders and warped perception of sex through pornography. Many become victims cyberbullying and sex blackmailand end in suicide. Children become accustomed to anxiety-inducing asynchronous communication. Dependence on virtual communication deepens loneliness and isolation. Online “conversations” are disembodied and incomplete, lacking the social cues and warmth that body language and eye contact offer.
The revolution to reclaim a vigorous childhood is being led by moms and dads who have decided to:just say no” to smartphones and social media for their children. There is a movement among parents to team up with other parents in their children’s friend groups, opting to collectively delay smartphone and social media apply until age 16 or beyond. Instead, many parents are opting to give their teen basic “dumb” phone to meet communication needs without causing harmful side effects. Even retro landline phones do Return.
This revolution has been warmly supported by the country’s Chief Medical Officer, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who issued formal warning on the grave mental health damage that comes from social media apply among teens. Murthy called for the warning labels on these apps, calling on Congress to treat TikTok and Instagram like cigarettes (remember when Big Tobacco assured us in the ’90s that smoking wasn’t addictive?). medical organizations including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association.
The revolution that is now sweeping across the country began in our classrooms. Teachers were among the first to notice students’ degenerating concentration and falling test scores. They saw firsthand that even the most engaging teacher could not keep up with TikTok videos, sports scores, video games and scrolling under children’s desks. The chancellor of New York City schools announced that he would implement a no-phone-after-reading policy this fall Anxious generationLos Angeles and many other vast school districts are rushing to get rid of phones by the time schools reopen in the fall.
State leaders from opposing sides are also joining in. Governors as politically opposed as Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Gavin Newsom (D-Cal.) agree that social media poses a grave threat to children’s development. Over the past few weeks, DeSantis signed bill to cut screens from classrooms and governor newsom he promissed do the same. “When children and teens are in school, they should be focused on learning — not on screens,” Newsom said. DeSantis also banned younger children from using social media and required older teens to get parental consent. Gov. DeSantis is planning give their kids flip phones when they grow up. When they talk about social media, DeSantis and Newsom don’t sound like election-year partisans; they sound like concerned parents — which they are.
In the nation’s capital, Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly support Children’s Safety on the Internet Act(KOSA). After compelling hearings, the groundbreaking bill just cleared its first major procedural hurdle in the Senate and is expected to pass in a floor vote Tuesday. From there, the bill heads to the House of Representatives, where its fate is uncertain. Big Tech lobbyists have incredibly deep pockets and allies in Congress who can find countless ways to delay and derail the bill, so the revolution on Capitol Hill needs mighty support from concerned parents.
Indeed, it is up to parents to ensure that Haidt’s book is the beginning of the revolution our children need. Big tech and social media corporations operate in ways no other sector allows, deliberately addicting unaccompanied minors, manipulating and reprogramming their minds and hearts, while collecting and monetizing their data. It is time to protect children and end the uncontrolled experiment. Here are the results. Let’s give children a childhood that is once again consistent with normal human development.
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Maureen Ferguson is a senior researcher at The Catholic Association.
Photo “Young People” by Pixabay.
