Too many parents were (and some still are) willing to mask their kids for years for a minimal threat but completely ignore the science telling them about the threat from cell phones:
“The younger the age of getting the first smartphone, the worse the mental health the young adult reports today,” writes Jon Haidt, citing a survey of 28,000 young adults around the world.
Reingold talked to Nicholas Kardaras, who authored a book on tech addiction. He treats young adults with screen addictions at the Omega Recovery center in Austin, Texas. Often "influencers" have persuaded them they have Tourette syndrome, borderline personality disorder or gender dysphoria. When they go offline, escaping the “social contagion,” their symptoms disappear.
Update: More here.
It really is incredible. One device that children would have trouble getting, is so dangerous that parents have to buy it for their children.
ReplyDelete"Stranger Danger" was the warning, so let's give children a device that allows them to communicate with anyone with no supervision.
Negotiating the social dynamics of middle and high school was always tricky, so let's give children a device that makes their interactions public and permanent.
Children should not be exposed to adult themed media, so let's give children a device that allows them to see, read and hear everything imaginable.
The solution is so simple, the parents get all the blame. Prior to high school, if a parent feels the child needs a phone, a locked down flip phone that can only make and take calls from the contact list is sufficient. By high school, a standard flip phone is all a child needs.
I taught juniors and seniors in a district with conscientious parents. Every student had a smart phone. I have no idea why.
Social media would still be out there, but if students had to access it from a computer, it would lose much of it's allure.