It is necessary to put an end to childhood in front of the cell phone – 04/14/2024 – Ronaldo Lemos

Many parents are delighted to see their children under 2 years old using their cell phones. In the view of psychologist Jonathan Haidt, professor at NYU and author of the book “Anxious Generation”, these parents should actually be horrified.

Haidt points out that there is an epidemic of mental health problems among children and adolescents. The numbers are cruel. Depression and anxiety grew by 50% between 2010 and 2019 in the USA. Suicides among young people aged 10 to 19 rose 48% during this period. The pattern is repeated in Australia, Canada, England, Sweden and others.

It also appears in Brazil. Suicide among adolescents aged 10 to 19 grew 47% between 2016 and 2021 in data from the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics. It’s not easy being young today. Loneliness is a problem for 46% of girls and 30% of boys in the US.

What went wrong? Haidt says the issue is childhood and adolescence spent in front of a cell phone. It was from 2010 onwards that smartphones became popular among young people and that the numbers worsened. Before that, rates were stable. School learning also suffered. Mathematics, reading and science scores have plummeted globally since 2010, according to the Pisa exam.

After all, there are seven hours of cell phone use per day in the US among teenagers. In low-income families the number is even higher. They receive around 237 notifications daily (15 per waking hour). Haidt says it’s impossible to have a presence like that, including building relationships with other people. It is no coincidence that streaming services today have the option of watching videos at increased speed, two or even four times faster. For many young people, watching a film at normal speed is unbearable.

He also analyzed other causes for the problem, such as changes in parental behavior, social pressure and lack of socializing opportunities. His conclusion, however, is that the determining factor is in fact the use of smartphones and similar devices.

But couldn’t this intensive use also bring benefits? They certainly exist. But the overwhelming amount of time invested is much more beneficial to the platforms than to the users. In Haidt’s words, “children and teenagers are growing up in a place with no history, no connection to where they live, where the content consists of 30-second videos, with no origin or authorship, chosen by the algorithm to hypnotize whoever is watching.”

In this scenario, what to do? Haidt proposes four actions. The first is not allowing the use of smartphones and tablets until the age of 14. The second is not allowing the use of social media until the age of 16. The third is to completely ban the use of smartphones in schools: require students to leave their cell phones at the entrance and only remove them when leaving.

Several studies show that the quality of learning and socializing improves with this measure. Finally, his last suggestion is to promote more independence, freedom to play and responsibility for children and teenagers. There is no point in suppressing technology without increasing offline activities. This demands a new social pact between families, schools and communities. Which includes realizing that there is nothing charming about seeing a baby with a cell phone in their hand.

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