New book says smartphones and social media are making our kids anxious and depressed

New book says smartphones and social media are making our kids anxious and depressed،

Professor Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, writes that over the past ten years he has witnessed “the radical transformation of childhood into something inhuman: a telephone-based existence.” According to The New York PostHaidt has written a book due out soon called “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Driving an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”

To back up his statement about kids being on the phone, he points out that teenage girls spend 20 hours a week on social media, making browsing and posting on these platforms a part-time job for these girls. The book will be released on March 26, and Haidt claims that the combination of smartphones and social media is causing children to suffer from lack of sleep, social deprivation, fragmented attention, addiction and spiritual degradation. The psychologist calls this the “great rewiring” of childhood.

Smartphones and social media are making children depressed and anxious

The bottom line is that these children are becoming the most depressed and anxious generation in history, even though girls and boys are affected differently. Consider how the former are impacted by social media platforms. “Social media really has an impact on girls,” Haidt said. The post office. “It takes all the worst aspects of college — social comparison, focus on appearance, insecurity — and multiplies them tenfold.” You can imagine how comments made on such topics on social media could impact a teenage girl's mind.

8th, 10th, and 12th Grade Students Show Signs of Depression - New Book Says Smartphones and Social Media Are Making Our Kids Anxious and Depressed

8th, 10th and 12th graders show signs of depression

The professor claims to have discovered a link between heavy social media use and poor mental health outcomes in girls. He writes: “For boys, the story is less clear. There is no irrefutable proof. They have simply experienced a gradual withdrawal from the real world, where boys have historically put forth effort. »;t have smartphones before age 18

With a 14-year-old daughter and a 17-year-old son, Haidt has the same arguments with his children on the phone as the others. “We still have the same problem that all parents have, which is just trying to tell them to stop spending so much time on their screens,” he said. “There is still a constant and chronic tug of war over usage.” Because his children walk to school in New York, he gave a phone to his son in fourth grade and his daughter in sixth grade. Although they were both given smartphones, in retrospect he wishes he had given them flip phones instead.

He suggests parents keep their children away from social media until they are 16 and keep them away from smartphones until they are in high school. “We need to delay phones but also give them engaging real-world activities. [Parents] We have children who are underprotected online, but we also have them overprotected in the real world. And we have to address both halves. Children need to be grounded in the real world, with real relationships, real responsibilities, real love. Virtual activities are no substitute.”

Haidt's book offers many solutions for parents and he said The post office“We can solve this problem largely in a year if we just work collectively. These are collective action problems, and we can solve them through collective action, even if we don't get help from our legislators .”

The professor says members of Generation Z have been receptive to what he says. “They see the problems of their phone-based childhood. They see it's a huge waste of time. But when I ask them why they don't quit TikTok and Instagram, they say they can't because everything the world is connected. them.”