Wikipedia states that a “moral panic” is a widespread fear that some evil threatens the well being of society. There was a “moral panic” around the radio, then comic books, then television, and now there is a similar panic over social media. The topic is heated, and it is difficult to distill the concerns into a cohesive narrative, and more difficult yet to offer solutions.
But, Professor Jonathan Haidt has offered to do just that, with his most recent release The Anxious Generation. (For a summary of his main points from listen to his interview with Rich Roll, link here) I’ve been following Haidt’s work since reading his book The Coddling of the American Mind in 2018, where he first brought to attention the crisis of anxiety, depression, and suicide among our young girls due to social media. He expands further in his new book by showing us that children, boys included, have been regressing into severe social isolation for far longer than we realized.
He points out that while there was a stark drop in adult social connection during the pandemic in 2019, for children there was almost no difference. This was despite children not going to school, where we would assume they socialized with their peer group. Instead, what we find is that children have been socially isolated since 2012. The drop off had already occurred before the pandemic.
What happened in 2012 you may ask? This was when modern touch screen smartphones, front facing cameras, and social media apps became popular. According to Haidt this was the perfect recipe for hijacking the adolescent mind, and it has lead to:
attention fragmentation
addiction
and atomization of community
The average teenager spends 5 hours a day on social media. Sitting alone. Staring at a screen. This is nauseating.
All of this has lead to levels of anxiety, depression, and suicide among children the likes of which we have never seen.
This is not “moral panic,” this is a public health crisis.
Professor Haidt recommends that we treat it as such, and I am inclined to agree. He recommends two easy places to start.
Increase the minimum age for social media accounts to 16. He says 18 is more appropriate, but 16 is more feasible. Currently the minimum age is 13 and there is ZERO enforcement, meaning we have millions of underage children with social media accounts exposed to what tech algorithms deem most “engaging” (read “addictive”) and all during the most important neurocognitive development period of their lives.
Ban smartphones at school. Teachers have universally warned that kids are focused on their smartphones and not on class. If kids go to school and are on their phones all day, why did they go to school in the first place?
I wasn’t 100% sure how I would handle the cell phone issue with my kid, but the answer is becoming much clearer. I will find like minded parents who will similarly avoid smartphones with their children. I want the kids to develop strong social connections through free play and appropriate risk taking behavior.
I want them to go outside and have adventures. I want them to have fun. I want them to cultivate brotherhood and sisterhood.
No more likes, no more thumbs up, no more streaks, no more reels.
It is up to us to say no. Let’s give the kids their childhoods back.
I 100% agree with you on this Shah.
Having worked in education for the majority of my working life, I have seen the negative impacts of phone usage and social media on the younger generation.
There needs to be a collective effort to ensure our young people reduce the amount of time they spend. Parents, schools and other important figures in a young person’s life must work together on this.
I am a teacher and the phones are at the most overwhelming thing to battle on a daily basis. Despite having a no phones rule school wide during instructional time, it’s extremely hard to enforce and a constant fight to stop kids who are so addicted to their devices to put them away and learn something that is less reinforcing and much more boring.