Anxious generation. Get kids away from cell phones!
- Veronika Veselá
- 9. 9.
- Minut čtení: 5
"The environment in which children grow up today is hostile to human development," claims American researcher and author of The Anxious Generation Jonathan Haidt. According to him, smartphones are to blame, which provide children and adolescents with essentially constant access to social networks and online media. Children then lack interaction in the real world, suffer from a lack of physical activity, and are easy targets for cyberbullying. All of this has a negative impact on their psyche. How to protect your children?
In the early 2010s, a wave of mental health problems swept across Euro-American culture among adolescents. You may have seen the statistics: Rates of depression and anxiety in the United States, which had been relatively stable in 2000, rose by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2019, according to multiple studies. Suicide rates rose by 48 percent among adolescents ages 10 to 19. Among girls ages 10 to 14, they rose by 131 percent.
The problem was not limited to the US: similar trends emerged at the same time in Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand , the Nordic countries and other countries. The Czech Republic was not left out either. A survey conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health (NUDZ) in cooperation with the Czech School Inspectorate in primary schools in the Czech Republic shows that more than 50% of ninth-grade students in the Czech Republic show signs of impaired wellbeing.
American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt believes that this mental health crisis is caused by the mass spread of smartphones, social media, and addictive online games that occurred between 2010 and 2019.
Are smartphones really to blame?
Today’s teenagers are spending more and more time in front of screens at the expense of face-to-face contact. While girls are more likely to fall into the trap of social media, which destroys their self-esteem, boys are more likely to be addicted to games and pornography . Childhood is no longer “game-based” but “phone-based.” Haidt believes that parents are doing too little to protect their children from online dangers, and have become overprotective in the offline world—pushing back the age at which it is considered safe for children to play in the street unsupervised or run errands on their own. “We have given young people too much freedom to roam the internet, where they are exposed to bullying and harassment or harmful content, from graphic violence to sites that glorify suicide and self-harm,” Haidt writes.
Haidt, a professor at New York University, collaborates with American psychologist Jean Twenge, who was one of the first to attribute the rising rates of mental illness among Generation Z (people born in the mid- to late 1990s) to smartphones. Skeptics of this research argue that young people today simply have more reasons to be anxious and depressed: whether it be climate change, rising inequality, global conflicts or ongoing political crises. But Haidt presents a compelling counterargument in the book. He points out that previous generations also grew up in the shadow of war and global instability. But collective crises do not usually trigger individual psychological crises, perhaps because they often lead to greater social solidarity and meaning. On the contrary, evidence is accumulating linking mental illness to smartphone and social media use.
Anxiety, depression and poor sleep
Today’s teenager spends an average of six to eight hours a day on screen-based leisure activities, not on the playground or on schoolwork. The real number may be much higher, however, with a third of teenagers reporting that they are on social media “almost constantly.” For the generation Haidt is writing about, this coincides with a sharp increase in anxiety and depression, higher rates of eating disorders and self-harm, a sharp decline in self-esteem, and increased feelings of isolation, despite being more connected to the internet than ever before. Other negative consequences of a smartphone-based childhood that Haidt documents include: less sleep and poorer quality, less reading, less personal contact, less time outdoors, and less independence.
Boys vs. girls. How do the symptoms of “smartphone addiction” differ?
Although since 2010 (the advent of smartphones and social media among teenagers), rates of depression and self-harm have increased significantly more among girls than boys, as other research shows, life with a smartphone is devastating for the human development of both sexes. However, in slightly different ways for each.
Girls spend more time on social media (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat), which brings constant pressure to compare, “like” and feedback on appearance and image. Their friendships tend to be more based on intimate sharing and relationships. When they move to a digital environment, where criticism, ignoring or cyberbullying is common, it leads to anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm and depression.
Boys are more likely to indulge in playing video games , which provide satisfaction in a virtual environment. However, excessive gaming can cause a loss of motivation and interest in offline environments. Boys are then at risk of passivity, they put off schoolwork, lose interest in sports, have difficulty regulating emotions, friendships are superficial, and social isolation sets in. Boys then vent their frustration from an unsatisfactory offline life on social networks - some networks and forums support aggression, misogyny, or risky behavior (e.g., "incel" groups, extremist memes).
How to get out of the digital trap? The solution is physical activity and education
The solutions Haidt proposes are complex and certainly not simple. He strongly advocates for better age verification on social media and postponing access to smartphones until children are mature enough to handle their negative influences. According to him, children should ideally not have access to smartphones until they are 16! Does that seem impossible to you? Then try to engage your child as much as possible outside the online world and focus on education.
Physical activity and movement outdoors in the fresh air have a significant impact on mental health, as they help balance stress and regulate emotions. Running, playing on the playground, various forms of group sports and free play without adult supervision teach children independence, cooperation, problem-solving and communication outside the digital world.
Haidt also believes it is important to talk more about digital wellbeing, mental health and the risks of using technology. The aim of educational activities should be to help children and teenagers avoid the negative impacts of the digital world and focus on real-life relationships outside the online world.
Are you interested in more about digital wellbeing?
We are now offering a practical experience workshop for 6th and 7th grade elementary school students.
Wellbeing in the digital jungle
The pilot workshops provided valuable feedback. We were pleased that 63% of the participating students found the seminar useful. They were most interested in the interactive elements, especially the physical activities. “From a thematic point of view, the participants were most interested in the negative impacts of technology on the psyche and cyberbullying. It turned out that they have a need to discuss and appreciate when someone really listens to their opinions and experiences,” says lecturer Jana Kyriakou.
Students said about the workshop:
"The instructors were very nice and it was a pleasant workshop."
"The workshop covered everything I expected from it."
"It was a useful workshop and a lot to think about."
More about the workshop here
Author of the article: Veronika Veselá
Resources:
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (Haidt, 2024)
National monitoring of children's mental health: 40% show signs of moderate to severe depression, 30% anxiety. Experts prepare preventive measures (NÚDZ, October 2023)
End the Phone-Based Childhood Now (Atlantic, Mar 13, 2024)
The cost of growing up online (Gates Notes, Dec 3, 2024)
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt – a pocket full of poison (The Guardian, Mar 21, 2024)