Professor, NYU Stern School of Business, author of instant #1 NYT bestseller “The Anxious Generation,” “The Coddling of the American Mind,” “The Righteous Mind,” & “Happiness Hypothesis.” Latest research: AfterBabel.com
Spoke to Dr. Rangan Chatterjee about how we can all delay smartphones and social media for our kids, together (link in comments)
There’s no way my child would be getting a smartphone in any situation until age 16. Old school Flip phone for personal calls and texts to parents is all. And no socials until 16 either. It’s unnecessary and there are a million life experiences that I would want children to experience rather than being glued on a phone.
While I am in favor of delaying access to smartphones and social media for kids, I am also very much in support of us educating kids on how to best use these devices/services once the time comes to access them. Opening the floodgates without any education, guidance, or training doesn’t do them any favors, either. So let’s also have that discussion about teaching them how to use these tools wisely and appropriately.
I am guilty of putting a smart phone in my youngest daughters hands at the age of 5! Myself and their mother seperated and the loss of the family was devastating to me. I needed to stay connected to my daughters. She is now 12 and the damage is noticable! I always used apples parental controls and with their mothers help set reasonable family controls. But pre-adolescence brings the 'normal boundary pushing behaviour'. I am the ogre, I am the dad who is unfair who takes their rights to be on the phones away. I am hated. I am powerless.. Because I refuse to give in to their blackmail there 'well I won't see you again until we have screentime' comments. But I wont give them full access despite being told I am the worst dad ever. I wont give them unlimited access to the magic window of the world that fires every neuron and feeds an addiction which we dont understand. I will stand firm and hope they realise that one day, Dad was just trying to do his best to give them a normal healthy childhood.. I can't do this alone, without collective action, without the tech giants help, without the schools getting on board and local educating authorities I will have to learn to endure more abuse, more hatred, more blackmail :-(
AT&T Verizon BT Group Vodafone and all the others need to help parents here. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/social-media-control-isps-tim-jenkins-bnwne/
The good news is there are new kids born every second so we have the ability to do better going forward. The bad news is we have a generation+ of young adults who are struggling and don’t deserve to be the guinea pigs of a business phenomenon.
Professor, is it about delaying or the education angle (formal education) would be a more sustainable path to support our youth?
Maybe focus on the real atrocities that are actually happening to and causing valid anxiety in women and girls. Then, social media, freedom of access, and freedom of education, and freedom of speech wouldn't be so violent and scary? Preserving their status quo. 💰
Jonathan Haidt I would really appreciate seeing your feedback and engaging in discussion with you on many of the important comments we've had in response to your path-breaking initiative on the smartphone disaster. Don't you benefit from the feedback provided by so many insightful minds on this forum?. Isn't that what education is all about? It's a two-way process.
Thanks for stimulating the debate on this topic. Lots of interesting things are happening in colombia with school networks like UNCOLI and ADECOPRIA taking more assertive stances on smart phone use in schools.
Professor, NYU Stern School of Business, author of instant #1 NYT bestseller “The Anxious Generation,” “The Coddling of the American Mind,” “The Righteous Mind,” & “Happiness Hypothesis.” Latest research: AfterBabel.com
1moApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/456-how-smartphones-are-rewiring-our-brains-why-social/id1333552422?i=1000657050717