Parents, caregivers and educators, if you haven’t already done so, please pick up Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness”. Jonathan is a social pyschologist and in his book, he raises the alarm on the mental health crisis amongst teens.
He traces the roots of the problems back to major factors, including:
– the switch form flip phones to smartphones
– the inclusion of a camera in smartphones
– the rise of social media
He argues that phones have replaced play and face-to-face interaction, robbing kids and teens of a normal childhood in which they learn important social skills and experience major psychological milestones.
Most importantly, he suggests four main actions that adults can take to reverse this problem. They are:
- No smartphone before 14. No always on Internet access.
- No social media before 16. Don’t let kids go through adolescence on social media.
- Phone-free schools. (Imagine allowing every student to bring TVs, sound systems, walkie talkies, gaming consoles into their classrooms. This is what is being done when phones are in class.)
- More independence, free play and responsibility in the real world. Kids must learn to be self-governing without an adult governing them before they leave home.
If we don’t make these changes, kids will learn less and teaching in the classroom will become even more difficult. They will also lack the social skills needed to be responsible, considerate and empathetic citizens.
Photo by RDNE Stock