Havoc On Our Children But Not Without Hope
With high ratings from Bill Gates and many others, I was looking forward to this week’s reading. [1] Moreover, my church’s family ministry is currently reading The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt. [2] Haidt explains two trends that are shaping today’s world: kids have moved from a play-based childhood to phone-based childhood at the same time that parents are overprotecting in the real world while unprotecting the virtual world. This disastrous combination is wreaking havoc on our children. But Haidt gives some compelling solutions:
- No cell phones before high school
- No social media before age 16
- Cell phone-free schools
- More unsupervised play
Not surprisingly, Haidt immediately resonated with my experience parenting three teenagers. When my kids were younger, we would take breaks from screens, and I would see my kids go through a detox process that included irritability and inability to focus, and then post-detox introduced increased play, curiosity, and happiness. My husband and I went on a marriage retreat last year and decided to be phone-free. I experienced similar symptoms: difficulty focusing, irritability, and then post-detox, I experienced decreased stress, increased playfulness, and increased creativity. Nature caught my attention as I noticed things like birds and glimmering water that I would normally overlook.
Phones are designed with addiction and utilize dopamine to get us hooked. The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity-and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race, Lieberman and Long say of dopamine, “We also lose the pleasure of the sensory world around us. Instead of enjoying the beauty of a flower, we imagine only how it would look in a vase on our kitchen table. Instead of smelling the morning air and looking at the sky, we consult the weather app on our smartphone, neck bent, oblivious to the world around us.” [3]
I had previously watched The Social Dilemma, a documentary on the dangers of social media, so these concepts weren’t completely new to me, but this was a sobering reminder with real action we can take. [4] Following reading The Anxious Generation, I had all of my kids watch a lecture given by Haidt and have had great conversations with them surrounding this. [5] My daughter since set up restrictive screen time settings on her phone and I’ve also emailed the school board that I serve on requesting a reevaluation of our cellphone policy.
Realizing the destruction that anxiety brings on the human body, I’m wondering how this will impact our overall health. We’ve been on a linear trajectory of increased lifespan for decades, but without a drastic change to our additions to smartphones and social media, I am curious if we will see different trends in the future. [6]
I sense that this is a special attack from the enemy on our young people and I’m reminded of the warning we’re told in Ephesians 6:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6: 10-12, NIV)
What are you walking away with this week?
References
[1] Gates Notes. “The Cost of Growing up Online,” December 3, 2024. https://www.gatesnotes.com/The-Anxious-Generation.
[2] Haidt, Jonathan. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. UK USA Canada Ireland Australia India New Zealand South Africa: Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2024.
[3] Lieberman, Daniel Z., and Michael E. Long. The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity-and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, Inc, 2018.
[4] “The Social Dilemma,” 2020. Netflix, netflix.com/title/81254224.
[5] The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. PolicyExchangeUK, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jX7FdLiFMk.
[6] Gratton, Lynda, and Andrew J. Scott. The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity. London ; New York, NY: Bloomsbury Business, 2017.
About the Author
Christy
7 responses to “Havoc On Our Children But Not Without Hope”
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Christy,
My walk away for the week is that I am increasingly frustrated that society has adapted to assume and almost require that everyone have a cell phone to function. Despite the research showing the negative impacts, I don’t foresee society going away from this. Last spring I accidentally left my cell phone at work. Not a big deal, except that I needed it in order to log into my George Fox Account, since we have two-factor authorization. I live just over an hour away from work. Fortunately, a student I had in my fall class lives nearby and happened to be coming home for the weekend and brought my cellphone with her. Many of my Amish neighbors now have smartphones. I see them riding their e-bikes and scrolling on their phones at the same time. I also no longer find pornography magazines in the ditches near my house that the Amish kids would drop to hand off to another kid. They are all accessing the porn on their phones.
I am wondering as you contact your school board about the cell phone policy and if you consider Adam’s post where he mentions his kids are too afraid of school violence to go without a phone, what would your recommended policy be?
Hi Christy, Great blog and application. I love that you include your children in your readings and learnings. I smiled when you said you had already contacted your school board. It sounds like you and your church community have recognized the challenges of phones and are trying to make a change in your community!
I am walking away with the impression that this is a problem that society needs to address together. I am an “aunt” figure to many young people. In what ways would you recommend that I could do to help promote healthy phone use as a support to parents and teens in this challenge?
Christy,
Great post and we can certainly all agree that raising teenagers in this day and age is very challenging. It is hard to know how much to give and how much to take away. I appreciated one of the ideas that if a school had enough parents sign the petition to remove phones then they would all do it, but if there wasn’t enough parents willing to do it then they wouldn’t collectively pursue it. That idea makes it a more communal idea. What are you pursuing as far as engaging with the school board? What might you want to see changed?
Great post, Christy. You mention putting technology away for a while due to having “Difficulty focusing, irritability, and then post-detox, I experienced decreased stress, increased playfulness, and increased creativity. Nature caught my attention as I noticed things like birds and glimmering water that I would normally overlook.”
While Haidt’s research is focused on children, are there points that might help adults who are more tech-addicted and distracted, resulting in anxiety?
Thanks Christy. I’m walking away with a reminder of the importance of play. Even though I might not be on screens at home, I’m still focused on tasks a lot of the time, and I’m not exactly exuding joy in those tasks 🙂 I’m rethinking how we can all learn how to play again, and how that might shift the mood and engagement of our family. Thanks for the opportunity to reflect.
Hi Christy, I like your reference to The 100-Year Life. I too was wondering what the constant high anxiety levels were doing to the physical bodies of today’s emerging adults and the consequences to their longterm health. I am also impressed that your daughter set up her own time restriction for her screen time. I am curious to know if your comments to the school board were heard and if any actions were taken. Regardless, I applaud you for standing up for children in that arena.
Hi Christy, thank you for sharing your story.
What real-life experiences and actions you share to support Haidt’s proposal to address the negative impacts of a phone-based childhood and overprotection in the virtual world?