Delay Smartphones and Social Media until High School

Adolescents are in a mental health crisis. Since 2010, the social lives of American teens have moved onto smartphones loaded with social media apps. At the same time, young people today have not been spending enough time engaged in free play, nor have they been given the real-world independence they need to thrive. Both of these forces—the rapid immersion into the virtual world (particularly with smartphones and social media) and the rising overprotection in the real world—have led to the deterioration of our children’s well-being.

Smartphones decimate attention, learning, and inclusion. A child whose phone is buzzing with alerts from texts and social media during class is a child who is not paying attention in class. A child who needs to keep up with the micro dramas that emerge online each day is a child who will not be talking with friends between classes, or at lunch. When smartphones entered our schools, around 2012, test scores began to fall and loneliness in school began to rise. This happened all over the world, at the same time. In addition, smartphones are bringing in more classroom conflicts, teacher burnout, and cyberbullying.