Smartphones Rewired Childhood. Here’s How to Fix It.

[Amity Island]

Why are kids today more anxious than ever, more depressed than ever, more risk-averse than ever, lonelier than ever, and less social than ever?
It’s pretty simple, he argues: we changed childhood.

The mass migration of childhood from the real world into the virtual world has completely changed what it means to be a kid. In replacing free play and quality time with friends with the isolation of screens and phones, we instigated what he calls “the great rewiring.”

Haidt argues that “childhood was rewired into a form that was more sedentary, solitary, virtual, and incompatible with healthy human development.”

Jonathan Haidt: Smartphones Rewired Childhood. Here’s How to Fix It.

Phones have made kids sedentary, solitary, anxious, and depressed. But, says the author and psychologist, we can reverse the damage.

www.thefp.com

 

[Deb_l]

I don't think smartphones have just rewired childhood. They have also had a massive impact on adult human interactions as well. Many, many people exist in a 'virtual' world these days and rarely interact face to face with other people. Sadly, technology has also encouraged many people to hide behind virtual technological walls where anything goes and all respect and empathy for their fellow human being is lost.

I'm glad I'm the age I am and can remember the real world in the age before all this tech.

 

[Amity Island]

I don't think smartphones have just rewired childhood. They have also had a massive impact on adult human interactions as well. Many, many people exist in a 'virtual' world these days and rarely interact face to face with other people. Sadly, technology has also encouraged many people to hide behind virtual technological walls where anything goes and all respect and empathy for their fellow human being is lost.

I'm glad I'm the age I am and can remember the real world in the age before all this tech.

Totally agree with all that.

 

[Amity Island]

Ministers are considering banning the sale of mobile phones for all under 16-year-olds.

It comes as soaring mental health cases among teenagers have provoked widespread fears that social media and smartphones are to blame.

Nearly two-thirds of the public support a ban, according to a recent poll, increasing pressure on Rishi Sunak to act.

Tory MP Miriam Cates said: "I’m delighted that the Government is considering banning the sale of smartphones to under 16s.

Ministers considering banning mobile phones for under-16s

Most parents want the Government to ban smartphones for under-16s, a poll from earlier this year found.

www.express.co.uk

 

[nonethewiser]

Ministers are considering banning the sale of mobile phones for all under 16-year-olds.

It comes as soaring mental health cases among teenagers have provoked widespread fears that social media and smartphones are to blame.

Nearly two-thirds of the public support a ban, according to a recent poll, increasing pressure on Rishi Sunak to act.

Tory MP Miriam Cates said: "I’m delighted that the Government is considering banning the sale of smartphones to under 16s.

Ministers considering banning mobile phones for under-16s

Most parents want the Government to ban smartphones for under-16s, a poll from earlier this year found.

www.express.co.uk

Good luck with that plan then.

Do they honestly think banning sales to under 16s will make any difference, really don't think so.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Do they honestly think banning sales to under 16s will make any difference, really don't think so.

The story I heard was they wanted to ban sales to under 16s. Which wouldn't do anything (few under 16s buy smartphones, after all). If they want to ban sales for under 16s that might do something. They'd need to allow medical exemptions and things, and fight a whole lot of pressure from Apple, Google, etc.

But anyway, this is a proposal from the government. They're not going to do it any time soon, and even if they win the election somehow they're quite likely to have dropped it by then.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

The story I heard was they wanted to ban sales to under 16s. Which wouldn't do anything (few under 16s buy smartphones, after all). If they want to ban sales for under 16s that might do something. They'd need to allow medical exemptions and things, and fight a whole lot of pressure from Apple, Google, etc.

But anyway, this is a proposal from the government. They're not going to do it any time soon, and even if they win the election somehow they're quite likely to have dropped it by then.

Banning for under 16s & “for” sub16s could be achieved the same way age restricted items are regarding retail?
But that’s a double edged sword regarding kids & devices. Putting aside CGMs. They are still are benefits regarding the personal safety aspect.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Banning for under 16s & “for” sub16s could be achieved the same way age restricted items are regarding retail?
But that’s a double edged sword regarding kids & devices. Putting aside CGMs. They are still are benefits regarding the personal safety aspect.

Yes, I'm sure it could be done. Had it been done a few years ago I could imagine a new market of featurephones, cut down smartphones which had suitable safety features (like map, public transport apps and similar) but without social media (I'm guessing that's what the government cares about). Maybe such things already exist. (I know Facebook has tried to sell a kind of specialised smartphone but I'd guess their idea is exactly the opposite of what people are thinking of for this.)

 

[Satan’s little helper]

Yes, I'm sure it could be done. Had it been done a few years ago I could imagine a new market of featurephones, cut down smartphones which had suitable safety features (like map, public transport apps and similar) but without social media (I'm guessing that's what the government cares about). Maybe such things already exist. (I know Facebook has tried to sell a kind of specialised smartphone but I'd guess their idea is exactly the opposite of what people are thinking of for this.)

There could be some sort of hard “parental setting” I suppose. But then there are practical stuff like NFC payments as well? I know quite a few using their phones to pay at the till or carrying QR code tickets on the devices? (Purchased from travel apps.)

 

[Amity Island]

Good luck with that plan then.

Do they honestly think banning sales to under 16s will make any difference, really don't think so.

Exactly, presenting a solution they know solves nothing. Kids don't buy their own phones, so banning them from buying them achieves nothing. As if big tech would permit any such legislation that would actually ban under 16's from using phones.

 

[Sally71]

My daughter’s first phone was an old one of my hubby’s that he got unlocked, and I think her contract is still in his name. I don’t know how you can legislate against that, are you going to check everyone who buys a phone or SIM card to see if they have any children hiding somewhere that they might be going to give it to?
My daughter got her phone just a few weeks before she left primary school, so that she could swap numbers with her friends as they were all going to different schools. So she was 11 at the time, and it made sense to us to let her have one then as she was going to be getting the bus to secondary school and might need to contact us if the bus didn’t come or something. Before that I don’t see why children need phones, but it’s a very personal decision. My sister-in-law was determined that her daughter wouldn’t get a phone until she was 16, but then she was the only one in her class that didn’t have one and was missing out on social gatherings that were all organised by text or whatever, so they gave in in the end. I do think some people get a bit obsessed with social media, but have no idea what can be done about it, other than shutting the platforms down which probably isn’t going to happen!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I do think some people get a bit obsessed with social media, but have no idea what can be done about it, other than shutting the platforms down which probably isn’t going to happen!

No, it feels like teenage vaping, children seeing porn, etc. I'm sure there are problems but I've no idea what good solutions would look like. These seem like difficult social problems, and when campaigners (and politicians) claim to have ready solutions I'm pretty sure they're not telling the truth.