In what has been coined the “New Great Depression,” the number of high schoolers who agree with the phrases “I can’t do anything right,” “I do not enjoy life,” and “My life is not useful” has doubled since 2010. That’s an unprecedented spike.
Constant cellphone use has exacerbated a mental health crisis among our youth, who have been relentlessly exposed to online content during critical years of formation and growth, including during school hours.
Jonathan Haidt sounds the alarm about this in his new book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.” He also lays out solutions, including allowing no smartphones before age 14, no social media until age 16, phone-free classrooms, and more free play time.
With mounting evidence of the toxicity of smartphone overuse in our children, the…
