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Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study

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Re: Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study

#21

Post by roenxi »

senfiaj wrote: post #17
CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #14

In the US, we restrict driving to around age 16, alcohol consumption to 18, voting to 18, and tobacco consumption to 21. Then there are industry-applied age ratings, like the MPA’s PG-13, R, and NC-17 ratings. Barbiturates and amphetamines we’re once available without a prescription. There’s official/unofficial wiggle room, but there are limits. For example, if you live on a farm, you may be driving on the farm befor…

Kids can / often use other family members' smartphones / tablets (I assume it's the majority of cases). How can the law prevent this if parents do nothing about this?

That'd put it in the same basket as alcohol and tobacco. Although the pro/con of owning a mobile are a lot less clear than those two and banning phones in that way is probably a mistake.

Re: Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study

#23

Post by tombert »

skylurk wrote: post #3

Soon: Adults who have smartphones have worse mental heath outcomes: Study Whatever the safe level of smartphone usage is, most of us are above it.

I keep debating trying to go full-dumbphone, but I'm confident what would happen is that it would work great until I need a specific thing for whatever reason, and I'd have to buy an Android or iPhone, and then I'd be forced to carry around two devices and potentially have two separate cell phone plans. This seems like a pain in the ass.

But I don't dispute that waking up in the morning to a bunch of things competing for my stimulated attention probably isn't healthy.

Re: Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study

#24

Post by teaearlgraycold »

macintux wrote: post #7
skylurk wrote: post #3

Soon: Adults who have smartphones have worse mental heath outcomes: Study Whatever the safe level of smartphone usage is, most of us are above it.

Fortunately, I use my smartphone about 20 minutes a day for work authentication, and for its camera while traveling. And audiobooks. Unfortunately, my iPad Pro gets way, way, way more use. Much too addictive as a media consumption device.

Yeah I can’t see any good reason to get an iPad if you’re not an artist. Just a way to get more video streaming in your life.

Re: Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study

#25

Post by whynotmakealt »

tombert wrote: post #23
skylurk wrote: post #3

Soon: Adults who have smartphones have worse mental heath outcomes: Study Whatever the safe level of smartphone usage is, most of us are above it.

I keep debating trying to go full-dumbphone, but I'm confident what would happen is that it would work great until I need a specific thing for whatever reason, and I'd have to buy an Android or iPhone, and then I'd be forced to carry around two devices and potentially have two separate cell phone plans. This seems like a pain in the ass. But I don't dispute that waking up in the morning to a bunch of things competing…

As someone who used dumbphones, trust me it wouldnt be that big of a mental gymnastic.

They are really cheap and some like kaechoda and other brands are really slim as well so I can recommend it genuinely.

Its worth looking more into but yes I am having an android now partially because of whatsapp and the fact that my old dumb phone had died

Rest in peace, it was really cool.

Re: Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study

#27

Post by ekropotin »

macintux wrote: post #7
skylurk wrote: post #3

Soon: Adults who have smartphones have worse mental heath outcomes: Study Whatever the safe level of smartphone usage is, most of us are above it.

Fortunately, I use my smartphone about 20 minutes a day for work authentication, and for its camera while traveling. And audiobooks. Unfortunately, my iPad Pro gets way, way, way more use. Much too addictive as a media consumption device.

I’d guess it’s very different from how most of the people consume content.

The problem with smartphone is that it’s always on you wherever you go, and the temptation to use it for filling every second of boredom is just too strong.

iPads/laptops on another hand are just too bulky for carrying them around - in a minute of boredom you have to take deliberate action to go and grab it from whatever place it’s right now. From my experience, this additional barrier between you and content is a huge deterring factor.

As an anecdote, I use Brick app to lock my phone out of social media, and even tho the physical unlocking device in another corner of the same room where I’m, this works surprisingly well, because most of the time I’m just too lazy to take this action of going through unlocking procedure.

Re: Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study

#28

Post by ch4s3 »

stopbulying wrote: post #2

Is owning a smartphone more or less dangerous than owning a cat? "Cat Ownership Linked to Increased Risk of Schizophrenia, Research Suggests" https://www.sciencealert.com/owning-a-cat-could-double-your-... > "After adjusting for covariates, we found that individuals exposed to cats had approximately twice the odds of developing schizophrenia,"

That article is junk. The leading cause of Toxoplasma gondii infection in humans is under cooked meat. Cat ownership is not actually linked to higher prevalence of T. gondii infection[1].

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3497129/

Re: Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study

#29

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #14

In the US, we restrict driving to around age 16, alcohol consumption to 18, voting to 18, and tobacco consumption to 21. Then there are industry-applied age ratings, like the MPA’s PG-13, R, and NC-17 ratings. Barbiturates and amphetamines we’re once available without a prescription. There’s official/unofficial wiggle room, but there are limits. For example, if you live on a farm, you may be driving on the farm befor…

It sucks because they could be pocket-sized bicycles for the mind rather than addicting ad-driven bullshit surveillance slot machines that maximize attention. Humanity had a choice and chose poorly.

Re: Kids who own smartphones before age 13 have worse mental health outcomes: Study

#30

Post by andai »

So, I can tell you my reaction when I was 13 and first saw a smartphone. (It must have been late 2007 or 2008.)

You know. Everything's round and cute and colorful. Like candy.

"Oh. This is for retarded people."

Unfortunately I was wrong.

It's actually much worse than that. It's for normal people. But it makes you retarded.

Slowly. You don't even notice it happening.

It eats away... day by day.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-36256-4

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