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Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

jonathanhaidt.substack.com

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Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#21

Post by DrThunder »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #4

The causation could easily run the other way. In particular kids that have worse mental health use phones as a coping mechanism. What kind of kid can resist the lure of a phone until she 18? Only one with very strong mental fortitude.

Except the majority of kids have smart phones now and the rates of mental health issues have skyrocketed.

"What kind of kid can resist the lure of a phone until she 18? "

They don't need to resist it on their own. You just need decent parents that don't promote it at a young age. Yeah the kid may get out on their own and touch a few smart phones but if you don't addict them to it at a young age they'll be less interested in using it as a constant coping mechanism. Additionally, someone has to actually buy these devices for them. If they have to spend their own money on this stuff it's less likely they'll have them.

Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#22

Post by tgv »

Freak_NL wrote: post #14
DrThunder wrote: post #10

Yeah, I'm not giving my daughter a smart phone or tablet. She might be a weird outcast but oh well, it's not worth the possible damage to her mental health. I think in few decades we'll look back at this generation of parents who just shoved smart devices in their kids hands with no filter akin to handing kids cigarettes. It turns them into sociopaths. I have some younger Gen Z cousins and it's just weird to watch th…

> She might be a weird outcast but oh well […] Which totally won't affect her mental health. Damned if you don't, damned if you do.

> Which totally won't affect her mental health.

There's really no data on that. If anything, the data in the article suggest the opposite, although it may come from different groups with different patterns in social media usage.

Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#23

Post by spicymapotofu »

tivert wrote: post #7
zeroonetwothree wrote: post #4

The causation could easily run the other way. In particular kids that have worse mental health use phones as a coping mechanism. What kind of kid can resist the lure of a phone until she 18? Only one with very strong mental fortitude.

> The causation could easily run the other way. In particular kids that have worse mental health use phones as a coping mechanism. What kind of kid can resist the lure of a phone until she 18? Only one with very strong mental fortitude. No, because the kids aren't the agents here: their parents are. It's not even plausible for a kid to be able to independently acquire their own phone until they are a teenager, and ev…

I think you misunderstand their idea. A child with worse coping can push their parents harder for a phone, and a child with better coping skills can hold out without a phone longer. This is the theory they're suggesting, I believe.

Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#24

Post by 23B1 »

This is one of those obvious correlations that for some reason everyone needs to question.

It's not the cellphone itself that's the problem, it's the addictive content readily accessible therein. I'm no luddite, but it's pretty obvious that humans aren't meant to be bent over little black rectangles all day, addicted to our own insecurities.

Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#25

Post by krageon »

rtpg wrote: post #6

[flagged]

There is sadly not even a mention of correlation in the title, and the post heavily implies (except for a single paragraph, which is very late in the article) this correlation implies causation. Which it doesn't, and that's imporant! For all we know, households that yield kids with worse mental health also happen to give them smartphones younger. Perhaps the parents are more disinterested, perhaps the parents have worse impulse control. Perhaps one of those things are the issue.

This is insufficiently discussed, which invites the reader to dismiss the premise. This is bad, because it might also be true. In essence, highlighting it's own criticism a bit more strongly would have gotten the point across better.

Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#26

Post by DrThunder »

Freak_NL wrote: post #14
DrThunder wrote: post #10

Yeah, I'm not giving my daughter a smart phone or tablet. She might be a weird outcast but oh well, it's not worth the possible damage to her mental health. I think in few decades we'll look back at this generation of parents who just shoved smart devices in their kids hands with no filter akin to handing kids cigarettes. It turns them into sociopaths. I have some younger Gen Z cousins and it's just weird to watch th…

> She might be a weird outcast but oh well […] Which totally won't affect her mental health. Damned if you don't, damned if you do.

Yeah maybe.... but I'm noticing a lot more parents going this direction. You just have to get them into the same groups so they don't feel social pressure to be on smart devices all day.

Also, teaching them to not care so much about others perceptions is sort of a big part of this. A lot of these kids are being thrown a smart device and not given any parenting on coping with emotions.

I saw a student pepper spray their teacher for taking her smartphone the other day. It's a drug.

Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#27

Post by [deleted] »

rcme wrote: post #12
nancyhn wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or disconnected parents give their kids ipads and iphones the earliest and with the least oversight. And note the large spike in this graph from 17 to 18. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_...

Disconnected parents existed before iPhones, though. Why has mental health deteriorated so much since 2010?

[deleted]

Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#28

Post by jeffwask »

rcme wrote: post #12
nancyhn wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or disconnected parents give their kids ipads and iphones the earliest and with the least oversight. And note the large spike in this graph from 17 to 18. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_...

Disconnected parents existed before iPhones, though. Why has mental health deteriorated so much since 2010?

More access and easier access to the negative elements of society that prey on children with bad home lives.

Prior to the internet, they had to find you on the streets and recruit you. Now they just need good SEO.

Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#29

Post by tgv »

ekianjo wrote: post #15

Its not smartphones its just constant access to social media

But at this moment, that continuous access is entirely enabled by smartphones. Giving children access to smartphones but not to social media (e.g. in a classroom) is not feasible.

Re: Kids who get smartphones earlier become adults with worse mental health

#30

Post by johnchristopher »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #4

The causation could easily run the other way. In particular kids that have worse mental health use phones as a coping mechanism. What kind of kid can resist the lure of a phone until she 18? Only one with very strong mental fortitude.

> What kind of kid can resist the lure of a phone until she 18? Only one with very strong mental fortitude.

I think I know one and indeed they have a very strong mental fortitude. For starter she doesn't want a smartphone and is vocal about it. I am watching how the situation evolves.

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