How Smartphones Are Hurting Our Kids’ Mental Health: ‘There’s Massive Evidence of Harm‘

venusaur , 2 months ago

I definitely there is an addictive nature to smartphones and the apps and social media we engage in. Kids are getting a high from infinite scrolling and depression and anxiety from pressure of social media. Marketing on crack.

There’s also something to people becoming armchair psychologist, the popularity of the field and over diagnosis.

gripworks , 2 months ago

There is no science behind the claims in this article (and the book).

A scientists review

Not that this’ll stop people from buying into the false narrative and buying the book.

ObviouslyNotBanana , 2 months ago

Massive evidence: authors’ feelings.

Science: none

yeahiknow3 , 2 months ago

Ah yes, we need special scientific evidence to figure out if playing outside with friends, fresh air and sunshine is better or worse than watching TikTok 5 hours a day.

Please, let’s do a study on this mystery.

Traister101 , 2 months ago

Look I think even you should be able to understand that phones aren’t actually the problem here. Look around at the world around you. Where are kids supposed to go? You can’t walk anywhere. Are they supposed to just get chauffeured around by their parents until they can drive?

Social media is bad for everyone, that’s not unique to kids. The only reasonable solution to this problem is to remove car dependency and unfuck our zoning laws. Give kids places to go and they’ll go there. They love that shit but they hate being a burden and since the modern world removed those opportunities what else do you expect them to do?

Th3D3k0y , 2 months ago

I had a friend just the other day have this conversation with me about how Social Media is bad for kids, but he as a grown ass man is able to determine if what he reads and hears online is healthy and useful to his life. This same person has spent the last 13 months discussing his divorce and how a fortune teller at the RenFest told him he had a dark aura and was difficult to love, and has been basing real life decisions on this comment.

mctoasterson , 2 months ago

Agree. Dude shoulda just enjoyed a turkey leg and a good excuse to open carry a broadsword on a Saturday.

OccamsRazer , 2 months ago

Well sure, except that problems with social media are everywhere, even in suburban and rural areas where kids have plenty of places to go.

Viking_Hippie , 2 months ago

OK, boomer.

FlyingSquid , 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago)

“TV is bad for your eyes! You kids don’t go out and play anymore!”

“Video games are making you violent! You kids don’t go out any play anymore!”

“Phones are addictive! You kids don’t go out and play anymore!”

I assume you’re most likely under 80, so one of those three was said about you when you were a child.

Edit: If you are over 80, they said it about you listening to the radio.

yeahiknow3 , 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago)

If you can’t disambiguate between culture-war fear-mongering and the actual prerequisites for human flourishing, you are as fucked in the head as any lead-addled boomer.

FlyingSquid , 2 months ago

Which one of those is an actual prerequisite for human flourishing? Radio, TV, video games or phones? And which ones do you refuse to use because they are stopping you from flourishing? Apparently you’re okay with the internet.

yeahiknow3 , 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago)

I accused you of being unable to identify aspects of human flourishing, and you’ve now replied to confirm that for me.

FlyingSquid , 2 months ago

So it’s radio?

WoahWoah , 2 months ago

You just pissed off a lot of pale, depressed young people. 🤣

fadingembers , 2 months ago

How are kids supposed to go outside and play when places for kids to play have disappeared, replaced with empty parking lots and record breaking temps every year?

Fredselfish , 2 months ago

Then why are we upvoting these shitty articles?

ObviouslyNotBanana , 2 months ago

For fun, I guess?

yeahiknow3 , 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago)

The irony of this comment is just incredible.

For anyone not brain-dead: the scientific evidence that excessive exposure to social media garbage and “doom scrolling” is bad for you and especially bad for children is completely overwhelming. It’s something we’ve known for years. Jonathan Haidt is a douchebag who picks low hanging fruit.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/fcf8ed5b-477f-47b0-8576-9dcf37d743dd.png

Damn, I wonder how that happened in these intervening years to radicalize young men.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/03495c4e-e228-47f8-b825-34a1ce55b4d9.jpeg

Facebook gets politically involved, and in just 8 short years:

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/6d97ce03-afc1-4849-83a9-0197565a7c14.jpeg

Does this mean we can’t have social media? No, it just means the way we are living, the hellscape of online abuse and concrete jungle we’ve created for the next generation is making us vulnerable to manipulation and misery. This isn’t about social media. It’s about the fact that most of you fuckers haven’t touched grass in years. That’s why our democracy is dying.

ObviouslyNotBanana , 2 months ago

My comment was just meant as a joke on the other comment, but I appreciate your contribution. Of course social media is part of a larger problem. That’s obvious to anyone with eyes.

yeahiknow3 , 2 months ago

Yeah no hard feelings. It was funny. Or it would have been on a better day.

ObviouslyNotBanana , 2 months ago

Tbh it probably wasn’t the best community to make such jokes, especially that early in the comment thread.

mycathas9lives , 2 months ago

@yeahiknow3 @ObviouslyNotBanana

That's because she was told her vagina was a catchers mitt and she kept trying to use it to catch the ball.

yeahiknow3 , 2 months ago

Jonathan Haidt is an idiot so I assume the book is bad, but this Nature article you linked is quite possibly even worse.

The amount of misinformation around this serious topic is a reflection of people’s emotional attachment to their silly tech.