OT: End the Phone-Based Childhood Now
Fascinating reading here:
<https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/teen-childhood-smartphone-use-mental-health-effects/677722/>.
It completely explains why GenZ are having so many problems with
adulthood. Smartphones and Social Media are the culprits.
>From the article:
Something went suddenly and horribly wrong for adolescents in the early
2010s. By now you’ve likely seen the statistics: Rates of depression
and anxiety in the United States—fairly stable in the 2000s—rose by
more than 50 percent in many studies from 2010 to 2019. The suicide
rate rose 48 percent for adolescents ages 10 to 19. For girls ages 10
to 14, it rose 131 percent.
The problem was not limited to the U.S.: Similar patterns emerged
around the same time in Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, the
Nordic countries, and beyond. By a variety of measures and in a variety
of countries, the members of Generation Z (born in and after 1996) are
suffering from anxiety, depression, self-harm, and related disorders at
levels higher than any other generation for which we have data.
The decline in mental health is just one of many signs that something
went awry. Loneliness and friendlessness among American teens began to
surge around 2012. Academic achievement went down, too. According to
“The Nation’s Report Card,” scores in reading and math began to decline
for U.S. students after 2012, reversing decades of slow but generally
steady increase. PISA, the major international measure of educational
trends, shows that declines in math, reading, and science happened
globally, also beginning in the early 2010s.
And:
Surveys show that members of Gen Z are shyer and more risk averse than
previous generations, too, and risk aversion may make them less
ambitious. In an interview last May, OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman and
Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison noted that, for the first time since
the 1970s, none of Silicon Valley’s preeminent entrepreneurs are under
30. “Something has really gone wrong,” Altman said. In a famously young
industry, he was baffled by the sudden absence of great founders in
their 20s.
If you can't read the whole article, head on over to the Wayback Machine.
Jeff
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