Americans under 30 reported lower levels of happiness from 2021 to 2023 than those over 60, according to this year’s World Happiness Report.
Experts say The suffering of Gen Z Maybe it’s because of coming of age during the Covid-19 pandemic, entering a polarized political environment and inheriting a rapidly warming world.
In the new book “Generation Anxiety: How the Great Reconstruction of Childhood Causes a Mental Illness Epidemic,” author Johnathan Haidt points to another culprit: smartphones. Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
Zach Rausch, Haidt’s principal researcher and a research associate at the NYU-Stern School of Business, said kids who access social media and iPhones in elementary and middle school have higher levels of anxiety and depression. higher feeling.
“The biggest impacts of social media occur during puberty, especially early puberty,” he said. “Ages 9 to 15 is the time when the most significant harm appears to be most apparent.”
To limit bullying, social comparison, and depression in adolescents, Haidt and Rausch offered four suggestions:
- Don’t give your kids smartphones before high school – give them flip phones only in middle school.
- Do not use social networks before the age of 16
- Make schools phone-free.
- Give children more free and independent play, including more and better recess.
Parents may have control over when they give their kids their phones or allow them to access Instagram, but some of the changes are more structural, like making schools phone-free and prioritizing recess, cannot be deployed quickly.
If you want to make a change today to positively impact your child’s health, Rausch recommends starting by talking to the parents of your child’s friends.
‘Teens and parents are stuck in a social trap’
“Teens and parents are stuck in a social trap,” Rausch said. “For anyone trying to get away from their devices or social networks, they’re at a pretty serious disadvantage. They increase the risk of being isolated and abandoned by their friends. And then no parent wants to was the only one who said, ‘Hey, you can’t use your device.'”
However, if your child’s closest friends also don’t have or have limited access to a smartphone, they’ll feel less inconvenienced by giving up their phone occasionally and can focus better. to direct connections.
“Find a group of five families where you can enact no-smartphone, no-social-media rules and then work together to provide that face-to-face connection,” he says. .
By starting to implement rules in your own community, you can show your children the benefits of not relying on their phone for every social interaction.
Want to make extra money outside of your day job? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course How to earn passive income online to learn about popular passive income sources, tips for getting started, and real-life success stories. CNBC Make It readers can use special discount code CNBC40 for 40% off through 8/15/24.
More, Sign up for the CNBC Make It newsletter to get tips and tricks for success in work, money and life.
