In just a few decades, we have gone from lauding the Greatest Generation for their bravery during World World II and the Great Depression to working to help the youngest generation survive anxiety, depression, and other threats due to their social media usage. It’s a stark contrast.
Author Jonathan Haidt’s new book, The Anxious Generation, characterizes this reality: Children today are not all right.
In a review of Haidt’s book, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan wrote, “What we all know is that there’s a mental health crisis among the young, that they seem to have become addicted to social media and gaming, and that these two facts seem obviously connected. Mr. Haidt says, and shows, that the latter is a cause of the former. … He tells the story of what happened to Generation Z, which he defines as those born after 1995. … This became ‘the first generation in history to go through puberty with a portal in their pockets that called them away from the people nearby and into an alternative universe that was exciting, addictive, unstable and … unsuitable for children and adolescents.’”
A plethora of harms has arisen as a result of the social media phenomenon, including increased rates of depression in both girls and boys and a rise in anxiety disorders.
There’s no doubt that the youth mental health crisis is caused in part by children’s access to phones and screens. And it surely doesn’t help that tech platforms can expose children and teenagers to online predators and sextortion threats, along with vile and harmful content.
The solutions for solving this generational crisis don’t fall only on parents to help or protect their children, though they, of course, have an important role to play. Children cannot navigate this online world by themselves, and they shouldn’t be expected to.
But the companies designing these platforms and the algorithms that have been programmed to attract children and keep them returning are equally, if not more so, responsible.
Meta, for example, finally decided in recent months to blur sexually explicit content by default on Instagram direct messaging for accounts of teenagers under age 18. Given that children and teenagers can be severely affected and harmed by viewing sexually explicit content, Meta’s decision is a positive step in child protection. But it is surprising it has taken this long for Meta to enact these commonsense safeguards. Of course, it also underscores the point that Meta can block anything it wants in the name of child protection if it chooses to.
And this is why Congress must weigh in to ensure the tech industry is held accountable for protecting its youngest users. There are several bills that would do just that, including the Kids Online Safety Act, Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act, the EARN IT Act, and the Kids Off Social Media Act. Without accountability, the tech industry simply won’t have the incentive to make changes.
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But even with legislative accountability, our culture’s acceptance of smartphones and increased screen time must change. The reality is that while parents may know there’s a risk with giving teenagers and children access to online worlds, it may just seem part of life. New research from Ofcom found that “three in 10 parents were willing to let a child aged 5-7 have a social media profile even if it was under the minimum age permitted for the apps, an increase compared to last year.” The same research found that the “percentage of children aged between five and seven who used messaging services had risen from 59% to 65%.”
The tide must change regarding our children’s reliance on screen time. Future generations deserve to grow up free from the harmful impact of screens.
Melissa Henson is the vice president of the Parents Television and Media Council, a nonpartisan education organization advocating responsible entertainment. Follow her on X: @ThePTC.
