Worried About Your Kids Using Their Smartphones ALL The Time? Watch This

Smartphone Free Childhood 

Suicides. Self-harm. Depression and anxiety. The toll of a social media-addicted, phone-based childhood has never been more stark. It can be easy for teens, parents, and schools to feel like they’re trapped by it all. But in this conversation with Tristan Harris, author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt author of ‘The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness’ makes the case that the conditions that led to today’s teenage mental health crisis can be turned around – with specific, achievable actions we all can take starting today.

This episode was recorded live at the San Francisco Commonwealth Club.

Corrections:
1) Tristan mentions that 40 Attorneys General have filed a lawsuit against Meta for allegedly fostering addiction among children and teens through their products. However, the actual number is 42 Attorneys General who are taking legal action against Meta.

2) Tristan mentions that there’s a billion dollars a year going into fund the Truth Initiative to educate kids about smoking and vaping. The correct number is roughly $100 million per year.

Clarification: Jonathan refers to the Wait Until 8th pledge. By signing the pledge, a parent promises not to give their child a smartphone until at least the end of 8th grade. The pledge becomes active once at least ten other families from their child’s grade pledge the same.

If your interested get involved and join The Smartphone Free Childhood Campaign

97% of 12-year-olds in Britain have a smartphone.

When children started getting them, there was no research about their impact. Now there is, and it’s overwhelming.

Smartphones expose children to harmful content, raise the likelihood of developing a mental illness and are highly addictive.

But parents have been put in an impossible position.

Either we give our children access to something that opens the door to porn, bullying, grooming and the anxiety machine that is social media, or we risk alienating them from their peers.

Regulation hasn’t caught up with the technology, so it’s parents and children that lose out.

We started Smartphone Free Childhood to give power back to parents, and to kickstart the change society needs.

We’ve learned over time to restrict alcohol and smoking to certain age groups. Smartphones have been with us for barely 15 years, and now we know their effect, we need to act.