Children’s widespread use of smartphones and tablets has been labelled “insanity” by a United States social psychologist, who says Australia is “leading the way” with its “bold” new social media laws.
Jonathan Haidt is part of a movement that aims to roll back the “phone-based childhood”, which he says is “hurting” child and adolescent mental health.
During an interview with Sarah Kanowski on ABC listen’s Conversations podcast, Dr Haidt said more governments, including the United States Congress, should follow Australia’s lead and mandate that 16 be the minimum age for accessing social media.
“We have minimum ages for about four reasons: graphic sex, extreme violence, addiction and physical danger, but once your kid gets a smartphone [and] social media, they’ve got all four … this is insanity,” he said.
“We have over-protected our children in the real world and under-protected them online.
“The world that we have is completely toxic for children. It’s doubled the rates of depression, anxiety, suicide, self-harm.”
Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that since 2011, the rate that 12 to 17-year-olds have been hospitalised for psychiatric care has almost doubled — a trend mostly attributed to increases among girls.
Clinical psychologist Rachael Murrihy is the director of the University of Technology Sydney’s The Kidman Centre, which offers mental health treatment and research for young people.
Dr Murrihy says Australia’s major mental health organisations argue that the emerging longitudinal studies don’t support the notion that social media is causing an increase in mental health problems for most young people.
“The science isn’t close to settled on this,” she said.
“In many ways, it’s leaning in the other direction — that there is not a great deal of evidence to support poor mental health results from smartphone use.
“The current narrative blaming social media for the youth mental health crisis is an oversimplification, and for a long time, the literature has been very clear — it is a combination of factors.”
Collective action needed
Dr Murrihy acknowledges that for some children, social media has had a “catastrophic impact” and that change is needed to minimise further harm.
“I personally have heard many terrible stories in my line of work,” she said.
“As far as I am concerned, one lost life is too many.
“Regardless of whether the majority are not impacted, all parties seem to agree that a more proactive stance from the social media companies is an integral part of this solution.”
By governments mandating a minimum age for social media use, Professor Haidt says parents can feel supported to set tighter screen time boundaries and children and teens are less likely to feel excluded from online peer groups.
“The reason why all our kids are on is because everyone else is on, so it’s a collective action problem,” he said.
“It’s really hard to tell your child you’re going to be isolated ‘because I said so’ — very few parents can do that.”
Dr Haidt said his daughter was not allowed to use social media until turning 16: “But Dad, I’m the only one — everyone else is [on Snapchat],” was her initial retort.
“It was very hard … but I had to stick to my guns on that, and ultimately, she actually agrees it’s a good idea.”
No phone until age 14
As well as advocating for social media restrictions, Dr Haidt said children having early and unsupervised access to smart devices should not be accepted as a normal part of modern childhood.
“The norm should be: don’t give your kid a smartphone before 14 — I don’t think we need a law for that,” he said.
“In Britain, there has been some talk of banning sales … I don’t think that’s the right way.”
Children having their own phones with internet access exposes them to addiction, porn and violence, Dr Haidt says. (Getty: Marianne Purdie)
Dr Haidt has praised Australia’s approach to banning mobile phones in public schools across the country and is advocating for schools in the US to become phone-free environments to allow students to focus on learning.
“The rule might say you can’t take out your phone during class, but they just use it under their desk,” he said.
“Teachers tell me, students go to the bathroom so much more often now than they used to, to check their phones, but Australia’s done great on that.”
The impact of social media
Why can social media be so detrimental for children and young teenagers?
Dr Haidt says Instagram, in particular, exposes girls to relentless social comparisons, which contributes to mental health issues.
“It’s horrible what it does to teenage girls,” he said.
“You’re not comparing yourself to the 20 other girls in your class. You’re comparing yourself to literally millions of girls and young women who were selected by algorithm for having the most perfect lives.
“So it’s just a really powerful tool for making girls feel inadequate, ugly, overweight.”
Dr Haidt said solving the issue was not as simple as just leaving the social media platforms because “it takes over as the communication network”.
“If any girl tries to leave, she’s totally alone,” he said.
Dr Murrihy says social media is not all negative and has been a lifeline for neurodivergent young people who have found special interest communities online.
“They can connect with others who share their niche interests,” she said.
“These communities provide a sense of belonging and support that may be hard to find offline.”
Dr Murrihy warns a blanket ban may disproportionately harm some children by removing a key avenue they use for connection and learning.
“Social media can be a lifeline for autistic children who find face-to-face interactions challenging,” she said.
“Interacting through the computer removes the social complexities and sensory overload that may come with face-to-face interactions.”
Change is achievable
Despite widespread resignation that “the train’s left the station” on technology controls, Dr Haidt is optimistic that it’s not too late to wind back the influence that smartphones and social media are having on children’s lives.
Jonathan Haidt says parents have the power to give children fun and excitement in the real world. (Supplied: Jayne Riew)
“This [smart] phone-based childhood, it only came in 12 years ago. It’s not permanent. We can roll it back,” he said.
But he said in taking away screen time for children and teens, an appealing alternative needs to be on offer through “far more independence, real play and responsibility in the real world”.
“If we’re going to delay immersion in the phone-based childhood, we’ve got to give kids back childhood … we’ve got to give them back fun and excitement,” he said.
“We’re hurting our kids at a massive scale, and we’ve got to change.”
Stream Jonathan Haidt’s full Conversations interview for free via the ABC listen app.
