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A groundbreaking UNESCO book on the damage wrought by ed-tech during COVID school closures around the globe

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Cell phones can be powerful tools for education when used correctly, and we know that when students are truly engaged in learning, phones are not a distraction. Understanding, however, that young people are feeling the weight of excessive screen time and might feel overwhelmed, teaching them how to responsibly manage their technology usage is vital. NHED has been at the forefront of this work, previously publishing its Social Media Curriculum Framework and Guidelines as part of an executive order from Governor Sununu. As schools throughout New Hampshire respond to the U.S. Department of Education's call to adopt policies that guide the use of cell phones in schools, it would be our hope that students can find their purpose and meaning outside of the mindless scrolling to help improve their overall well-being.

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Students at Highland-Goffe’s Falls school in Manchester work on a STEM coding platform.

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A social media ban in Australia for children under 16 is first in the world

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A social media ban for children under 16 will be the first law in the world to levy fines on TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram for allowing youth accounts.

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Teens can’t get off their phones. Here’s what some schools are doing about it

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Teens spend much of their days on their phones — many of them during school. Here’s how schools and teachers are trying to fix that.

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Australia sets age limits for social media

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Australia sets age limits for social media

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Paper - Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media

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Paper - Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media

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Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media - Nature Communications

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The relationship between social media use and well-being might change across adolescent development. Here, the authors use cross sectional and longitudinal data to show that distinct developmental windows of sensitivity to social media emerge in adolescence, dependent on age and sex.

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Let Grow | When Adults Step Back, Kids Step Up

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We equip parents, educators, and communities with the tools and confidence to raise independent kids who are ready to succeed in our ever-changing world.

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The mass migration of childhood into the virtual world has disrupted social and neurological development.

This disruption includes social anxiety, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction. Alarmed by the rates of anxiety and depression in adolescents, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt wrote The Anxious Generation. The book explores these growing phenomena and attributes them to the transition from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood.
Order the book to learn more About the movement
Together, we can reclaim childhood in the real world.

How can we free the anxious generation?

The Four New Norms

For solving collective action problems

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The Anxious Generation - Free the Anxious Generation

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From New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Coddling of the American Mind, an essential investigation into the collapse of youth mental health-and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood

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Teens can’t get off their phones. Here’s what some schools are doing about it

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Teens spend much of their days on their phones — many of them during school. Here’s how schools and teachers are trying to fix that.

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The dilemma

Never before have a handful of tech designers had such control over the way billions of us think, act, and live our lives.

The Mental Health Dilemma

A 5,000 person study found that higher social media use correlated with self-reported declines in mental and physical health and life satisfaction.

- American Journal of Epidemiology, 2017

The Democracy Dilemma

The # of countries with political disinformation campaigns on social media doubled in the past 2 years.

- New York Times, 2019

The Discrimination Dilemma

64% of the people who joined extremist groups on Facebook did so because the algorithms steered them there.

- Internal Facebook report, 2018

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The Social Dilemma - A Netflix Original documentary

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We tweet, we like, and we share- but what are the consequences of our growing dependence on social media? Discover what's hiding on the other side of your screen in this new documentary film Netflix - The Social Dilemma.

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Great podcast series with lots of practical advice for families.

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Flusterclux With Lynn Lyons: For Parents Who Worry

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Whether you are a new or veteran listener of the podcast, Lynn Lyons and Robin Hutson talk about how to use the podcast best to help learn anxiety management skills for adults and children. Listen up and hear how to address the situations in your own family with these strategies.

WE'VE MADE PLAYLISTS OF OUR EPISODES TO HELP YOU FIND RESOURCES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS.

Here is our first:

For those brand new to the podcast, we suggest starting with this playlist featuring Lynn Lyons and the 7-part anxiety disruptor series as well as a 3-part series on the skills most helpful in managing anxious kids: flexibility, problem solving, and autonomy.

Consult our Spotify profile for the most up-to-date selection.

WIN A COPY OF THE ANXIETY AUDIT COURSE!

We will select two listeners who complete our listener survey. We hope it is you!

FOLLOW US

Join the Facebook group to get news on the upcoming courses for parents, teens, and kids.

Follow Flusterclux on Facebook and Instagram.

Follow Lynn Lyons on Twitter and Youtube.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS FOR SPECIAL OFFERS JUST FOR YOU:

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Search "Last Night at School Committee" wherever you listen to podcasts for highlights on the big decisions that are affecting students, using Boston as a real-world example.

Go to lumen.me and use code FLUSTER to get 15% off your LUMEN order.

Sign up for Greenlight today and get your first month free when you go to greenlight.com/FLUSTER.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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How to Use This Podcast to Manage the Anxiety In Your Family

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Whether you are a new or veteran listener of the podcast, Lynn Lyons and Robin Hutson talk about how to use the podcast best to help learn anxiety management skills...

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How Screen Time Affects your Child's mental health

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How Screen Time Affects your Child's mental health

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Medical Health Associates of Western New York

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2. Deprived Sleep

When the sun goes down, human circadian rhythms and melatonin production begin. However, blue screen light prevents the production of melatonin, which might keep you up at night. Additionally, playing video games or watching TV keeps our bodies and brains awake, active, and less sleepy.

A study shows that babies aged 6 to 12 months who watch screens around the evening had much less time sleeping at night than those who weren't. Late-night screens also affect sleep in preteens and teenagers. Poor sleep and excessive social media use might hurt a student's behavioral conduct and academic performance. Lack of sleep may also cause anxiety and depression.

3. Developmental Delays and Learning

Development happens more rapidly in children, particularly those below three years. Young children learn by exploring their surroundings, observing the adults around them, and imitating them. While kids can watch TV as early as six months old, they usually don't understand the content until they're over two years.

A child's capacity to observe and engage in the ordinary daily activities that help them understand the world may be hindered by excessive screen time, creating tunnel vision that may harm their general development. It also impacts their capacity to learn new things, social interactions, and linguistic growth.

4. Short-Term Memory Loss and Decline in Cognitive Ability

About 17.4% of American Children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have a mental disorder every year. Excessive screen time affects the brain's basic structure by shrinking the grey matter, which controls cognitive functions.

Also, it deforms the white matter, which acts as the network for all the signal communication in the brain. This shows up as a lack of focus, poor information processing, weaker memory, and poor impulse control. These effects are concerning in youngsters because their growth and development depend on strong mental health.

How to Limit Screen Time for Kids

Reduce Your Phone Use

Children imitate their parent's behavior since parents are the most significant people in their lives. They will imitate if they observe you spending all day in front of the screen because they will assume that is acceptable.

Emphasize Enough Sleep, a Nutritious Diet, and Exercise

These three are necessary for optimal brain growth, development, and quality health. And all three can also be impacted by too much screen time. Children exposed to computers mostly eat fewer vegetables and fruits, more fast food, less sleep, and less physical activity. As a result, it's crucial to include screen time restrictions and good living choices in daily activities.

Stay Away From Screens During Mealtime, Bedtime, or Family Time

Think about establishing a screen-free time for your family that includes an agreed curfew. It's crucial to maintain a balance between online time and offline time.

Choose a High-Quality Program and Watch It With Them

If you will allow your kid's screen time, choose age-appropriate programs, apps, and games and watch along with them to grasp what they see. Join in with your youngsters and comment on what you hear and see to help them understand what they watch. Engaging them after watching a program also helps them retain the information.

Involvement in Outdoor Activities

Do you realize that physical activities have a direct relationship with mood? Endorphins, also referred to as happy hormones, are released when we move our bodies. Take a brain break if your youngsters are anxious about academics or appear angry or upset. Physical activity helps revitalize the body and mind.

Some of the suggestions include:

Taking a bike ride or family walks

Consider children's yoga

Play a favorite playlist and dance with the kids

Plant some vegetables, fruits, or herbs

Make a scavenger hunt

See more outdoor and indoor activity suggestions.

Bottom Line

Technologies provide enormous opportunities for us to interact, engage, and bond. However, we should be careful about incorporating this technology into our lives. Addiction to screens and mental health is real and can have implications for your child's health in the long run.

If your child's screen time is interfering with their daily activities, harming their social skills, or if they isolate themselves, consult with your pediatrician right away. Medical Health Associates of WNY has a team of qualified and experienced pediatricians devoted to providing you with the best medical care and wellness services you deserve.

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Modern-Day Parenting - How Screen Time Affects Your Child's Mental Health | MHA of WNY

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How does screen time affect your child's mental health? Here is what you need to know about modern-day parenting in terms of screen time.

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Screen time tied to depression, anxiety later for preteens

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Screen time tied to depression, anxiety later for preteens

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https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2024/10/428581/preteens-more-screen-time-tied-depression-anxiety-later

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For Preteens, More Screen Time Is Tied to Depression, Anxiety Later

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Spending more time on screens increases the likelihood that 9- and 10-year-olds will develop symptoms of mental illness, according to a study by UC San Francisco that is one of the first long-term looks at the problem. The study followed a diverse group of kids from around the country for two years and found that more screen time was associated with more severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, inattention and aggression. It appears Oct. 7 in BMC Public Health.

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Study make connection between excessive screen activity and mental Health problems in youth

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Study make connection between excessive screen activity and mental Health problems in youth

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https://m.yale.edu/bnsz

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Study Probes Connection Between Excessive Screen Media Activity and Mental Health Problems in Youth

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Smartphones, tablets, gaming systems, and other screen devices have become a major temptation for people of all ages, but a new study is focusing on the

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Tips on managing too much screen time at school

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Tips on managing too much screen time at school

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Tips for Managing Too Much Screen Time at School

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More and more schools are using screens in the classroom. The health issues related to too much screen time include obesity.

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Balancing screen time: Finding the right mix in after-school activities

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Balancing screen time: Finding the right mix in after-school activities

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https://www.elitelearning.org/balancing-screen-time-finding-the-right-mix-in-after-school-activities/

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Balancing Screen Time: Finding the Right Mix in After-School Activities - Elite Learning Center

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Finding the right balance between screen time and other after-school activities is crucial for a child’s overall well-being.

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How Social Media is Impacting Teens https://thereachinstitute.org/mind-over-minutes-how-youths-screen-habits-are-impacting-their-mental-health/

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How will Australia’s under-16 social media ban work? We asked the law’s enforcer

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Australia’s top online internet regulator explains how the nation plans to roll out the world’s first social media ban for kids under 16.

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Nature article - importance of risky play

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Nature article - importance of risky play

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2025, Nowogrodzki, Why kids need more chances to take risks

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NH lawmakers hold hearing on bill to limit student use of cell phones in schools

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A bill before the New Hampshire Legislature would require schools in the Granite State to ban cell phones from the classroom. Gov. Kelly Ayotte supports the effort.

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Tech-Healthy Goals Template (Better Screen Time)

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Tech-Healthy Goals Template (Better Screen Time)

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https://www.betterscreentime.com/about/

AI Overview:

Better Screen Time is a platform focused on helping parents navigate healthy technology habits for their children, providing courses, strategies, and community support to manage screen time effectively, with positive reviews highlighting its practical approach, emphasis on communication with kids, and ability to address concerns about screen usage without feeling overwhelming; led by Andrea Davis, it is widely considered a valuable resource for parents looking to establish healthy tech boundaries within their families.

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The phone seemed like a good idea. She could stay connected with old friends and we could reach each other in a place where we didn't know anyone.

Months passed. One day our daughter came home from school and while spooning cereal into her mouth with one hand, she was scrolling with the other hand-and not talking to me. It used to be a "How was your day?" moment, but suddenly the phone was more important than our daily chat. I wondered where my kid went.

A few months later I was leaning over the kitchen counter looking at my own phone when I came across a video of our daughter lip-syncing an inappropriate song she found online. I knew she didn't really grasp the meaning of the lyrics, but I realized at that moment we had failed her. We had given her too much too soon.

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Tyler and Andrea Davis are parents, just like you, who have discovered a few strategies to make screen time even better for your family. Click here for positive strategies to help your family stay screen smart in the digital era.

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Debate over role of phones/social media in teen mental health

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Debate over role of phones/social media in teen mental health

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There's a book perched near the top of The New York Times bestseller list about what's wrong with kids today. The Anxious Generation (2024), by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, argues that increasing time spent on smartphones and social media, at the expense of play, is rewiring the brains of children and adolescents and driving soaring rates of mental illness. It leapt to the top of the bestseller list when it was released a year ago and has sat there ever since.

The book reinforced an acute concern among many Western parents about the time that their children spend on smartphones and other screens. In a 2024 survey, nearly half of US teenagers said they were online almost constantly, compared with 24% a decade earlier (see 'Constantly online'), and one-third used social-media sites such as YouTube almost all the time. Parents are troubled by this technology because "it's new, it's different, and it's not the way that they were raised", says psychologist Sarah Coyne at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Although researchers agree that adolescents are struggling with mental health, there is fierce debate about how much phones and social media are to blame. Some scientists say the copious research done so far does not show a large effect of these technologies on teenagers' psychological health. "Science to date does not support the widespread panic around social media and mental health," says Candice Odgers, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine, who has criticized Haidt's conclusions.

Scientists acknowledge that smartphones and social media can potentially be harmful for some people, if screen time displaces healthy activities, such as sleep, or if posts encourage them to self-harm, for instance. But these tools can also help people connect to support, advice, education and friends. The impact "depends on the individual themselves and their history and their physiology, the content and the context", says Coyne.

And many researchers are concerned that parents and children are hearing the alarming message propagated by Haidt's blockbuster book and major media, rather than the more nuanced one suggested by other scientists. Some authorities, meanwhile, are moving to ban phones from schools or restrict teenagers' access to social media. "Parents and kids are very aware of the narrative and very worried," says Megan Moreno, an adolescent-medicine physician at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. That sparks family battles over screens - and leaves parents unsure what to do.

Alarming trends

No one denies that adolescent mental health is a huge concern. Research shows that, over the past two decades, rates of mental illness have been increasing in adolescents in many countries (see 'Sadness epidemic'). For instance, surveys of US adolescents found that the share reporting symptoms of depression rose from 16% in 2010 to 21% in 2015 - mostly due to increases in girls - and that rates of suicide rose from 5.4 to 7 per 100,000 in the same period. Researchers suspect that some of these trends could be down to increased awareness and reporting of mental-health concerns - but they have also searched for other causes.

Haidt, who works at the New York University Stern School of Business, points out in his book that the upswing in mental illness coincides with the widespread adoption by teenagers of smartphones (the iPhone was launched in 2007) and argues that this edged out real-world socializing, playing and sleep. He then draws on many studies of different types to build an argument that "This Great Rewiring of Childhood ... is the single largest reason for the tidal wave of adolescent mental illness that began in the early 2010s". Haidt points in particular to evidence that heavy social-media use by pre-teen girls is linked to depression and anxiety. "Whenever you look at anxiety, depression, you almost always find the effects are larger," he told Nature.

But other researchers have criticized some of his views. Odgers published one of the most biting critiques in a review of Haidt's book (see ). His argument that digital technologies are driving an epidemic of mental illness "is not supported by science", she wrote, suggesting that Haidt might be mistaking correlation between technology use and mental illness for causation.

At the heart of the dispute is a large, complex and often conflicting body of research that different researchers interpret in different ways.

Many scientists have looked for correlations between measures of screen or social-media use and mental health in cross-sectional studies - which collect data at one moment in time - or longitudinal studies, which track people over time. Although some studies have found benefits, others have reported harms. A big weakness in such analyses is that they often rely on participants self-reporting the time they spend on screens. This is usually inaccurate, because people can't remember or are embarrassed to answer honestly. "We all agree it's terrible," Haidt says.

To try and make sense of the conflicting literature, researchers have done dozens of reviews analysing many studies together, again with varying results. Many have found relatively weak associations and small effects of these technologies on mental health. One 2020 analysis of more than 80 reviews concluded that there was, on average, a "negative but very small" association between adolescents' use of digital technology, and social media in particular, and psychological well-being. A 2024 literature review by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine "did not support the conclusion that social media causes changes in adolescent health at the population level".

It's also unclear in some studies, say Odgers and some other researchers, which comes first: whether social media causes depression, for instance, or whether young people who are depressed are more likely to spend time on social media. "We might have the arrow pointing in the wrong direction," Odgers says.

The evidence from experiments in which people swear off smartphones or social media for a spell has also been somewhat equivocal. One systematic review of 23 mostly randomized trials found some evidence that abstaining from social media improved measures of depression, says Ruth Plackett, a health researcher at University College London who led the review. But other studies found no effect.

From all this evidence, researchers have arrived at differing conclusions. Odgers and others worry that the focus on phones risks distracting scientists and policymakers from other important, but harder-to-tackle, contributors to adolescent mental-health problems, such as poverty, inequality, violence, discrimination and isolation. "We have young people in crisis, and part of it might be technology," says Amy Orben, who studies digital mental health at the University of Cambridge, UK. "But we also have other areas that we really, truly know influence mental health that aren't getting near the time they need."

Haidt takes a different view. He says that the type of small effects that scientists have found is not unusual in public-health studies based on crude measures, such as self-reported screen time. He argues that the effects are often masked when researchers combine and analyse different results - such as data on boys and girls, or measures of overall well-being with those on depression. The links are clearer, he says, in analyses centred on depression and anxiety. "So this is getting very frustrating, because the evidence of harm is there."

Divergent data

Many scientists say the impacts of smartphones and social media depend on the individual, their family and other circumstances, and what they are doing online. A 2021 study of nearly 400 adolescents, for example, found that 28% of participants felt worse after using social-media platforms (mostly WhatsApp, Snapchat and Instagram), 26% felt better and 45% felt neither better nor worse.

Such results might help to explain why some other studies, which look at averages, find little impact, says Ine Beyens, a communications researcher at the University of Amsterdam, who led the study. "When you put all these effects together, of course, in the end, you have a very small effect," she says.

Some researchers have observed potential benefits for certain groups. Coyne researches under-represented populations, including transgender and non-binary youth, and she says, "they're using their phones in really effective ways, a lot of the time, to find belonging and community".

By contrast, a small proportion of young people do use their smartphones or social media in problematic ways, researchers and physicians say, and there is debate about how to define and diagnose what constitutes pathological use. "Nothing one does for eight or nine hours a day - except for sleep - should be viewed as a healthful activity," says Dimitri Christakis, a paediatrician and researcher at the Seattle Children's Research Institute in Washington.

And for some, social-media use can lead to devastating consequences. In September 2022, for instance, a London coroner's inquest found that 14-year-old Molly Russell "died from an act of self-harm whilst suffering from depression and the negative effects of on-line content". The inquest heard that Russell had viewed content about self-harm and suicide on the platforms Instagram and Pinterest before she took her own life in November 2017.

During the inquest, a representative of Meta, which owns Instagram, defended the platform's policies, and a Pinterest representative admitted that the site was not safe when Russell used it. In response to the inquest findings, both firms pointed to ways they were improving their sites. Last year, Instagram launched 'teen accounts', which restrict the content young users can view.

Such cases are horrific and tragic, says Coyne, and lead to understandable fear among parents that something similar could happen to their child. But jumping from anecdotal cases to an assumption that social media is a terrible peril for all teenagers is problematic, she and other scientists say. "That's a genuine fear," says Coyne, but the "likelihood of that is really, really small".

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Do smartphones and social media really harm teens' mental health?

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Researchers are debating the strength of evidence connecting technology to surging rates of adolescent mental illness. But they have some clear advice for parents. Researchers are debating the strength of evidence connecting technology to surging rates of adolescent mental illness. But they have some clear advice for parents.