DON'T BUY YOUR KID A SMARTPHONE FOR CHRISTMAS!

The evidence of how smartphones damage young minds and undermine education is already here.

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt recently published “Get Phones Out of Schools Now” for the Atlantic, cross-posted from his “After Babel” Substack. His thought-provoking essay makes the argument that we should ban phones from schools.

Compared to just four years ago, Haidt writes, “The case for phone-free schools is much stronger now.” Evidence has lately become clear that phones are addling young minds and that there is a causal link between their use and skyrocketing mental health issues among the young.

Haidt succinctly summarizes his findings: “So the time is right for parents and educators to ask: Should we make the school day phone-free? Would that reduce rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm? Would it improve educational outcomes? I believe that the answer to all of these questions is yes.”

Haight is talking about barring students from physically possessing a phone at school anywhere, anytime. Phones should be essentially locked up in the morning and returned at the end of the school day.

One study he cites found that students’ test scores dropped the closer they were to a phone, even if it wasn’t in use. The potential for distraction was itself distracting.

So don’t buy your kid that smartphone for Christmas.

If your kid is at school, they don’t need a phone. Every office, every teacher and every other adult around them should (and will) have a phone that your kid can access. And you can call your child as needed while they are in school.

If your kid is outside of school, all they need is something they can either call or text you on. That’s it!

Hey! Your wallet will thank you. And you can blame hard science when your kid asks whines “WHYYYYY NOTTT?”

Credit: Hugh Hewitt, Washington Post