[ExI] The Terrible Costs of a Phone-Based Childhood

[BillK]

The Terrible Costs of a Phone-Based Childhood

For a little over a decade, we have been raising children in an
environment that is hostile to human development. We need to change
that now.
By Jonathan Haidt      March 13, 2024,

<https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/03/teen-childhood-smartphone-use-mental-health-effects/677722/>
Quote:
Something went suddenly and horribly wrong for adolescents in the
early 2010s. By now you’ve likely seen the statistics: Rates of
depression and anxiety in the United States—fairly stable in the
2000s—rose by more than 50 percent in many studies from 2010 to 2019.
The suicide rate rose 48 percent for adolescents ages 10 to 19. For
girls ages 10 to 14, it rose 131 percent.
-----------------

This is a very long article, quoting much supporting evidence.
So I asked an AI for a sort summary'

AI Summary -
The article from The Atlantic titled "The Terrible Costs of a
Phone-Based Childhood" discusses the negative impacts of smartphone
use on adolescents beyond the commonly debated mental health issues.
The author acknowledges that while mental health is a central concern,
the sudden and incautious transformation of childhood due to
smartphones has led to additional harms. These include social
awkwardness, reduced self-confidence, and a more sedentary lifestyle.
The article also addresses the broader dislike among young people for
their phone-based lives and considers whether the rise in adolescent
mental illness can be attributed to the advent of the phone-based
childhood. The author mentions that skeptics might point to other
events as potential causes for this epidemic, such as the 2008 global
financial crisis, global warming, the Sandy Hook school shooting and
subsequent active-shooter drills, increased academic pressures, and
the opioid epidemic.
----------------------------------