by Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project:
(Children’s Health Defense) In a bold experiment that addresses the growing concerns about smartphone addiction and teen mental health, British journalist Decca Aitkenhead challenged her two teenage sons and eight of their friends to go without smartphones for a month.
The results, published this month in the U.K.’s Sunday Times Magazine, offer a compelling glimpse into how digital detox can transform young lives — and potentially address what author Jonathan Haidt, Ph.D., calls the “anxious generation.”
TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/
Aitkenhead’s experiment, inspired by Haidt’s research on teen mental health trends, didn’t just take away cellphones. It culminated in an unsupervised camping trip that pushed boundaries of independence rarely seen in today’s overprotective parenting culture.
The outcomes surprised the teens and adults involved, and revealed unexpected resilience and joy in disconnecting from electronics, according to Aitkenhead.
“I’m really glad I did it,” one participant told Aitkenhead. “It was way better than I expected.”
This real-world test of Haidt’s theories comes at a crucial time. Recent data show rates of anxiety and depression among teens have more than doubled since the early 2010s, coinciding with the widespread adoption of smartphones and social media.
As parents and policymakers grapple with the crisis, experiments like Aitkenhead’s offer hope and practical insights.
Journalist Sends Kids off on a Smartphone-Free Camping Trip – Unsupervised. Adults Quake. Kids Flourish.
Our latest at After Babel: @FreeRangeKids and I draw out lessons from @DeccaJourno‘s fantastic demonstration of the ideas in The Anxious Generation:https://t.co/GaykbexI9l
— Jonathan Haidt (@JonHaidt) August 12, 2024
Like a glitch in the matrix’
Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business, has been sounding the alarm about a dramatic shift in teen mental health. His 2018 co-authored book, “The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure,” was a New York Times bestseller.
In his latest book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” Haidt presents compelling evidence of a crisis that began with the rise of children’s widespread use of smartphones and social media.
“We see a very sudden shift in the early 2010s — it really is like a glitch in the matrix,” Haidt explained on the “Triggernometry” podcast. He argued that a “great rewiring of childhood” occurred during this period, deeply affecting children’s self-concept and social skills.
Data from the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health reveal the percentage of teens experiencing major depressive episodes has more than doubled since 2011. Similar trends are observed in the U.K., Canada and other developed nations, according to Haidt’s research.
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