Smartphones, social media, and student minds – let’s talk about it! The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt was recommended to me in a Parenting in a Tech World Facebook group. I purchased the book and put it on my shelf vowing to read it when my 1st grader was a little older. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, said 1st grader asked me what TikTok was.
“Where did you hear that word?”
“A friend from school.”
At that moment, I realized that I needed to read this book yesterday.
If you haven’t heard of this book, here is a quick snapshot: The generation-defining investigation into the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones, social media, and big tech—and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood.
(My husband listened to the author’s interview on Armchair Expert if you want to learn more.)
While any teacher or parent could tell you that phones are a distraction, Haidt makes the argument that phones and social media are responsible for rewiring children’s brains and causing anxiety and depression.
I highly recommend reading this book, but in the meantime, I wanted to outline why (according to the book) smartphones and social media are causing our middle school students (and therefore, teachers) so many problems.
Problem #1: Social Deprivation
The Anxious Generation discusses how phones have negatively affected social relationships of children. Children used to spend a significant amount of time after school with their friends, but that time drastically decreased around 2018. Haidt writes, “teens at the time might not have thought they were losing their friends; they thought they were just moving the friendship from real life to Instagram, Snapchat, and online video games. Isn’t that just as good? No… teens who spend more time using social media are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and other disorders, while teens who spend more time with groups of young people (such as playing team sports or participating in religious communities) have better mental health.”
In addition, children who are hanging out with their friends are often interrupted or ignored when someone receives a notification from their phone. You can picture it: (or perhaps have done this yourself) you are in the middle of a conversation with someone when they pull out their phone and begin typing away leaving you feeling less important than whatever is happening on their phone. This bothers me as an adult, but “just imagine being a teen trying to develop a sense of who you are and where you fit, while everyone you meet tells you, indirectly: You’re not as important as the people on my phone.”
Problem #2: Sleep Deprivation
Teenagers need more sleep (around 9 hours); their brain development depends on this. Since 2013, teens who get less than 7 hours of sleep have increased up to around 50% (girls) and 40% (boys). “When your sleep is truncated or disturbed, you’re more likely to become depressed and develop behavioral problems.”
Why are kids getting less sleep now than what they did prior to 2013? “Heavy use of screen media was associated with shorter sleep duration, longer sleep latency, and more mid-sleep awakenings. The sleep disturbances were greatest for those who were on social media or who were surfing the internet in bed.”
Problem #3: Attention Fragmentation
Attention fragmentation – the never-ending stream of interruptions – is another harm of phones and social media. Students need to develop the skill of focus and concentration, but by design, phones, notifications, and social media are constantly fighting for their attention. “Many studies find that students with access to their phones use them in class and pay far less attention to their teachers.” No teacher is surprised by that last quote, but at least science is affirming our experience.
The mere presence of a phone will interfere with a students’ ability to focus. According to this study, researchers had people complete a series of tasks that tested their working memory with their phone either in the (1) adjacent rooms, (2) in their pocket or bag, or (3) visible. Performance was best when the phone was in the other room, and performance was the worst when phones were visible. So asking your students to put their phones faced down or away in their pocket/backpack isn’t as ideal as the phone being in their locker.
Problem #4: Addiction
Smartphones, or any technology, that incrementally reward its users with the occasional good feeling, can be addictive. People don’t find themselves satisfied after time on their phone, instead, chasing the good feeling motivates them to continue.
Let’s talk about how addiction forms. Imagine a student sitting down to complete their math homework with their phone close by. 1) There is an external trigger – a phone notification which leads to 2) an action – opening up Instagram. Now, here is where it gets really science-y. This action will only sometimes lead to a 3) pleasurable reward – a like, a comment, a reply. This is key to creating the most persistent behavior; the anticipation of a reward can provide more dopamine than the actual reward. Keep on checking your social media and scrolling, scrolling, scrolling… “There is no off-ramp in an app with a bottomless feed; there is no signal to stop.” This is the Hook model from the book Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products.
When the brain is exposed to long periods of dopamine, it can go into a state of dopamine withdrawal when a person is away from their phones. Effects of dopamine withdrawal are “anxiety, irritability, insomnia, and dysphoria.”
Your sleep-deprived, dopamine deficit students are now expected to learn math – and you have to figure out a way to teach them! Good luck!
The Anxious Generation was such a well-written and well-researched book, and it also provides solutions! Come back for part 2 as I share Jonathan Haidt’s ideas for combatting the exposure of smartphones and social media in our students’ lives and our schools.
