Smartphones and the Child's Brain
Smartphones are rewiring our brains, and our children's, too. Here's an explanation of how they have affected the youth in the past ten years, and what to do about it in your own home.
CARE
Nicole Lasam
5/21/20254 min read
Some months back, I got to talk again to a priest who used to hear my confession and give me advice. First, he asked how my eldest child was, since, at the time when he was helping me, she was just a toddler. When I told him she was 7, he asked if she was using a smartphone already and I said no. "Very good," he said, then he advised me to do my best not to give it until 16.
I readily said yes, though I didn't quite understand why that age. All I knew was that smartphones (and plenty of screen time) are not good for children. And, as we had no plans of giving our now 8-year-old her first smartphone, I didn't see the need to think much about it yet.
It was not until my sister sent me Dr. Rangan Chatterjee's podcast that I got to thinking about it again, and now I see more clearly the problem of smartphone use (specifically smartphone use, not just general screen time) for people who have not yet gone past puberty.
Dr. Chatterjee's podcast is called Feel Better, Live More and the episode I listened to is a pre-weekend feature called "Bitesize," a shorter recording/interview than his usual 1-2 hour episodes. The title of the short episode is "How Smartphones Are Rewiring Our Brains" and, in it, he interviewed Jonathan Haidt, author of the book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.
Mental health
Studying the prevalence of anxiety and depression in children, Haidt observes that, compared to the millennial generation, Gen Z’s numbers for anxiety and depression go up after 2012—“like a hockey stick” in the graph for girls and an earlier but more gradual rise for boys.
Why is this so? The first iPhone was released in 2008—it was the first smartphone that was easy to use, intuitive, and exciting. Children of the time probably got their hands on their own smartphones sometime (maybe even a few years) after 2008. By 2012, the millennials (born 1995 and earlier) were out of puberty. Gen Z, on the other hand, were that generation who had more smartphone usage during these formative years.
According to Haidt, the brain—from the time a child is born—is very malleable. It is constantly wiring up, making connections as we learn new things. First, the physical things: gross and fine motor skills, moving in the physical world, manipulating objects, changing the arrangement of things. Then, the social interactions: navigating through social dimensions, learning how to behave, react, respond, communicate. How do we do all this? Through plain old experience.
Before smartphones, kids used to play outside with other children.
Experience blocker
“The smartphone,” Haidt declares, “is an experience blocker.” How so? Together with the increase in smartphone usage (not to mention, increase in the capabilities of the Internet), more and more people are staying at home to “talk” on the smartphone. (That’s also why Gen Z is also called “the safest generation.”)
But chatting on the group chat is not social interaction. There is no experience on non-verbal communication: body language, intonation, facial expressions. No actions, reactions; no real laughter, spontaneity. Haidt points out that in a group chat, you’re not bonding with your peers, you’re performing. Because you know everyone will read what you post, you think about what to write before posting it. It’s nothing like a real face-to-face conversation.
In the podcast, they also discuss the differences between boys and girls and how technology use affects them differently. It’s very enlightening; despite the constant insistence of the mainstream thinktank that men and women should be the same, the truth is that we are wired differently. Men and women—boys and girls—are different, so we use things differently. And our usage of smartphones and related devices is not an exception. That’s why the anxiety and depression incidence for girls rose sharply after 2012—because girls focus on relationships, and this took the most toll in the dawn of smartphones. (The trouble for boys is addiction to casual multiplayer games and porn, but that’s another story.)
How to solve it
The episode doesn’t leave us with a sense of hopelessness. As a solution, Haidt insists that we parents can “give [the children] back their childhood.” Bring them to get-togethers and parties, organize activities with other families’ children, let them visit their friends’ homes. Bring them to church, the bank, the playground, the post office, the school fair; these places demonstrate different requirements on how to behave—a practical way to learn social cues.
If it’s too late and the kids already are addicted to smartphones, team up with other families, or get the school to help—imagine what can be achieved at the school level! I’m sure educators will be all for it because it will help them do their work of teaching the children.
Within the home environment, it’s wise to put the family computer station (better not let them have their personal laptop yet in this regard) in a visible and public area of the house. The truth is, this technology is here to stay, so teach them to temper their usage early on (modeling is also effective, so temper your own usage as well!). Connect it to schoolwork, as they do really need it for school.
Finally, smartphones were created to make things easy. But remember, learning the ropes should not be easy—so why would kids need something to make it easy anyway? Let them work for their education. Let them study, exercise their mind. In the end, they will come out better for it, and we can worry less about their mental health and focus instead on the many things they can achieve, as we make it possible for them to work hard enough.