The Anxious Generation
This year marks my 30th year of teaching and this has caused me to reflect on how education has changed over this time. One of the most significant changes has been the use of technology in schools – from email to Teams video calls, from Search Engines to A.I. and from one computer lab in the school to every student coming to school with a smartphone in their pocket. Today’s smartphones (defined as a phone with computer capabilities, internet connectivity and usually touchscreen) have far greater computing power and memory than the computers used by NASA to put humans on the moon in 1969. (How Do NASA's Apollo Computers Stack Up to an iPhone?)
In his book “The Anxious Generation” (2024), social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that the decline of free play opportunities for children and the increased use of smartphones among adolescents are the two sources of increased mental distress among teenagers. Haidt lays out four reforms or “new norms” that would provide a foundation for a healthier kind of childhood in the digital age. Each norm helps parents and teens escape the social trap they find themselves in. He says “These four norms help families escape the trap and reverse the two big mistakes we’ve made: overprotecting children in the real world and under-protecting them online”. These norms are
No smartphones before secondary school
No social media before 16
Phone-free schools
More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world
As a school, we ask that students leave their phone in the lockers throughout the day. There are many reasons that we do this. One of these relates to the impact phones have on academic outcomes. Haidt talks about “attention fragmentation” in relation to children that have their phones on their person throughout the day. In one study researchers had students (1) leave their phones in their bags, or (2) keep their phone in their pocket or (3) place their phone on the desk. Students were then set a task that tested fluid intelligence and working memory. They found that performance was best when phones were left in other rooms and obviously worse when phones were visible on the desk. Haidt claims that the average adolescent receives one notification every five minutes from communication apps. Heavier users of smartphones (as he suggests – teenage girls) who use texting and social media will be receiving a notification every minute. This only compounds the attention fragmentation that students experience.
We have a responsibility as adults, to ensure that the “great rewiring of childhood” does not continue and we need to do what we can to prevent the increase of mental distress in teenagers. I encourage you to read Haidt’s book or take some time to look at the website, The Anxious Generation - Free the Anxious Generation.
Point your kids in the right direction - when they’re old they won’t be lost.
Proverbs 22:6 (The Message)
Mark Hamilton
Head of Secondary School
