Is the Phone Stealing Our Children's Childhood?

Key takeaways

• Jonathan Haidt calls the years around 2010–2015 the "great rewiring of childhood": a play-based childhood became a phone-based one. Other researchers say the evidence that phones cause the rise in teen anxiety is mixed, and the average link is very small.
• Haidt names four main harms: less face-to-face time, less sleep, attention broken into pieces, and a habit that is hard to stop, because many apps are designed to keep us watching.
• Free play, small risks and even boredom help children learn to decide, solve problems, manage feelings and make friends. Haidt argues we overprotect children in the real world and underprotect them online.
• The WHO (2019) does not recommend screen time for babies under 1, and no more than 1 hour a day for children aged 2–4; less is better. Our own phone use matters too.
• Haidt's four norms: no smartphone before about 14, no social media before 16, phone-free schools, and far more free play and independence. At home, a phone basket at meals and phones charging outside the bedroom are good first steps.