Resources
In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that has hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood" began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the "phone-based childhood" in the early 2010s.
He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this "great rewiring of childhood" has interfered with children's social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism.
He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.
Titania Jordan, a renowned internet and social media safety specialist, tackles the urgent dilemmas of modern parenting head-on. As technology increasingly engulfs the lives of our children, this book emerges as a beacon for those looking to guide, protect, and connect with them in meaningful ways.
Navigating the complex digital landscape, Jordan delves into the effects of social media and the internet on our kids. She uncovers the challenges of balancing screen time with real-life interactions and the erosion of offline social skills due to digital immersion.
Richard Freed, a child and adolescent psychologist, reveals why in his book Better Than Real Life, as he unveils Silicon Valley’s secret science of persuasive design. The psychological science is so powerful that it is able to persuade youth, at a genetic level, that sitting sedentary on playtime screens is better than running and playing, better than engaging with school, better than spending time with family. The result is a tragic public health crisis for kids.
Parents and others who care for youth need the truth about the impact of consumer tech on kids and how to provide them healthy and happy lives. Freed uncovers how a small group of tech-involved parents is rejecting the push to put kids on screens to instead provide their own children a science-based childhood focused on real-life activities.
Better Than Real Life shows how you can provide your kids the healthy lives they need—in the real world.
Bestselling author Jean Twenge provides the much-needed playbook parents have been asking for. Drawing on her decades as a psychologist studying the impact of technology and mental health and her personal experience as the mother of three teenagers, Twenge offers ten actionable rules for raising independent and well-rounded children. From setting “No Social Media Until Sixteen” boundaries to creating no-phone zones like bedrooms and family dinners, these rules are grounded in evidence yet simple enough to incorporate into any family routine.
Short, empowering, and timely, this book equips parents with the tools to combat not just immediate harms such as online bullying but also helps to nurture essential life skills, preparing kids and teens to become autonomous adults.
Be the Parent, Please is a must-read for any parent fumbling around in this digital world of parenting. Toddlers on tablets. Pre-teens on Tumblr. Thanks to a variety of factors—from tech companies hungry for new audiences, to school administrations bent on making education digital, to a culture that promotes everyone as the star of their own reality shows— technology is irrevocably a part of childhood, and parents are struggling to keep up. What should be allowed? What should be denied? And, given the ubiquity of technology and its inherent usefulness, what do sensible boundaries even look like? A noted columnist and mother of three, Naomi Schaefer Riley, fully understands the seductive nature of screens. Riley gives parents a wakeup call to put healthy boundaries in place when it comes to technology and kids.
Podcasts
SCreendeep
Host Kris Perry dives deep with a leading expert in each episode to explore how children and adolescents are affected mentally, physically, and developmentally by digital media use, bringing research and evidence-based perspectives to the essential questions on how to help children thrive today.
MORE RESEARCH AND STUDIES
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Adolescent Brain Development & Social Media Use | Eva Telzer PhD
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Social media algorithms amplify misogynistic content to teens
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Social Media Use and Adolescent Mental Health: Findings From the UK Millennium Cohort Study
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Surgeon General Issues New Advisory About Effects Social Media Use Has on Youth Mental Health