Teens and Cell Phones

We already have one generation of young adults whose ability to live successfully has been massively impaired by a combination of educational indoctrination coupled with failure to be taught or learn anything useful and social media.  This group is deservedly referred to as snowflakes due to their complete lack of resilence or toughness.  God help this country.  A somewhat hopeful step would the banning of TikTok and other short video websites, particularly for teens and young adults, and in general keeping children off of social media and smartphones.  Many schools have begun implementing such bans, which force children for at least part of the day to live in the real world and actually interact with humans.

The importance of doing this is underscored by recent research from Norway on the effect of such a smartphone ban in schools in that country.  There was a significant decrease in mental health issues among girls, academic performance improved and bullying decreased among both boys and girls.   The paper adds to an already extensive body of research finding benefits from keeping children, especially adolescents, away from smartphones.  The mental health and character of our children is important–society needs them to turn into productive adults who contritube to a better standard of living for everyone.   (SSRN Paper)