Want Happy Kids? Don’t Give Them a Phone, One Expert Suggests
By Movieguide® Contributor
Yale Professor of Psychology Laurie Santos recently revealed the key to having happy kids: “Wait as long as possible” to give them a phone.
“I think the more we can hold off on giving kids technology — the longer, the better,” the professor told CNBC.
Santos is a popular instructor at Yale and host of “The Happiness Lab” podcast, where she shares advice and examples of how to be happier.
Santos believes that phones are full of unnecessary distractions. They are seldom used as a tool, but rather, they are primarily used for social media.
“Teenagers are getting on the order of 200 notifications from their phones today,” she said. “These are brains that are forming and trying to pay attention in school [while their phones are going] ding, ding, ding.”
She notes that it’s important for parents to set a good example if they want their kids to spend less time on their phones.
“They’re not going to want to do as you say; they’re going to want to do as you do,” Santos said.
Another psychologist and professor, Jean Twenge, notes, “In the period between 2012 and 2016, more and more teens began to say they felt useless and joyless — classic symptoms of depression. More started to say they felt anxious and overwhelmed.”
“Clinical-level depression among teens increased by 50 percent, and the number of 10- to 14-year-old girls admitted to emergency rooms for self-harm (such as cutting) tripled.” She continued, “Most concerning of all, the suicide rate for teen girls doubled.”
She agrees with Santos’s line of thought—that phone use makes children unhappier.
Twenge said, “Several studies rule out the idea that unhappiness leads to screen time, instead finding that screen time leads to unhappiness.”
Twenge told Time Magazine an easy tip for parents who want to make adjustments to their kids’ phone usage: “No phones in the bedroom overnight. Buy an alarm clock.”
Movieguide® recently reported on HGTV star Erin Napier’s decision that her children won’t have phones or social media:
Napier wants to keep them away from technology so they learn they can live full lives without it.
Napier’s oldest daughter has noticed that her life is different from most other kids.
“One time she asked, ‘What are they doing on there?’ I said, ‘I don’t really know.’ She said, ‘But you said you use your phone for work,’ and I said ‘Yeah, that is what I use it for. But phones also have a bad place, a scary place that I want to protect you from. You don’t need to see the scary things,” she recalled.
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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
