By Michaela Gordoni
The Anxious Generation author Jonathan Haidt recommends parents follow these four guidelines to curb smartphone use.
1. No smartphones before 14.
“You can give them a flip phone…so that you can text them, they can text you, call if they need to,” Haidt explained in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal. “But you do not give a child the internet in their pocket, where strangers can reach them and they can watch beheading videos.”
2. Don’t allow social media use until age 16.
“Eighteen-year-olds say this,” Haidt said. “They wish that this didn’t exist, because they’re stuck, they’re trapped on it. So, how about we just delay it ‘til 16?”
Puberty is a vulnerable time, and it can be harmful for kids to go through that while they’re exposed to social media.
3. Help create phone-free schools
“For those of you who went to school before the internet, imagine that the school had a new rule: you can bring in your television from home…your walkie talkies…your record player. Put it all on your desk, we’ll give you an outlet.”
“And you can do that during class while the teacher is talking,” he added.
Related: There’s Still Hope for Gen Z: College Kids Ditch Smartphones
The author thinks it’s insane that schools have allowed phones to be brought into schools.
4. Give kids more independence, free play and responsibility in the real world.
“Just like we had before the 1990s,” Haidt said, encouraging outdoor recreation and mindful activities.
“There’s much more to do, and summer is a great time to make changes — a tech detox, more time outside, more free play, more travel and real-life experiences,” he wrote.
A recent study from GWI found that even children know that excessive smartphone use is bad for them, and awareness is growing. The number of 12- to 15-year-olds who take screen breaks rose 18% since 2022.
“We see proof of this in other polls — kids are fully aware of how bad smartphones and social media are for them,” Haidt said of the study. “They mostly stay on because everyone else is on.”
Haidt wrote his book and created these guidelines to encourage collective action. He says collective action is what propels the current state of phone use, and the only thing that’s going to stop it is everyone gets on the same page and realizes smartphone use is harmful to kids.
So if you’re a parent, consider giving your kid a dumb phone instead of a smartphone — that’s the smart move.
Read Next: Screen Time is Creating an Anxious Generation, Studies Say
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