America, when Jonathan Haidt talks about a cell-phone free childhood where kids play freely, this story from KARE 11 News is exactly what he’s talking about. This is a great story!

A fascinating perspective by Derek Thompson A mystery that I have also been working to make sense of. In addition to Thompson's views, I argue that teens from Anglo nations (which are generally highly individualistic and secular) tend to have weaker in-person social ties and

"In January 2018, Mr. Zuckerberg received a report estimating that four million children under the age of 13 were on Instagram, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court by 33 states." nytimes.com/2024/06/22/tec…

NYC may go phone free in all public schools! Go Chancellor Banks! Go Mayor Adams! As an NYC public school parent, I can see that phones-in-pockets policies have interfered with the learning and friendship opportunities of my children. chalkbeat.org/newyork/2024/0…

Advice for education leaders on how to make a smooth transition to a phone free school. From Caroline Bryk, laying out how a network of Jewish day schools did it. When a GROUP of schools act together, it is easier and more impactful: afterbabel.com/p/how-schools-…

Thank you, Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox, for your leadership in Utah, showing a variety of creative ways that states can promote healthier digital lives, for adults as well as for kids.

We have been searching for members of Gen Z who have written essays praising social media. We found one, Sam Hiner, who sees the potential, but also the harms. He explains why it is so urgent that Congress pass KOSA. At AfterBabel.com afterbabel.com/p/a-gen-z-pers…

Some of us don’t have friends anymore; we have followers. We don’t deeply care about each other’s lives; we consume them as content. Social media platforms took friendship and made it another boring thing to do on a screen. My latest for After Babel: afterbabel.com/p/arent-you-lo…

My first substack! Big thanks to ⁦Let Grow⁩ and ⁦Jonathan Haidt⁩ !! Treating Childhood Anxiety with a Mega-Dose of Independence afterbabel.com/p/treating-chi…

We’re establishing cell phone-free education in schools benefiting students, parents and educators across Virginia. This essential action will promote a healthier educational environment where every child is free to learn. governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/news-…

Today we have a great post from Lenore Skenazy on how the arrival of smartphones and perpetual tracking made PARENTS into an anxious generation, which interferes with the development of their children. Let Grow afterbabel.com/p/parents-are-…

Here is the most dramatic real-world test of The Anxious Generation yet done by any journalist. Decca Aitkenhead of The Times and The Sunday Times is the only journalist who got both halves of the book. She arranged for UK teens to give up their smartphones, as many others have done. But she did it for a

Governor Newsom calls for all California schools to go phone free! The evidence supporting his call can be found in this document: docs.google.com/document/d/1uB… The evidence is summarized in this Atlantic article: theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… California Governor

Major new survey from National Education Association gives very strong support for phone-free schools. Any policy that lets kids have phones BETWEEN classes disrupts what happens IN class. Give teachers a chance. Go phone-free. nea.org/resource-libra…

STRAIGHTFORWARD toolkit: How to get your school to ban phones during the day. From Fairplay & Jonathan Haidt & the Phone-Free Schools Movement: afterbabel.com/p/phone-free-s…

Another academic association betrays its telos: The American Association of University Professors reverses its longstanding opposition to academic boycotts. Jeffrey Flier explains why this move is contrary to the AAUP's professed value of academic freedom thecrimson.com/article/2024/8…

Big news in the debate over correlation vs. causation: Zach Rausch and I re-analyze a recent meta-analysis of experiments and find that reducing social media use for more than a week DOES improve mental health. Abstaining for a day causes withdrawal. afterbabel.com/p/the-case-for…

Defenders of social media say that there is no evidence that it CAUSES mental illness, there's only a small correlation. But in fact, experiments consistently show benefits from reducing social media use, IF they go long enough to get past withdrawal: afterbabel.com/p/the-case-for…

In response to this community note and other critiques, we have added a preface to the post, explaining that we did NOT offer a meta-analysis, and explaining why the note is incorrect. Here is the revised post with new text at top and bottom: afterbabel.com/p/the-case-for…