Waldorf schools including High Mowing have historically advocated for age-appropriate introduction to technology. In recent years, the conversation about when and how devices can be appropriately used by children and teenagers has entered mainstream American culture as well. Indeed, in 2023 the Surgeon General issued an advisory calling attention to the growing concerns about the effects of social media on youth mental health. One year later, the Surgeon General made an even stronger statement by calling for Congress to pass a law requiring a warning label on all social media platforms stating “social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.”

The HMS Parent Association recently hosted a parent education evening to discuss technology, phone-based childhood, and the rise of anxiety and stress among our youth. Emily Marsick, PhD, licensed counselor, and current HMS parent discussed recent findings about technology, phones, social media, and rising youth mental health challenges, particularly focusing on research from Jonathan Haidt's (2024) New York Times best-selling book, The Anxious Generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. 

How Smartphones & Social Media Impact Adolescent Mental Health

Emily’s talk began by exploring why Gen Z, which includes children and young adults born roughly between 1996 and 2012, have experienced such a rise in mental health challenges. The increase in mental health disorders – particularly internalizing disorders like anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations – increased significantly between 2010 and 2015. Just prior, there were a significant number of developments in technology:

• 2007: The first iPhone was introduced
• 2009: The like & share buttons were introduced on Facebook
• 2012-13: These two trends combined so that a majority of American households were accessing social media primarily on smart devices.

Between 2010 and 2015, adolescent mental health conditions rose like a hockey stick and this trend remained consistent across all socioeconomic and demographic groups. Jonathan Haight’s The Anxious Generation provides a detailed analysis of this sharp increase and why he attributes it to the introduction of smartphones and social media as opposed to other factors.

Play as the Antidote to Phone-based Childhood

Play is critical for children to learn social-emotional competencies and how to successfully navigate cultural learning and expectations. However, phones did not take away play. The diminishing time allotted for play and the perceived decreased value of free play began happening decades before smartphones landed on the scene. As parents became more concerned with safety and fearful about allowing their children to play outdoors without adult supervision, play became more structured and adult-led. More children became involved in formal youth sports programs and other structured forms of play rather than being allowed ample time for free, imaginative play.

In the early years of smartphones, some parents saw phones as a safer alternative. While using devices, children remained occupied and in one place. Yet phones can also disrupt healthy child development in three significant ways:

Social Disruptions

Social media promotes having lots of friends over having quality relationships. Rather than being social, platforms like Facebook and Instagram are transactional because users exchange a photo for a like. Rather than promoting healthy social relationships, social media impacts children’s self-esteem and creativity.

Girls are especially vulnerable. By encouraging filtered photos, adolescents are particularly vulnerable to focusing on how they are seen by others. The contrast between the person portrayed via carefully selected photos with applied filters and the person they see in the mirror can result in imposter syndrome and feelings of inadequacy.

Disrupted Sleep

“Sleep is starting to get a better reputation,” Emily Marsick remarked playfully. Many more people understand the impact of blue light on the circadian rhythm. Studies show that the use of phones and the internet before bed can be worse for sleep disruption than simply watching television. Emily reminded the audience about the bedtime routines they likely implemented for their children – bath, book, and bed – and suggested that we can all benefit from relaxing pre-bedtime routines, making sure not to use screens in the hour or two before bedtime and keeping screens out of children’s bedrooms.

Disrupted Attention

One study found that the mere presence of a smartphone within view in nearby proximity reduces cognitive capacity for people of all ages. With their constant pings and notifications, smartphones draw the attention of both kids and adults, even if the person is not actively using their device. During sleep, meals,  and times of intentional social connection, Emily recommends leaving all devices in another room to allow people to be present to one another.

Other Resources

Emily Marsick encouraged families to join together to create support for delaying screen usage and shared norms about when phones and social media are introduced. In his book, Jonathan Haight recommends that children do not have a smart phone until at least high school and do not join social media until a minimum age of 16. It is also important to set parental controls on all devices to filter out age inappropriate material.

Emily also provided attendees with a number of resources – online and books – for further exploration of setting up healthy media habits for the entire family:

• American Academy of Pediatrics provides guidance in creating a family media plan
• Common Sense Media has parent reviews and appropriate age guidelines for TV, movies, video games, and other media for children. It also has many excellent resources about how to have discussions about technology with kids.
• Fairplay for Kids advocates for eliminating the commercialization of childhood and encourages hands-on play.
• Wait Until 8th encourages parents to join with other parents locally in agreement to wait until at least 8th grade to give their kids a smartphone, creating community support.
• The Social Dilemma (2020) is a documentary that shows the goals and practices that are used in designing social media.
• Haidt, Jonathan (2024). The Anxious Generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. New York: Penguin Press.
• Linn, Susan (2022). Who’s Raising the Kids?: Big tech, big business, and the lives of children. New York: The New Press.
• Loechner, Erin (2024). The Opt-Out Family: How to give your kids what technology can’t. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Books.
• Payne, Kim John (2010). Simplicity Parenting: Using the extraordinary power of less to raise calmer, happier, and more secure kids. New York: Ballantine Books.
• Twenge, Jean (2017). iGen: Why today’s super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy – and completely unprepared for adulthood. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc.

About Emily Marsick

Emily Marsick, PhD, is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice specializing in stress reduction, resilience, and well-being using mind-body and lifestyle approaches.