The Anxious Generation How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness - Jonathan Haidt

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Here are brief summaries of four books by Jonathan Haidt:

1. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom - Examines different philosophical perspectives on happiness and well-being. Draws on various traditions like Buddhism, stoicism, existentialism to understand human flourishing.

2. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion - Explores the psychological foundations of morality and moral politics. Looks at how moral reasoning evolved and why people often rationally disagree on social issues.

3. The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure (with Greg Lukianoff) - Argues that recent campus culture increasingly emphasizes protecting students from offensive ideas and microaggressions, undermining intellectual development and resilience.

4. All Minus One: John Stuart Mill’s Ideas on Free Speech Illustrated (with Richard Reeves and Dave Cicirelli) - Graphic novel adaptation exploring philosopher John Stuart Mill’s arguments for free expression and debate presented in his work On Liberty.

• The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 set the minimum age for using online services at 13, but it relies on self-reporting of age and doesn’t require verification. As a result, many children under 13 sign up for accounts without parental consent.

• Some technology companies design their products and services, like social media, to be highly addictive in a way similar to how tobacco and vaping companies marketed products. This threatens the healthy development of children and adolescents.

• While social media can be useful for adults, the potential costs are higher for minors as their brains are still developing self-control and decision making abilities. Unrestricted use of these services puts them in adult spaces and content at a vulnerable stage.

• Members of Generation Z, born 1995-2010, were the first to go through puberty with smartphones, leading to a shift from play-based to phone-based childhoods. They frequently spend hours online managing their image and seeking peer approval rather than real-world interactions important for development.

• At the same time, fear of risks led to a decline in unsupervised outdoor play which further pushed kids indoors and online instead of experiencing challenges that help them mature. This threatens healthy social and psychological development.

• The author claims that rising parental overprotection in the 1990s and the rise of smartphones have contributed to increased anxiety among children born after 1995.

• He divides interactions into the “real world” which is embodied, synchronous, one-to-one, and involves strong community ties, versus the “virtual world” which is disembodied, asynchronous, one-to-many, and allows for easy exit from communities.

• The book is divided into four parts that examine mental health trends, how childhood has changed, the harms of a phone-based childhood, and solutions.

• Part one looks at the rise in teen depression, anxiety, and self-harm since the early 2010s, particularly among girls.

• Part two argues overprotective parenting and smartphones have blocked important social experiences for development.

• Part three presents research showing how phones disrupt sleep, socializing, attention, and can cause addiction, especially impacting girls’ mental health.

• Part four provides recommendations for tech companies, governments, schools and parents to address these issues.

• The author brings a background in positive psychology and the study of morality to analyzing this issue from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

Here is a summary of the key points from the earlier section:

• The author talks to many parents who describe constant conflicts with their adolescents over smartphone/social media use and enforcing limits/rules. This has negatively impacted family life for many.

• Some parents describe their children, especially daughters, becoming so negatively impacted by social media that they feel they have “lost” their child to it. One mother discussed her 14-year-old daughter’s agitation, glumness, and suicidal threat in relation to Instagram use.

• For boys, the main issues parents report are around heavy video gaming, sometimes including pornography. One story is about a 14-year-old boy with autism whose behavior deteriorated as his Fortnite gaming escalated from a casual to heavy level after schools closed due to COVID.

• In general, the stories indicate something unnatural is happening and kids are missing out on important experiences and relationships due to excessive screen time and online activities. Removing devices results in kids returning to normal behavior, suggesting technology is a significant factor.

• There was a sudden surge in mental health issues like depression and anxiety among adolescents starting in the early 2010s. Rates of these “internalizing disorders” increased dramatically, while externalizing disorders did not.

• The increase was most pronounced among Gen Z and younger Millennials. Older age groups were much less affected. Anxiety prevalence rose the most sharply for those born in the late 1990s and after.

• Parents noticed sudden changes in behavior in their teens around this time, like irritability, anger, and withdrawal. Taking away electronics revealed withdrawal symptoms. Parents felt trapped between limiting screen time and social isolation.

• The author analyzes numerous data sources showing ballooning rates of diagnoses like depression and anxiety on college campuses since 2010. Anxiety and depression made up nearly all the rise in mental illness.

• Anxiety in particular has become the defining mental health issue for today’s youth. Rates of feeling nervous or anxious most or all of the time rose sharply for Gen Z after 2010-2012 according to national surveys.

So in summary, the author found convincing evidence through multiple data sources that depression and anxiety, particularly among Gen Z, surged sharply and suddenly starting in the early 2010s after being relatively stable before.

• Ordinary, healthy temporary anxiety can turn into an anxiety disorder when it persists and interferes with daily life.

• Anxiety affects both the mind and body, producing tension, worry, discomfort, difficulty thinking clearly, and exacerbating physical symptoms. It can become a vicious cycle.

• Depression is also very common among youth. Its key symptoms are depressed mood and loss of interest in activities. It affects thinking and is linked to social disconnection.

• Rates of self-reported anxiety and depression among teens have clearly risen since the early 2010s based on surveys, but some experts were initially skeptical of these findings.

• However, objective data on rates of self-harm and suicide attempts among younger adolescents, especially girls, also sharply increased starting in the early 2010s, providing stronger evidence that mental health problems genuinely rose.

• The timing of increases in mental health issues corresponds with the widespread adoption of smartphones and social media, represented by the second wave of digital technology adoption following personal computers and internet access in the 1990s. This suggests smartphones and social media may have contributed to deteriorating youth mental health.

• The author argues that the rise in teen mental health issues like anxiety and depression cannot be attributed to objective threats like wars, economic crises or climate change. Teen mental health did not worsen during major events like 9/11 or the financial crisis that affected older generations.

• Unemployment fell steadily from 2010-2019 as the economy improved, yet teen mental health issues increased. So economic factors do not explain the trend.

• Collective threats like wars historically do not cause rises in mental illness - people usually rally together. Political activism in person can also be energizing.

• The key change the author identifies is the “Great Rewiring of Childhood” from 2010-2015 with the rise of smartphones and always-on social media. This profoundly transformed teen relationships, consciousness and daily life in a way that isolated them and harmed mental well-being, especially for girls. It marks the end of play-based childhood.

• Recent studies find that young climate activists today have worse mental health compared to past generations of activists. Virtual activism may affect youth differently than real-world activism of the past.

• The climate change hypothesis does not fully explain the demographic patterns - mental health issues disproportionately impact preteen girls more than others who would be more engaged politically. The timing of the mental health spike in the early 2010s also does not match the rise of climate activism.

• Youth mental health crises occurred simultaneously in many countries around the world starting in the early 2010s, including culturally similar countries like Canada/UK as well as Nordic nations and globally based on PISA data. This suggests a shared cause beyond any single country’s political events.

• The author argues the massive uptake of smartphone/social media use among youth beginning around 2010, as they entered puberty immersed in virtual connectedness rather than real-world social interaction, could explain the near universal trends across nations. Dubbed the “Great Rewiring of Childhood,” this unprecedented change in technology use may be the overarching driver of rising mental health issues in today’s youth.

• The generation that came of age after 2010 with ubiquitous smartphone usage is called Gen Z, in contrast to Millennials who finished puberty before 2010 when the “Great Rewiring” began.

• Rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide increased significantly among adolescents starting around 2010-2015. This increase hit girls harder than boys, especially preteen girls. Boys were also affected.

• This mental health crisis was seen across multiple developed nations like the US, UK, Canada and Nordic countries around the same time period, suggesting it was not due to any single national event.

• No other theory has adequately explained the unprecedented rise in teen mental health issues across many countries simultaneously except the proliferation of smartphones and addictive technologies after 2010.

• To understand how smartphones may interfere with development, it’s important to examine the key features of human childhood that evolution has shaped, including a slow growth period designed for learning through play, attunement and social learning.

• Free play is beneficial for children’s social and emotional development because it allows them to learn from mistakes without severe consequences. Through unsupervised play, children learn social skills like conflict resolution, taking turns, reading emotions, etc.

• Adults’ involvement can make play less free, playful, and beneficial by directing/protecting too much. Children are intrinsically motivated to learn social skills through play.

• A “play-based childhood” where kids spend free time playing together offline is important for development, as this is how childhood evolved. In contrast, a “phone-based childhood” focused on screens reduces beneficial social experiences.

• Time spent with friends has declined as kids moved from basic phones to smartphones in the 2010s. Smartphones and social media can displace time for beneficial unstructured playtime. They also encourage social comparison and pursuing strategic social goals rather than intrinsic play.

• Infant-parent attunement through turn-taking, shared gaze, laughter is important for attachment and later emotional regulation. Smartphones risk disrupting this attunement when parents are distracted.

• Synchronous activities like singing/dancing together are joyful communal rituals that foster social bonds, but smartphones reduce opportunities for such experiences.

• Synchronous, face-to-face interactions are an important part of human evolution and development for building trust, cooperation and social bonds. But social media draws people, especially kids, into asynchronous interactions that can feel more like work than play.

• Teens, especially girls, now spend significant time (over 2 hours/day or 20 hours/week for some) on social media creating and consuming content to avoid “missing out.” This takes away from time for in-person friend interactions.

• Asynchronous social media interactions are more shallow than real-life conversations as they lack non-verbal cues and are disembodied. Kids are learning to communicate through emojis rather than real facial expressions and body language.

• The loss of in-person attunement has contributed to increasing reports of loneliness and lack of social connection in teens starting in the early 2010s.

• Social learning through conformity and prestige bias is an important evolutionary strategy. But social media more efficiently shapes conformity and quantifies/publishes prestige in ways that can promote unhealthy behaviors over real achievement or excellence.

• Kids’ developing brains have sensitive periods for social learning that are now being hijacked by social media platforms, diverting time and attention away from meaningful role models and relationships.

• In recent decades, American society became overly protective of children’s physical safety in the real world but neglected their safety online, leaving them vulnerable to threats like sexual predators.

• The internet has made it much easier for sexual criminals to communicate with and find illegal content involving children, overwhelming tech companies’ moderation efforts.

• A teen’s essay pointed out how American parents focus too much on physical dangers but ignore the risks children face online, where she accidentally found pornography at age 10 due to lack of age verification on sites.

• While society aims to protect children, overly restrictive rules can undermine important developmental needs. Risky outdoor play allows children to learn, build confidence through managed challenges and risk-taking. But this type of free-range childhood is disappearing.

• Both under- and over-protection can be problematic. A balanced approach is needed that allows supervised risk-taking and exploration while also implementing proper safeguards online tailored to children’s developmental levels. The risks and benefits must be carefully evaluated.

• The author describes finding online porn as a common rite of passage despite his mother’s attentive parenting and attempts to monitor his activities and diet.

• They argue that while parents overprotect children in the real world, they underprotect them online. For true safety, kids should delay entering the virtual world and spend more unsupervised time playing outdoors.

• Unstructured outdoor play teaches kids to handle risks and challenges, building competence and confidence that reduces anxiety. It wires their brains for “discover mode” where they see opportunities rather than threats.

• Conversely, overprotective modern parenting wires kids’ brains for “defend mode” where they are constantly scanning for dangers, cling to safety, and see novelty as threatening rather than opportunities to learn and grow.

• Defend mode leaves kids less able to handle college life, explaining the rise in anxiety and depression diagnoses on campuses around 2014 as the first Generation Z students enrolled after growing up with more restricted, indoor, phone-based childhoods compared to Millennials.

So in summary, the author argues restrictive parenting and lack of unsupervised outdoor play has shifted kids’ default mindset from one of opportunity to one of constant threat, harming their development and mental health.

• Children and many living systems are designed by evolution to be antifragile, meaning they benefit from exposure to reasonable risks and stressors. This helps them develop resilience and adaptability.

• The immune system requires exposure to germs and bacteria as a child in order to develop properly. Overly sterilized environments can harm immune system development.

• Similarly, the “psychological immune system” benefits from learning to cope with minor frustrations, conflicts, and disappointments as a child. This builds skills like emotion regulation.

• Protecting children from all risks and stresses may prevent them from learning these important life skills and can increase vulnerability to anxiety and difficulties later on.

• Risky outdoor play provides opportunities for children to push their capabilities and habituate their fears through repeated exposure and mastery. This helps move them from a “defend” to a more optimal “discover” mode.

• Examples of risky play given are heights, speed, roughhousing, dangerous tools/elements, and disappearing/getting lost. Playground equipment like merry-go-rounds facilitated this type of play.

• Some level of risk in play appears important for healthy development, though extremes can lead to injury. The goal is manageable challenges, not zero risk.

• Playgrounds have become increasingly safe in recent decades, eliminating climbing structures, spinners, and other equipment that poses some risk of injury. This is due to liability concerns in the US.

• Overly safe playgrounds do not allow children to learn risk assessment and how to avoid injuries through experience. One researcher advocates keeping playgrounds “as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible.”

• Risky outdoor play provides developmental benefits like building competence and overcoming anxiety. It allows children to gradually exposure to small risks to build up their ability to handle larger risks as adults.

• In contrast, the online world poses risks of large-scale public shaming from even small mistakes due to virality and anonymity. Children did not evolve to handle these characteristics of online interaction.

• The passage argues parents should supervise children less in the real world to allow risky play, but more online by delaying immersion to avoid potential harms unique to the virtual environment. Childhood experiences are best suited to develop in the physical world.

• The passage discusses the rise of “concerted cultivation” parenting in the 1990s, where parents became highly involved in actively scheduling and coaching their children’s activities. This was driven by fears about college admissions among middle- and upper-class families.

• However, parenting styles also changed in countries without competitive college admissions systems, indicating broader societal factors were at play. These included declining social cohesion, the rise of 24/7 media coverage that spread fear-inducing stories, and changing views of childcare experts.

• A key development was the “breakdown of adult solidarity” as various abuse scandals eroded public trust in institutions and other adults. Parents now felt they had to personally supervise their children at all times. This made parenting more stressful and time-consuming.

• The concept of “emotional safety” expanded in the late 20th century, reflecting a broader societal shift toward safetyism and fears of negative experiences. Children’s independent activities declined sharply as a result of these trends of fearful, concerted cultivation parenting in Western nations from the 1990s onward.

Here is a summary of the key points about the New Yorker cartoon and passage from The Coddling of the American Mind:

• The cartoon depicts an elementary school playground with every activity strictly regulated and monitored by signs listing rules and restrictions. Things like tag, hopscotch, and football can only be played if an adult supervisor is present.

• This reflects the extreme degree of “safetyism” that has developed, where safety has become the top priority above all other concerns like learning or child development. Schools no longer trust children to play on their own or resolve minor conflicts without adult intervention.

• The passage uses this cartoon to illustrate how overprotective parenting and focus on safety has undermined children’s independence, problem-solving skills, and resilience. By removing all opportunities for unsupervised play, kids miss out on important experiences to help them mature.

• The goal of preventing any disputes or risks has become so dominant that schools impose excessive rules that interfere with normal play activities that are developmentally important for kids. This reflects a loss of trust in children and their own judgment.

In summary, the cartoon and discussion portray how an obsession with safety above all else has resulted in overly restrictive and intrusive rules that undermine free play and the building of important life skills in children according to the authors. It demonstrates the powerful negative influence of “safetyism” on child development and independence.

• During puberty, the brain undergoes significant rewiring and structural changes due to pruning and myelination of neurons. This makes the brain more plastic and vulnerable to environmental influences.

• Experiences during puberty can have lasting impacts on brain development and shape a person’s cultural identity and habits. Activities the child engages in frequently will wire their brain in certain ways.

• Chronic stress during puberty can negatively impact brain development and increase risks of mental health issues. However, some acute stress from challenges is beneficial for building resilience.

• In recent decades, strategies like “safetyism” have tried to remove all risks and stresses from children’s lives. This denies them experiences needed for antifragile development.

• Smartphones and screens further limit children’s real-world experiences by displacing time for other activities. Virtual interactions lack features important for social skill development.

• Historically, cultures performed rites of passage to formally mark puberty and transition children to adult roles and responsibilities. This structured process optimized brain development.

Rites of passage are socially and culturally significant rituals that mark major transitions in a person’s life, especially the transition from childhood to adulthood. Traditionally, rites of passage differed for girls and boys and prepared them for gender-specific roles. However, modern secular societies have largely abandoned formal rites of passage.

Three key points are made:

1. In the past, societies had clearer age-based transitions to adulthood like getting a driver’s license at 16 and legal adulthood at 18. But overprotective parenting and safetyism have reduced teenagers’ independence and engagement in adult activities.

2. As real-world activities declined in the 1990s-2000s, teens spent more time in virtual worlds with less parental supervision and guidance. This has disrupted the process of transitioning to adulthood.

3. Without proper rites of passage, adolescents may construct their own unofficial and sometimes dangerous initiation rituals to gain belonging, like dangerous fraternity hazing. There is a need to thoughtfully guide adolescents’ transitions using knowledge of human development needs.

• In the 1990s, the internet became more accessible to young people as personal computers and broadband speeds improved. This gave children virtually unlimited access to online content without age restrictions.

• Social media platforms and many websites do not enforce minimum age limits. Children can freely view pornography and communicate with strangers online.

• On the internet, everyone is seen as the same age without barriers. This does not match the developmental needs of adolescents who require a progression of independence.

• In recent decades, Western societies have cut back on risky play and increased supervision of children. While well-intentioned, this has blocked important experiences for childhood development.

• Smartphones now dominate the attention of even young children and teens, further limiting offline experiences that support brain development.

• Traditional rites of passage helped guide adolescents through puberty by gradually increasing their freedoms and responsibilities. This path to adulthood has been disrupted in modern digital societies.

• The proposal suggests establishing norms around age-based milestones from ages 6-18 to provide a ladder of independence. These would mark increased freedoms but also responsibilities to prepare teens for legal adulthood.

• A secular society can still agree on common milestones to structure the transition to adulthood, even if specifics vary between communities and families. Overall experiences during puberty are highly formative for brain development and healthy adulthood.

Here is a summary of part 3:

• The rise of the smartphone-based childhood began in the late 2000s/early 2010s as adolescents transitioned from basic phones to smartphones with high-speed internet and social media apps.

• The introduction of app stores and third-party app development transformed smartphones from tools we occasionally used into platforms designed to capture our constant attention through addiction and reinforcement techniques.

• Social media platforms also evolved around 2010 in ways that made them more engaging but potentially harmful, such as the introduction of ‘likes’, retweets, and incentives for viral content.

• This new phone-based childhood led to four main harms: social deprivation as children spent less time with others in person; sleep deprivation from late-night phone use; attention fragmentation as focus shifted to many brief stimuli; and addiction to powerful reinforcement feedback loops on apps/social media.

• Subsequent chapters will examine how these harms disproportionately damaged girls through social comparison and relational aggression, as well as boys’ increasing withdrawal into virtual worlds over abandoning the real world. The harms are also contrary to wisdom from religious/philosophical traditions.

• By the early 2010s, social media platforms shifted from connecting friends to encouraging public performances and validation seeking from both friends and strangers.

• Push notifications, front-facing cameras, and faster internet enabled new addictive forms of content consumption on smartphones.

• These changes drove the “Great Rewiring” where childhood began centering around phones by 2015, taking away 2-3 hours per day on average that used to be spent on non-screen activities.

• The opportunity cost of this phone-based childhood included significant social deprivation as time with friends dropped sharply after 2009. Face-to-face social interaction is important for child development but was replaced by less intimate online interaction.

• Even when teens are together, smartphone use interrupts quality social time and leaves others feeling less important than phone notifications. This can damage identity development and mental health as teens seek validation online over in-person interactions.

• Constant phone distractions are undermining family connection time and children’s relationships with their parents. Surveys find many parents feel distracted by phones when spending time with kids.

• Gen Z’s social lives have been devastated by always being connected digitally but disconnected from people physically present. College students report shallow friendships and isolation on campus as peers are absorbed on phones.

• Smartphones have exacerbated teens’ struggle to get sufficient sleep. Teens need 8-9 hours but get less due to late night phone use. Sleep deprivation impairs learning, focus, memory and mental/physical health. It has risen significantly since smartphones became common.

• Teens get an average of 11 notifications per waking hour from apps, totaling over 190 alerts per day. Constant interruptions fragment attention, making it hard to focus or think deeply. Teens struggle to sustain attention or engage effectively due to perpetual distractions, similar to the dystopian story of everyone’s intelligence being handicapped.

In summary, the constant connectivity and distractions of smartphones are undermining family bonding, social lives, sleep needs, and the ability to focus attention - all negatively impacting children’s development and well-being.

• Nicholas Carr’s 2010 book The Shallows argued that the internet was changing how people’s brains processed information by encouraging a constant need for stimulation rather than deep focus and reflection.

• Smartphones take this even further with constant notifications pulling users to different apps. This fragmentation of attention can negatively impact adolescents whose brains are still developing abilities like self-control and focus.

• Studies show smartphone accessibility in class leads students to pay less attention, and even the mere presence of phones nearby impairs cognitive performance on tasks.

• Heavy social media and media multitasking has been linked to worse attention and ADHD symptoms over time, especially in younger adolescents. This may interfere with brain development of executive functions during puberty.

• App designers use variable reward schedules and other behaviorist techniques developed for animal training to create habit-forming feedback loops and keep users engaged in repetitive actions. This can lead to addiction issues for some heavy users by hijacking the brain’s dopamine-based reward system.

Here are the key points about how social media use can impact adolescents’ mental health and well-being:

• Social media uses operant conditioning techniques to keep users engaged and seeking rewards like likes and comments. This can make the apps addictive for some users.

• Teenagers are particularly vulnerable as their prefrontal cortex is still developing and they rely more on emotional and reward centers of the brain.

• Once invested in an app through profiles, photos, friends etc., users may feel internal cravings to check for notifications or rewards.

• Getting intermittent rewards can lead to dopamine adaptation in the brain, making ordinary life feel boring/unpleasant without social media use. This is a hallmark of addiction.

• Withdrawal from social media use can cause anxiety, irritability, insomnia and dysphoria as the dopamine-adapted brain craves its “fix”.

• Chronic sleep deprivation, anxiety and social isolation from overuse can severely impact mental health, school performance and social development.

• However, social media also provides benefits like connecting with like-minded peers, self-expression and accessing important information and support networks. It’s a complex issue with both risks and rewards to consider.

So in summary, while social media interactions can be positive, the underlying psychological mechanisms apps use to gain and maintain engagement pose serious risks to adolescent well-being and mental health if unchecked or misused. Regulation and parental monitoring may help minimize harm.

• This chapter discusses how social media can harm girls more than boys.

• It describes the story of Alexis Spence, who got her first iPad at age 10 in 2012 and was urged by peers to open an Instagram account in 5th grade at age 11 in 2013, despite her parents prohibiting screens in bedrooms and Instagram specifically.

• Alexis found ways to circumvent her parents’ rules by stating she was 13 and hiding the Instagram app icon. While initially excited by gaining followers, her mental health declined over the next few months after opening her Instagram account, and she began showing signs of depression.

• The chapter uses Alexis’ story to introduce how social media exposure at a young age can disproportionately impact girls’ mental health compared to boys. It will likely explore gender differences in social media use and their psychological effects.

So in summary, it sets up how the chapter will examine evidence that social media can harm girls more than boys by highlighting the story of one girl, Alexis, whose mental health declined after joining Instagram against her parents’ wishes at a young age.

• Alexis Spence began using Instagram when she was 12 years old in eighth grade. Within six months, the content Instagram recommended to her shifted from fitness to images of models and then to pro-anorexia content.

• She was hospitalized for anorexia and depression in eighth grade and struggled with eating disorders and depression as a teenager.

• Her parents sued Meta (formerly Facebook), claiming Instagram’s algorithms exposed their daughter to harmful content that contributed to her mental health issues.

• Alexis is now 21 and works as an EMT, but still struggles with eating disorders. Her mother describes a period where Alexis was separated from social media and returned to being her sweet, kind self.

• Studies show social media use is more strongly correlated with depression, anxiety, and eating disorders in girls compared to boys. Heavier social media use is linked to worse mental health outcomes, especially for girls.

• Experiments providing evidence social media use causes harms, not just correlates with them. Reducing social media use leads to reductions in loneliness and depression. Exposure to manipulated photos on Instagram directly lowers body image.

• Social media affects cultures and social dynamics in schools, not just individuals. Its harmful impacts may be even greater when examined at the group or population level.

• Studies found that the rollout of social media platforms like Facebook led to worse mental health outcomes, especially more depression, among college students compared to those without access. Women seemed to be affected more.

• Similar results were found when high-speed internet became available in different parts of Spain and other regions at different times. Girls exhibited more hospitalizations for behavioral and mental health issues compared to boys. They spent less time on other activities and more time online.

• Social media usage increased dramatically among adolescents starting in the early 2010s as smartphones became ubiquitous. Girls tended to use more visually-oriented and image-focused platforms like Instagram and Snapchat more heavily than boys.

• These platforms exploited psychological differences between girls and boys. Girls placed more importance on social connection and relationships (communion), while boys valued independence and competence more (agency). Social media threatened girls’ social standing and satisfaction of their communion needs through constant visual comparison to unrealistic standards. This vulnerability, combined with their greater time spent on damaging platforms, likely explains why girls’ mental health declined more sharply.

In summary, the studies indicate that increased social media usage correlated with and likely contributed to rising mental health issues in adolescents, particularly depression among girls, as their social lives rapidly migrated online through smartphones. Girls faced unique psychological vulnerabilities being exploited by these new image-focused platforms.

Social media has increased pressure on girls to constantly improve their beauty through filters and photo editing tools that promise perfection. This has led to more social comparison and lower self-satisfaction among girls. Exposure to heavily edited images on platforms like Instagram, even just briefly, can negatively impact girls’ perceptions of their own appearance. Constantly comparing themselves to seemingly “perfect” peers online has taken a toll on girls’ mental health and contributed to rising rates of anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide. Additionally, social media has magnified relational aggression and cyberbullying among girls by enabling anonymous accounts, rumors, and attacks that spread quickly and are difficult to escape. The online world has become another venue for the indirect aggression that research shows girls engage in more than boys during adolescence. This constant monitoring of their image and words has placed immense pressure on girls and fueled a tendency toward “defend mode” over discovery and exploration during a critical period of development.

Here is a summary of the key points from the essay:

• Social media has made relational aggression and bullying much easier for teenage girls, through mechanisms like anonymous hate pages, cancel culture campaigns, and subtle forms of passive aggression like ignoring tags or soft blocking.

• Research shows that emotions and mental health states like happiness, depression, and anxiety can spread through social networks. Depression in particular spreads significantly from women to both men and women in their social network.

• After 2010 when social media took off, rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm and other issues rose rapidly among teenage girls globally.

• Social media facilitates the spread of “sociogenic” illnesses - epidemics caused by social contagion rather than biology. Symptoms include anxiety, hyperventilation, hysterical dancing, etc. Historically these spread through face-to-face communities but now spread more quickly online.

• On platforms like TikTok, mental health issues are shared and amplified, with teens displaying symptoms to gain followers. The algorithms then show more extreme content, reinforcing trends.

• Several disorders seem to be spreading sociogenically online, like Tourette’s tics mimicking popular influencers. Getting teens off social media is a common treatment approach.

• Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder, involves having distinct personality states or identities known as alters that may have different ages, genders, personalities, etc. It was dramatized in the 1957 film The Three Faces of Eve.

• DID was historically rare but diagnoses have increased recently, primarily among adolescent girls influenced by social media. TikTok influencers portraying multiple personalities have millions of followers and may be contributing to more self-diagnoses.

• Similarly, rates of gender dysphoria diagnoses have increased rapidly in recent years, especially among adolescent females. While increasing acceptance plays a role, clustering of cases and social media influence suggest social contagion may also be a factor.

• Girls are more vulnerable to sexual predation and harassment online from both adult men and male classmates. They are expected to share nude photos but face greater shame if they do. This increased sexualization and need for vigilance may have contributed to rising anxiety levels in girls starting in the early 2010s.

• The explosion of social media connections led to more shallow relationships and less time for close friendships. This reduced social support and quality of connections, contributing to increased loneliness reported by both girls and boys after 2012.

Here are the key points about what is happening to boys according to the summary:

• Boys have followed a different path than girls through the “Great Rewiring” caused by digital technology and social media. While girls have seen higher rates of internalizing disorders like depression and anxiety, boys’ mental health issues have risen as well in recent years.

• Boys started spending less time with friends and pulling away from the real world even earlier than girls, dating back to the early 2000s. Their engagement declined further after 2010.

• Boys’ rates of agreeing with the statement “People like me don’t have much of a chance at a successful life” rose gradually from the 1970s through the 2000s, and then more quickly in the early 2010s.

• Boys’ mental health outcomes are more varied than girls’ and have not been clearly linked to one technology. The summary suggests boys experienced a more gradual disengagement from the real world and deepening immersion in the virtual world.

• Their suicide rates have been rising to hit both sexes, though they remain higher for boys overall. So while girls have been harder hit by internalizing disorders, boys face rising risks to their mental health and engagement as well according to the evidence presented.

• Starting in the early 2010s, most teens got smartphones that they could plug into the internet anywhere and anytime. This allowed constant connectivity.

• For boys, having internet-connected devices at a young age pulled many of them away from real-world interaction and into virtual worlds. They could explore, compete, watch videos, etc. through screens.

• This “push-pull” effect of less hospitable real world and appealing virtual options has disconnected boys from the real world and caused many to invest more in virtual worlds instead of developing social skills for the real world.

• While some boys may find career success in tech related to their virtual skills, many struggle in the real world as adults due to lack of in-person social and life skills from growing up virtually immersed. It has increased risks of things like loneliness, depression, and “failing to launch” as independent adults.

• Boys have increasingly retreated from the real world into the virtual world over the past few decades due to factors like overprotective parenting, declining opportunities for unsupervised play and adventure, and the rise of engaging online gaming and porn.

• In the late 1990s/2000s, technological advancements like high-speed internet, wifi, gaming consoles, laptops, and smartphones allowed private immersion in the virtual world from one’s bedroom. Boys could satisfy desires for agency and social interaction virtually rather than in risky real-world activities.

• However, excessive time alone interacting virtually may not truly satisfy boys’ needs for agency and social connection. Their mental health issues accelerated after 2010 as virtual world consumption increased, suggesting it does not replace important developmental experiences in the real world like managing risks, building confidence through challenging activities, and forming close friendships.

• In retreating from the real world, boys have experienced less opportunities to learn from failures, overcome fears through challenging experiences like climbing trees, develop cooperation skills through group activities, etc. This lack of developmental experiences may contribute to their rising rates of anxiety, depression and internalizing issues.

• Rates of depression, suicide and anxiety began rising around 2010 coinciding with the rise of smartphones. Smartphones allowed companies to extract people’s attention constantly rather than just on computers or gaming consoles.

• Technology companies pivoted to mobile apps and adopted free-to-use advertising models to engage adolescents. Video games also added pay-to-progress microtransactions.

• Boys’ social and entertainment lives increasingly moved online through different apps like social media, gaming, pornography, gambling and dating apps. By 2015, boys were exposed to high levels of stimulation seeking and attention extraction not previously possible.

• Online pornography provided unlimited access to all types of hardcore content that boys could view privately. Studies found rising rates of daily pornography use and signs of addiction among some boys. Heavy use is linked to unrealistic views of relationships and less attraction to real partners.

• Video games are more complex, with both benefits like cognitive improvements but also potential for addiction problems for some heavy users where gaming replaces real social connections and relationships. Overall, the evidence does not clearly link moderate gaming to harms.

• Researchers divide gamers into four groups based on their gaming habits and symptoms - addicted, problematic, engaged, and casual. Addicted gamers show signs of addiction like relapse and withdrawal.

• About 7% of adolescent boys show signs of “internet gaming disorder” like significant impairment in their lives due to heavy gaming. This translates to about 1 in 13 boys.

• Heavy gaming reduces opportunities for other activities like sleep, exercise, and socializing. It replaces real-world adventure and play with virtual worlds.

• Online gaming provides more quantity of social interaction but lower quality than in-person interaction. It does not develop important social skills as well as free play. Rates of loneliness in boys have increased as gaming replaced other activities.

• Unfettered access to technology, entertainment and social media for boys may foster a sense of anomie or normlessness. Without strong, stable communities, life can feel meaningless.

• Both boys and girls have experienced rising rates of depression and anxiety in the 2010s as their social lives moved online through platforms and gaming, losing qualities like roots and constraints of real-world communities.

• In the early 2010s, boys experienced a slow decline in achievement, engagement in school, work and family life, unlike girls. Boys withdrew more of their time to the virtual world as the physical world opposed unsupervised risk-taking.

• Boys are more at risk than girls of “failure to launch” - not being in education, employment or training. Some Japanese men became “hikikomori” - lifelong withdrawal to their bedrooms.

• American teen boys’ thinking patterns shifted in the early 2010s to a pattern more common in girls - higher rates of internalizing thoughts. Boys also shunned risk more.

• Boys’ mental health did not decline much pre-2010s as they engaged less in risky outdoor activities. But it declined after they got smartphones and moved social lives more online.

• Unlimited free pornography on smartphones satisfied boys’ desires without developing real-world skills for adulthood.

• Video games offered benefits but also harms, especially for 7% of boys becoming problematic or addicted users, impacting their health, relationships and life.

• For both boys and girls, online connections increased but quality of real relationships decreased, making them lonelier during the “Great Rewiring” of childhood.

• The flux of online networks led to a lack of stable norms and moralities, known as “anomie,” which breeds despair and suicide. Overall, both boys and girls ended up feeling their lives were meaningless.

Here is a summary of the key points regarding practices within faith communities:

• Shared Sacredness: Religions create shared rituals and experiences to temporarily lift people out of their individual concerns and into a collective, sacred mindset. This promotes stronger social bonds and better well-being. Virtual life lacks clearly designated sacred times, places or objects.

• Embodiment: Religious rituals commonly involve coordinated physical movement like kneeling, dancing, etc. This synchronous movement enhances feelings of togetherness. Shared meals also strengthen social bonds. Virtual interactions lack these embodied practices.

• Stillness, Silence and Focus: Many faiths incorporate meditation, silence and mindfulness to train the mind. Monastic retreats promote quiet reflection. Regular meditation practice can change brain function and confer mental health benefits like reduced anxiety and depression. Virtual life lacks opportunities for collective stillness.

In summary, faith communities traditionally brought people together through shared rituals, movement and experiences in designated sacred times and places. This nourishing of social bonds and mindfulness practices positively impacts well-being. Virtual life currently lacks substitutes for these embodied, communal faith practices.

• Ha described samadhi, a meditative state, as one of “mental unity” where the mind is not scattered. He used the metaphor of guarding a levee to prevent floods as representing protecting oneself from mental scattering.

• Smartphones and social media disrupt this state of mental unity by constantly flooding consciousness with alerts and trivial information. This fragments attention and scatters consciousness, making it hard to be fully present with others or alone with one’s thoughts.

• To experience stillness, silence, focus and unified consciousness, we must reduce external visual and auditory stimulation from screens. We should find more opportunities for quiet activities like meditation, nature, and thoughtful solo activities like long drives.

• The passage discusses how spiritual experiences often involve a loss of self and more connection to something beyond oneself. Research found brain regions linked to ego and self-focus (“default mode network”) become less active during spiritual practices.

• Social media is designed to strongly activate this default mode network by constantly focusing on the self and how one appears to others. This runs counter to spiritual traditions’ teachings on lessening egoic concerns.

• The passage advises reducing social media use and seeking out conditions like prayer, meditation and nature that have the opposite effect of weakening egoic thinking and promoting self-transcendence. This allows greater connection beyond one’s self.

• The passage discusses how humans have an innate “God-shaped hole” or emptiness that we seek to fill. This evolved through group selection where religious beliefs and behaviors promoted group cohesion.

• How we fill this hole matters. If not filled with something noble, modern society risks pumping it full of garbage through constant media exposure.

• A phone-based life generally pulls people downward on a “divinity dimension” through the large amount of algorithm-driven content we are exposed to, much of which is self-focused or pulls us downward morally.

• Certain religious and spiritual practices like rituals, shared meals, and embodied/synchronous activities have been shown to improve well-being by moving people between individual and collective mindsets and bonding them through shared experiences.

• In contrast, the virtual world is entirely individual/profane and lacks the structures of time, space, embodiment, and community that make religious/spiritual rituals so powerful. To fill the God-shaped hole with more positive things, people need to take back control of their media diets and lives from phones and algorithms.

Here is a summary of the key points about sly from the passage:

• Sly describes collective action problems, which occur when individual self-interested actions by many people lead to a poor overall outcome for the group. Examples given are overfishing and the peer pressure for kids to get smartphones.

• In a collective action problem, each individual feels constrained by what others are doing, but if the group could coordinate their actions, a better outcome could be achieved for all.

• Four main types of collective responses are described that can help solve collective action problems: voluntary coordination, changing social norms, technological solutions, and laws/rules.

• Voluntary coordination involves groups like “Wait Until 8th” where families pledge together not to give kids phones until later.

• Social norms can be influenced to see certain actions in a more positive or negative moral light, like views on childhood independence.

• Technological solutions like new phone designs could reduce pressures to get smartphones.

• Laws and rules from governments and institutions can mandate changes in company policies or set clear boundaries through legislation or policies.

So in summary, sly outlines how collective action problems arise and discusses key approaches of coordination, social influence, technology, and policy that could potentially solve such problems.

• The chapter discusses how social media and tech companies employ psychological techniques and design features to capture as much user attention as possible for advertising revenue.

• Former Google ethicist Tristan Harris explained this is a “race to the bottom of the brainstem” as companies use triggers like variable rewards, infinite scrolling, and social validation metrics to become more addictive.

• The advertising business model turns users into the product by leveraging personalization to hook and extract attention.

• For revenue-driven platforms, the main imperatives are getting more users, more time spent, and more user-generated content to attract others.

• One tactic is failing to enforce age minimums for sites like Instagram. While companies compete for attention, government regulation could incentivize protecting users, especially minors, from harmful attention-grabbing designs and data practices.

So in summary, the chapter outlines how tech incentives have led to addictive design and how government policy could help change those incentives to make platforms less attention-extractive, especially for children and teens.

• The passage discusses issues with social media platforms allowing minors to use their services. It notes that platforms have little incentive to block underage users as younger users are highly valuable for future engagement and growth.

• Platforms use techniques like autoplay, infinite scroll, and algorithmic recommendation to keep users engaged for longer. They also encourage social validation through features like Snapchat streaks to get users posting more content.

• However, these design choices are not well-suited for protecting minors. The passage advocates for governments and companies to take more action to establish a duty of care towards minors and end exploitative practices.

• Specific proposals include asserting a duty of care through laws like the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code, raising the age of internet adulthood to 16, verifying ages more robustly, and limiting data collection and targeting of minors by advertisers. The goal is to better shield minors from predatory and addictive design while online.

• The author argues that the minimum age for minors to accept terms of service and give away their data to companies should be raised from 13 to 16. While 16-year-olds are still not adults, they are more mature than 13-year-olds and past a key period of vulnerability to social media harms.

• Simple age verification like showing ID would not work for most sites, as it threatens privacy and few would give up personal information. But anonymous age verification through third parties is possible, using methods like vouched networks, blockchain tokens, or biometrics.

• Parents should be able to “mark” their children’s devices to indicate the user is a minor, so platforms know not to admit them without parental consent. Operating system providers like Apple could build on existing parental controls to implement this.

• Phone-free schools supported by government funds could help by keeping distracting devices out of students’ hands during the day, improving both well-being and academic performance. This would reduce peer pressure from platforms like social media as well.

So in summary, the author argues for raising the age of consent to 16, facilitating anonymous age verification, and empowering schools and parents with tech tools to better gate minor access and exposure online.

Governments at state and federal levels can take several actions to support real-world learning experiences for students:

1. Support research on the effects of phone-free schools to understand the potential benefits for student mental health and academic performance. Departments of education could fund this type of research.

2. Incentivize giving children more independence and freedom through revised neglect laws. States should pass “reasonable childhood independence” laws to clarify that neglect is actual harm and not a lack of constant supervision.

3. Encourage more play in schools by mandating more recess and free playtime, especially in elementary and middle schools. This supports the research on benefits of play.

4. Design public spaces with children in mind through walkable streets, mixed-use zoning, playground placement, and temporary street closures near schools to facilitate play and social interaction.

5. Support more vocational education, apprenticeships, and youth development programs as alternatives to the academic focus to engage more students and smooth their transition to careers or further education. Governments can subsidize these programs.

In summary, governments have a role in addressing laws, research, zoning, and programs to better support real-world learning experiences for students through independence, play, vocational opportunities, and public space design.

The chapter argues that going phone-free and increasing free play time are two major steps schools can take to address the mental health crisis among students. It cites evidence that phone bans at schools like Mountain Middle School in Colorado led to improvements in academic performance, reduced cyberbullying and social comparison, and strengthened community. While most schools claim to ban phones, these bans are usually ineffective if they only apply during class time and not the entire school day. The chapter recommends students store their phones securely during the day to create truly phone-free schools. It also notes international organizations like UNESCO now acknowledge the harmful effects of constant phone/digital distraction on learning. Increasing recess and free play time is the other key step recommended, as this helps address issues like attention problems, anxiety, and social-emotional development that phones and lack of in-person interaction can exacerbate. Addressing these two major issues of phones and lack of play could do more than smaller piecemeal measures to improve student mental health and well-being, according to the chapter.

• Children from lower-income families and racial minorities on average have more unsupervised screen time and less supervision of their online activities compared to wealthier and white children. This exacerbates educational inequalities.

• The “digital divide” used to mean the poor had less internet access, but now it means they have less protection from excessive screen time.

• Excessive smartphone use damages learning and social relationships. Students report feeling less sense of belonging at school after 2012 when smartphone adoption increased.

• Phone-free schools could improve school socializing and mental health by reducing distraction. However, technology and internet access overall benefits education when used appropriately.

• The key issues are personal devices students bring to school all day, which are designed to grab attention and pull students out of class constantly with notifications. Schools that care about learning and well-being should go phone-free.

• One school saw success incorporating more free unstructured playtime through longer recess, opening the playground early, and after-school play clubs with few rules. This addressed social-emotional learning and reduced behavioral issues.

• The “Let Grow Project” assigns students to do independent tasks at home to give them and parents confidence. Overprotection fuels anxiety; controlled risks and responsibilities benefit development.

Lenore was invited to spend an afternoon talking to kids about projects they did. Some kids shared new experiences of independence, like going to the park alone or cooking a meal. They felt more confident and like they were discovering who they were. One girl especially enjoyed staying home alone with her little sister one morning - it made her feel important and needed.

Allowing kids more independence through small tasks requires collective action from communities. If kids feel supported by their whole school or town, parents won’t worry as much about letting kids do more on their own. Our culture of fear has held kids back from experiencing what they’re truly capable of.

To improve recess, schools should increase time for it, develop better playgrounds, and reduce strict rules. American kids get much less recess time than prisoners get outdoor time. Playgrounds could add more natural materials and “loose parts” for open-ended play. When given these opportunities, kids’ social, cognitive and emotional development can greatly benefit.

• U.S. middle and high schools have seen increasing rates of mental illness and psychological suffering among students since the early 2010s, and schools are implementing various policies to address it.

• The author suggests focusing on two low-cost approaches that could have a big impact: going phone-free and becoming more play-focused (“play-full”).

• A phone-free policy means no phones allowed at all during the school day, not just banning phone use during class. Students would store phones in lockers or pouches on arrival.

• Schools can become more play-full by adding an after-school Play Club with free play, loose parts, and minimal supervision. They can also improve recess by providing more time, better playgrounds, and fewer rules.

• The Let Grow Project homework assignment, which asks children to do something new on their own, may also help reduce anxiety.

• The author proposes experimentally testing phone-free, play-full, and combined approaches in entire schools to evaluate impacts on student mental health and learning compared to control schools. This could help stem the flow of anxious, depressed students entering high school.

• For young children ages 0-5, prioritize more unsupervised playtime with other children to foster learning and development. Minimize screen time, especially for children under 2, and prioritize video chatting over passive viewing.

• Encourage responsibilities around the home to make children feel useful and part of the family. Don’t overly focus on making activities educational; relationships are more important.

• For children ages 6-13, focus on allowing independence and unstructured social time with peers. Outdoor activities are especially beneficial. Minimize structured after-school activities in favor of free play and personal projects.

• Schools can better engage boys by offering more shop classes, vocational/technical training, and hiring more male teachers. Improving recess is also recommended.

• Preventing problems through less screen time, more free play, and independence-granting is better than trying to fix issues later. Communities should work to provide safe spaces for children’s independent activities.

• This age range of elementary school children are going through sensitive periods where they learn culture and assess risks through social learning mechanisms like conformity bias and prestige bias.

• It’s important for parents to think about positive role models for their children during this time and help get those role models into their child’s life.

• To facilitate better social learning, children need more unsupervised experiences in the real world rather than time spent alone on screens.

• Suggestions are given for allowing more independence like letting kids run errands without parents, encouraging sleepovers and walking to school, emphasizing free play after school, going camping, and sending kids to summer camps without devices.

• Forming neighborly social structures like “playborhoods” where kids can safely play outdoors also helps.

• Exposure to small amounts of independence over time helps parents and kids become more comfortable with it.

• Screen time should be limited during this period, with a recommendation of no more than 2 hours per day, to encourage other types of valuable social and real world experiences. Parental modeling of screen behavior is also important.

Here are some key recommendations for parents regarding technology use by teens aged 13-18 based on the passage:

• Gradually increase teens’ independence and responsibilities in the real world through greater mobility (biking, public transit, driving), more unsupervised time with friends away from home/school, and taking on more tasks at home like chores, errands, cooking. This helps foster development and prevents feelings of uselessness.

• Continue using parental controls and filters on devices, but gradually give teens more freedom and independence online over time as they mature. The goal is for them to be self-regulated by age 18 with no parental monitoring.

• Talk to teens openly about risks online like inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and sexting. Ask for their perspectives on peer issues to foster discussion.

• Consider delaying opening social media accounts until age 16 to avoid the most vulnerable early teenage years of extensive engagement and data sharing driven by algorithms.

• Look for signs of problematic technology use or addiction and set limits if needed through digital detox or reduced access periods. Prioritize in-person activities, relationships and sufficient sleep.

• Provide structure through consistent rules like limits on weekday vs weekend usage and device-free family meals/activities to balance screen time.

The overall approach emphasizes graduated responsibility both online and off, while maintaining open communication and monitoring potential issues or imbalanced usage.

• The passage discusses ways parents can encourage independence and real-world experiences for their teens to help them mature.

• It suggests getting a part-time job, volunteering jobs like babysitting that teach responsibility, and high school exchange programs to experience different cultures and environments.

• Outdoor adventures like hiking, camping, and multi-day programs can build skills and confidence through challenging experiences in nature.

• A gap year after high school before college allows teens to explore interests and become more self-sufficient through travel, work, or volunteering.

• It advises limiting screen time in favor of more unsupervised playtime as children and reducing smartphone dependency by delaying when teens get their own smartphones until high school.

• The goal is for teens to engage more with the real world through activities that encourage independence, leadership, responsibility and developing competence through experiences outside their comfort zone.

• The passage encourages allowing children to get older, increase their mobility, and take on part-time jobs or learn from other adults to gain independence and confidence. It suggests considering exchange programs, summer wilderness programs, and gap years.

• The goal is to promote a “free-range childhood” with less constant supervision and more unstructured play time to reduce anxiety levels compared to an overly controlled “safetyism” approach.

• It recommends limited screen time for young children, under 18-24 months with no screens except video calls, and designating device-free times and places for elementary/middle school kids.

• Parents taking these steps helps solve the “collective action problem” by making it easier for other parents to also delay smartphones and technologies and allow more childhood freedom and independence.

The key suggestions are promoting more unsupervised play time for children, delaying smartphones until high school, limiting social media access until age 16, implementing phone-free schools, and increasing independence through programs like exchanges, wilderness programs and gap years. Speaking up about these issues and linking with like-minded parents, schools and organizations can help drive reforms to bring childhood back from an overly technology-focused era.

The passage argues that bringing children up entirely on Mars, without their parents’ consent, would be unacceptable. However, in some ways society has already done something similar by allowing children to grow up immersed in the virtual world rather than the real world.

The “Great Rewiring of Childhood” from play-based to phone-based has been a failure and a catastrophe. Children need real-world communities and physical play for healthy development, rather than being rooted in disembodied virtual networks. Growing up this way promotes anxiety, disconnectedness, and loneliness.

It’s time to end the experiment and bring children fully back home. Children may physically be on Earth, but they are not fully present and engaged if immersed in virtual worlds instead of real-world interactions and exploration. The passage calls for giving children more independence and reconnecting them to physical play and community.

Here is a summary of the two articles on the history of leaded gasoline and its effects:

• Leaded gasoline was widely used from the 1920s until the late 20th century, despite known health risks. Lead was added to gasoline to improve engine performance.

• Studies in the 1960s-70s showed lead exposure from gasoline fumes causes neurological damage and lowers IQ in children. However, the oil industry suppressed this research and continued marketing leaded gasoline.

• Areas with higher gas usage and air lead levels saw higher rates of juvenile delinquency and criminal behavior in later decades. The lead-crime hypothesis suggests lead exposure impaired brain development and increased aggressiveness in children.

• Other sources of lead exposure included lead paint and contamination of water pipes. The average IQ of Americans is estimated to have increased 3-5 points after leaded gasoline was phased out in the 1970s-80s, as children’s exposure levels dropped.

• It took over 100 years for leaded gasoline to be phased out completely, despite clear evidence it was poisoning people and lowering intelligence in mass populations due to widespread air and dust contamination from vehicle emissions. The oil industry prioritized profits over public health risks.

Here is a summary of the notes referenced in the passage:

Note 22 - Refers the reader to a graph for older teens that is similar to another graph and can be found in an online supplement.

Note 23 - Notes that girls suffer more depression and make more suicide attempts using reversible methods like cutting, while boys make fewer attempts but use more permanent methods like guns or jumping from heights.

Note 24 - Cites an Our World in Data article about the rise of social media from 2019.

Note 25 - Mentions the author will discuss the peak number of liberal democracies globally in the 1990s in a future book.

Note 26 - States chapters 2, 5 and 6 will explain how social media damages mental health.

Notes 27-32 - Cite various studies and reports on teen social media and technology use from 2012-2022.

Note 33 - Cites a quote from Sherry Turkle’s book on technology distancing people.

Note 34 - Notes Samsung introduced Android smartphones in 2009.

Notes 35-37 - Provide details on the growth and usage statistics of Instagram from 2012-2023.

Note 38 - Describes the Sandy Hook school shooting and notes it was one of the most horrific mass shootings.

Note 39 - Cites US labor and mental health statistics and notes depression rates have increased.

Notes 40-41 - Discusses theories from Durkheim and others linking societal changes to suicide rates.

Notes 42-43 - Cite studies linking social comparison and social media to depression.

Note 44 - Cites a source on why Canada didn’t have a 2008 banking crisis like the US.

Note 45 - Refers to a collaborative review document on Canadian mental health trends.

Notes 46-47 - Cite a Canadian data report and notes on trends in adolescent mood disorders.

Notes 48-49 - Notes on trends in the UK, including rising self-harm rates among boys.

Notes 50-51 - Discussion of graphs comparing UK mental health trends among boys and girls.

Notes 52-53 - Notes on trends in Australia and Nordic countries from available data sources.

Notes 54-56 - Discussion of global surveys like HBSC showing declines in well-being since early 2000s.

Note 57 - Cites a study by Twenge on alienation and psychological distress.

Note 58 - More details on the study cited in Note 57.

Note 59 - Notes the authors considered alternative explanations for the trends.

Note 60 - Notes the collection of international data and publications of findings.

Here is a summary of NOTE REFERENCE 61:

• This note references a chapter titled “What Children Need to Do in Childhood”.

• It provides citations for various claims and studies referenced in that chapter. The citations include journal articles, books, and research reports on topics like time spent with friends, childhood development, risky play, and the need for free play in childhood.

• The note acts as an endnote/reference list that can be referred back to learn more about the sources cited in the chapter. Each citation is numbered and includes a “BACK TO NOTE REFERENCE” link to allow jumping back to where that reference was cited.

• In total there are 35 individual citations provided covering research on social, emotional, cognitive and cultural development during childhood. The references largely support the idea that free, unstructured play is important for children’s well-being and learning.

So in summary, NOTE REFERENCE 61 is a set of endnotes citing sources from a chapter discussing what children need to do during childhood, particularly in terms of play, to support their healthy development. It provides publication details for 35 separate citations made within that chapter.

Here is a summary of the notes:

• Notes 6-9 provide references to news articles and reviews discussing the rise in mental health issues and perceived safety issues on college campuses.

• Note 8 discusses examples of “safe space” issues on campuses where students were accused of violating safe spaces.

• Note 10 references a book by Taleb on risk and uncertainty.

• Notes 11-16 provide references regarding the benefits of risky play and outdoor play for children’s development and mental health. This includes research on declining free play and increased safety restrictions.

• Notes 17-19 include photos illustrating dangerous old playground equipment and fences/barriers that have been removed over safety concerns.

• Notes 20-26 discuss the importance of unstructured outdoor play and risky play for children’s development, with references to related research.

• Notes 27-33 discuss societal trends contributing to less free play, like heightened competition, safety fears, and changing family structures.

• Notes 34-46 discuss the rise of “paranoid parenting” and moral panics around issues like daycare sexual abuse allegations that have contributed to more restrictive parenting.

• Notes 47-53 discuss the concepts of “emotional safety” and safe spaces on campuses, as well as parents extending guardianship further into childhood.

• Notes 54-56 discuss attachment theory and historical ages that children were expected to carry out independent activities.

• The chapter summary discusses puberty blocking the transition to adulthood, with references noting brain development continues into early 20s and importance of this transition period.

In summary, the notes provide references and context regarding issues like increased mental health problems, perceptions of safety, benefits of risky play, trends toward more protective parenting, and blocking of independence and transition to adulthood.

Here is a summary of key points from the passage:

• Social media platforms are primarily focused on advertising revenues, not user well-being. Their business model incentivizes maximizing user engagement and attention to show more ads.

• Smartphone adoption accelerated rapidly after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and app stores in 2008. There are now millions of apps catering to endless scrolling and notifications.

• Kids and teens now spend 5-8 hours per day on screens for entertainment aside from schoolwork. This level of screen use is a new phenomenon that has emerged in the last decade.

• Passive, unintentional social media use is associated with increased risks of mental health issues like depression and anxiety, while active social connection online is less risky.

• Lower-income youth tend to spend more time on screens, while executives and many private schools actively limit screen use. The disparities hint at screen time becoming an inequality issue.

In summary, the passage discusses the rapid growth of digital technologies and social media and how this has led to unprecedented levels of recreational screen use among today’s youth, which some research links to mental health risks if not balanced with real-world social connection. It also notes disparities in screen time linked to socioeconomic status.

• Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ youth tend to spend more time on screens per day than white and cis heterosexual counterparts respectively. Black tweens spend about 2 more hours, Latino tweens spend about 2.5 more hours, and LGBTQ teens spend about 3 more hours per day on screens.

• 35% of US teens report being on at least one social media platform almost constantly.

• Studies show increased screen time is associated with poorer sleep, higher ADHD symptoms, and lower academic performance in teens. Heavy social media use in particular may negatively impact mental health and well-being.

• Factors like notifications, compulsiveness of design, and ad/content targeting can make apps addictive for some teens. Schools banning phones aim to reduce distractions and protect developing minds. However, screens also provide value when used judiciously. More research is still needed to fully understand both risks and benefits.

Here is a summary of CK TO NOTE REFERENCE 67:

• The chapter questions studies that claim social and educational benefits of social media by noting that many were conducted before 2012, before newer platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok became popular.

• It refers to a 2017 review by Uhls et al. that cited many pre-2012 studies and sources focused on general internet use rather than specific social media platforms.

• This raises doubts about whether the claimed benefits fully apply to contemporary social media usage involving newer platforms. More recent and focused research may be needed.

The researchers believe that the current scientific evidence is not yet sufficient to prove that social media definitively causes mental health issues like anxiety, depression, etc. However, Haidt acknowledges their objections and discusses his responses to them in a Substack post titled “Why Some Researchers Think I’m Wrong About Social Media and Mental Illness”. More evidence may still be needed to reach a consensus view.

Here is a summary of the article “The Tiktok-inspired surge in dissociative identity disorder” from Psychology Today:

• TikTok has seen a huge increase in videos depicting dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder. Some TikTokers have dozens of distinct “alters” or personalities.

• Experts are concerned this is influencing young people to self-diagnose with DID without a proper medical evaluation. DID is considered quite rare, affecting only about 1% of those with mental illnesses.

• The portrayal of DID on TikTok often shows people switching dramatically between alters, whereas in reality switches tend to be more subtle. This could lead to misdiagnosis or people exaggerating symptoms.

• There is a “socially contagious” element where impressionable young people are influenced by what they see. Social media encourages portrayals that are entertaining but not always realistic or based on facts.

• Experts worry the glamorization of mental illness on TikTok could do more harm than good and may distract from evidence-based treatment for actual disorders. Care must be taken not to medicalize normal adolescent experiences.

In summary, the article discusses the growing trend on TikTok of people portraying and self-diagnosing with DID, and experts’ concerns this could influence young people in misleading ways and distract from professional diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.

TikTok and other social media platforms have been associated with dangerous viral challenges that have led to severe injuries and even deaths among adolescents. One challenge, called “Blackout”, encourages participants to film themselves strangling themselves until they lose consciousness. According to one report, at least 15 children under age 12 died from attempting this challenge between 2021-2022. Other challenges like “Devious Licks” encourage vandalism of school bathrooms. These dangerous challenges seem to be undertaken mostly by boys. Excessive use of technology like gaming, social media, porn, etc. has been linked to potential negative effects on mental health and relationships for some adolescents. New concerns have also emerged around immersive technologies like virtual girlfriends and their potential impact on forming healthy expectations and relationships.

Here are the summaries of the notes referenced in the text:

NOTE REFERENCE 67: No summary, it is a citation for a book by Durkheim from 1897/1951.

NOTE REFERENCE 68: No summary provided.

The other notes provide summaries of research studies, opinions, or quotes referenced in the text. They cover topics like:

• Research on the effects of prayer and synchrony/collective rituals.
• Studies on benefits of team sports, meditation, and nature exposure.
• Quotes from religious texts and philosophers on concepts like judgment, compassion, ego, and awe.
• Background on challenges of social media addiction and the role of tech companies.
• Potential policy approaches like age verification, default settings, design codes/regulations.

In general, the notes serve to provide citations, context and evidence for claims made in the chapter regarding topics of spirituality, collective action, technology impacts, and potential solutions/interventions. Let me know if you need any specific note summarized.

Here is a summary of policies and proposals posed or implemented by governments and legislatures in the United States and other countries to address youth mental health and well-being related to technology use:

• Cellphone bans or restricting cellphone use in schools. This has become more common in recent years, aimed at reducing distraction and improving focus during classroom time.

• Proposed legislation at state and federal levels to make online platforms more accountable for youth well-being and addiction issues. For example, the Kids Online Safety Act in the U.S.

• Age verification requirements for social media platforms to restrict youth under 13 from signing up without parental consent. Platforms have also implemented their own privacy changes for teen users.

• Recommendations from organizations like UNESCO to implement a global ban on smartphone use in schools to put student learning first.

• Investing in youth development programs outside of school like apprenticeships, wilderness therapy programs, and boosting access to outdoor activities and public transportation.

• Modifying civil codes that hold parents criminally responsible for very minor decisions about child independence, to avoid overcriminalizing normal childhood behavior.

• Promoting school policy changes like banning phones during school hours, increasing recess time, opening school areas after hours as community spaces, and designing streets around schools to be safer for kids’ independent mobility.

The common themes across these different policies and proposals are aiming to balance technology use and online safety with the needs of healthy development, focusing on design-based solutions over just content restrictions, and supporting youth well-being both in and outside of school.

The notes discuss conducting experiments on implementing phone-free policies and increased free play in schools. It suggests randomly assigning middle schools to either go phone-free while others make no change, or establishing “Play Clubs” vs no Play Clubs. The goal would be to measure outcomes like mental health, bullying, academic achievement, and student and teacher reports. Establishing clear, agreed-upon measures in advance would be important. Due to limitations like only having a small number of schools, random assignment may need adjustments to ensure comparable experimental groups. Elementary schools could start with simpler experimentsfirst before expanding. The notes recognize that addressing liability concerns would allow schools to focus on education over lawsuits. Overall, the discussion centers on the value of rigorously testing these types of policies through large-scale randomized experiments in schools.

Here is a summary of Note Reference 3:

• The note referenced an experiment from the 1960s where students at Columbia University were exposed to titanium dioxide, a substance now known to cause harm.

• The researchers likely did not know about the harmful effects of titanium dioxide at the time the experiment was conducted.

• Such an experiment exposing students to a harmful substance without their consent would not be conducted today due to modern ethical standards.

• The note used this example to illustrate how scientific understanding of health effects can change over time as more evidence and research emerges. Experiments once considered acceptable may later be seen as unethical.

Here is a summary of the key points from the selected sources:

• Several studies found associations between increased social media/screen time and poorer mental health outcomes in adolescents, such as higher rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness, etc. However, the direction of causation is unclear.

• LGBTQ youth in particular rely heavily on social media for social support networks. While social media can be beneficial in this regard, excessive use is also linked to worse well-being.

• Gender differences exist, with some studies finding larger negative impacts of social media/screen time on girls’ mental health compared to boys. The gender gap in certain issues like depression and anxiety is also widening.

• Factors like race, socioeconomic status, and access to technology can affect youth screen time habits and the consequences. Minority and lower-income youth tend to have less access and benefit less from screen time.

• Experimental and longitudinal studies provide some evidence that reducing social media/gaming use can lead to improved mental health and well-being in adolescents, at least in the short term.

• Associations are also found between excessive screen time, internet/digital addiction, and sleep problems/disturbances in youth. Poor sleep further impacts mental health.

• Guideline bodies emphasize balancing screen use with other activities and parental monitoring, but views differ on specific limits due to the complex relationships involved.

Here are summaries of the key articles:

• Brunborg et al. (2013) studied gaming addiction and engagement in Norwegian adolescents and their relationship to psychological health complaints. They found that gaming addiction was linked to more health issues while moderate gaming was not.

• Brussoni et al. (2015) conducted a systematic review on the relationship between risky outdoor play and child health. They found risky play supports child development in physical, social, and cognitive domains but safety risks need to be balanced.

• Brussoni et al. (2017) studied an intervention to promote risky nature play in early childhood centers. They found the intervention successfully increased opportunities for risky play and children’s physical challenges.

• Brown (1991) discussed psychological universals that are common across human societies and cultures. These include emotions, cognitions, stereotypes and prejudices.

• Buss (2021) examined the hidden evolutionary roots of sexual deception, harassment and assault in men. Infidelity, dominance displays and aggression were explored from an evolutionary perspective.

• Casey and Nzau (2019) discussed how automation may differentially impact men and women’s work, with women more at risk of job losses due to factors like caregiving responsibilities.

• Davidson and Lutz (2008) reviewed neuroscience research showing meditation can induce neuroplastic changes related to improved attention, emotional regulation and decreased stress. This helps explain meditation’s mental health benefits.

• DeSteno (2021) argued science supports benefits of religious belief and practice for well-being, relationship thriving, self-control, and overcoming existential anxiety through meaning/purpose.

Here is a summary of the sources provided:

• Several sources discuss risks and benefits associated with technology use, media exposure, and internet/video game addiction or disorder in children and adolescents. Topics include impacts on attention, behavior, health, social interactions, aggression, anxiety, depression.

• Sources also discuss the psychological and social benefits of activities like sports, meditation, mindfulness apps, nature exposure and walks, play, and wilderness therapy programs for youth mental health and development.

• Additional topics covered include trends in gender stereotypes over time, relationships between happiness/stress and social networks, effects of lack of sleep, impacts of neighborhood environments on children’s outdoor free play, and historical contexts of collective joy.

• A few sources provide reviews and analyses of theoretical frameworks related to aspects of human behavior, development, and social influences like forms of religious life, safety in work teams, habit formation, mechanisms of anxiety, and definitions of behavioral addictions.

-Methodologies included meta-analyses, systematic literature reviews, randomized controlled trials, longitudinal studies, descriptive analyses, and theoretical/conceptual frameworks across disciplines like psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and sociology.

Here is a summary of the key sources provided:

• Several sources discuss the evolutionary functions and benefits of play for skills like problem-solving, resilience, cooperation and innovation. Play promotes learning, especially age-mixed play between children of different ages.

• Studies have found declines in independent activities and free play among children, which may negatively impact mental wellbeing. More screen time and less physical activity are linked to poorer academic achievement.

• Evening light exposure to screens disrupts sleep, rhythms and attention. Mobile gaming and screen time are associated with sleep problems.

• Haidt and others discuss evidence that increased social media use correlates with rising rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness and other mental health issues in teen girls particularly. Alternative hypotheses are explored.

• Cross-cultural studies show gender differences in toy preferences parallel those found in children. Other research examines gender differences in traits like agency and communion.

• Studies investigate impacts of organized sport participation on mental health, and associations between screen time, media consumption and psychological outcomes like depression.

• Sources debate concept creep in psychology and potential overpathologizing of normal behaviors. Impacts of screen exposure on infants/toddlers are also reviewed.

Here is a summary of the article:

The article examined trends in social isolation, social engagement, and companionship in the US from 2003 to 2020 using data from the American Time Use Survey. It found that overall time spent alone increased from 2003 to 2020, while time spent with others decreased. Rates of social isolation increased most sharply among younger adults (ages 18-29). During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, rates of social isolation increased across all demographic groups. Time spent alone was generally higher on weekends than weekdays. The findings suggest increasing social isolation in the US population over the past two decades, with some groups like younger adults being more affected. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated trends towards more time alone and less social engagement.

Here is a summary of the paper “ta-analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 10. www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.898338“:

This paper conducts a transdisciplinary analysis (ta-analysis) to examine trends in technology use, screen time, and internet/social media use among children and adolescents. It synthesizes findings from 180 research publications from 1974 to 2023 across various fields like psychology, sociology, public health, and more.

Some key findings from the review include:

• Screen time and social media use has increased significantly in recent decades, especially smartphone and internet use. However, impacts on well-being are mixed depending on content of use and individual factors.
• Excessive use is linked to increased risks of behavioral issues, depression, loneliness and social anxiety, especially for girls. But moderate use shows little effects or some benefits depending on content and context.
• Usage patterns differ between age groups, genders, cultures and socioeconomic statuses. Younger age groups tend to use more screens but are also more susceptible to negative impacts.
• Parental mediation and setting clear limits/guidelines are important for mitigating risks, while outright bans may backfire. Digital literacy skills are also important.
• More research with longitudinal and interdisciplinary methods are still needed to fully understand complex relationships between technology, behavior and well-being over the lifespan.

In conclusion, the paper argues for a balanced, nuanced perspective that acknowledges both risks and benefits of screens/technology depending on individual factors and usage contexts/content. It advocates for focused policy and parenting approaches.

Here is a summary of some key points from the articles:

• Several articles examined trends in mental health among adolescents and found increasing rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide, particularly among girls. Studies found this is an international issue affecting countries in the Anglosphere and Nordic nations.

• Articles looked at declining rates of male college enrollment and graduation compared to females in the U.S. This gender gap is growing. Americans also report being more worried about the well-being and future of their sons versus daughters.

• Studies explored the relationship between screen/media use and outcomes like physical activity, sleep, mental health, and academic performance in children/teens. Several found links between greater screen time and reduced sleep, attention, vigilance, and increased anxiety and depression.

• Factors like quality of parent-child relationships, family psychological well-being, and financial situation were linked to children’s screen time and mental health. Social media use was also associated with poorer mental health and executive function in some research.

• Many argue the “mental illness epidemic” among teens may be linked to increased screen time/social media use disrupting sleep, physical activity, and social relationships. More research is still needed but recent studies provide growing evidence of these links.

• Some proposed reforms to social media include limiting screen time before bed, reducing bullying/harmful content, providing age-appropriate platforms, and designing social apps with user well-being in mind rather than addiction and profit.

Here are brief summaries of the sources:

• The Male College Crisis - Article discusses declining male college enrollment and completion rates in the US.

• Not by Genes Alone - Book about how culture transformed human evolution.

• Media use by tweens and teens 2015-2021 Common Sense reports - Series of reports by Common Sense Media on media use patterns among 8-18 year olds.

• Dhammapada - Translation of a Buddhist scripture.

• War and suicide - Paper examining the relationship between war and suicide rates.

• Skype helps toddlers learn language - Study finding socially contingent Skype interactions aid toddler language development.

• Social network determinants of depression - Paper linking depression rates to social network characteristics.

• Child and infant mortality rates - Data from Our World in Data on historical and current child mortality rates.

• The End of Men - Book discussing declining social and economic influence of men.

• Social media and young people’s mental health - Report on impacts of social media on well-being.

• Risky play from evolutionary perspective - Papers examining benefits of risky play in children’s development.

• Screen time and attention in children - Systematic review of screen time impact on attention in children.

• Age of first smartphone/mental wellbeing - Report on link between early smartphone exposure and later well-being.

• Developmental theories 1990s - Paper discussing developmental theories in the 1990s.

• Trends in cyberbullying and school bullying - Paper analyzing bullying prevalence between 2006-2012.

• Association of social media use and well-being - Longitudinal study finding association between greater Facebook use and compromised well-being.

• Children’s independent mobility - Report examining children’s independent mobility trends internationally.

• Viewing cute images increases care - Study finding viewing cute images leads to more careful behavior.

• Physical activity benefits academic performance - Review finding physical activity positively impacts school performance.

• Parental concern and anorexia nervosa - Case-control study examining link between parental concern and anorexia onset.

• Free-range kids book - Book advocating for more independent play for children.

• Smartphone presence reduces attention - Study finding mere presence of smartphone impairs attention.

• Internet gaming and psychosocial outcomes - Paper examining relationship between internet gaming and well-being.

• Post-baccalaureate enrollment trends - Data on historical and projected gender trends in postgraduate enrollment.

• Meta-analysis of sex differences in interests - Meta-analysis finding sex differences in occupational interests.

• Gender differences in specific internet addictions - Meta-analysis comparing types of internet addictions by gender.

• 2021 substance use data - SAMHSA report with 2021 data on substance use in the US.

• Pornography and the male sexual script - Paper analyzing relationship between porn consumption and sexual attitudes/behaviors.

• Anxiety disorders review - Overview of anxiety disorders.

• Pornography use impacts on young men - Study examining link between pornography use and relationship/psychological measures in young men.

• Antifragile book - Book about systems that gain from disorder, uncertainty, and stressors.

• Screen time linked to inattention in preschoolers - Study associating more screen time with greater inattention problems in preschool age children.

• Mobile phone presence affects learning/memory - Study finding mere presence of switched-off phone impairs cognitive performance on memory/learning tasks.

• Gender differences in conversation styles - Book discussing findings on gendered conversational styles.

• Fetus into man - Book describing physical growth and development from conception through adulthood.

• Sleep in adolescence - Review examining physiology, cognition, and mental health aspects of adolescent sleep.

• Hikikomori syndrome - Paper discussing reclusive lifestyle as a culture-bound syndrome in Japan.

• Systematic review of adolescent gender dysphoria literature - First in a series of PRISMA reviews summarizing research on gender dysphoria in adolescents.

Here is a summary of the paper:

This paper does not seem to describe a single research article, but rather provides a list of 123 references from the psychological and social science literature. The references cover a wide range of topics related to psychology, mental health, social media use, and human development and behavior. Some of the prominent authors and works referenced include Jean Twenge (who has published extensively on generational trends and technology use), Sherry Turkle (on digital communication), and Jenna Vogel (Pew Research surveys on teens and tech). Date ranges span from 1898 to 2023, representing over a century of research. The references appear to curate a collection of influential works across these domains but does not synthesize or discuss the references itself.

Here is a summary of the key points from the articles:

• Wilson and Lipsey (2000) found that wilderness challenge programs for delinquent youth can help reduce recidivism and improve life outcomes through outcomes evaluations.

• Wiltermuth and Heath (2009) demonstrated that people synchronize behaviors unconsciously and that synchrony facilitates cooperation.

• Wittek et al. (2016) studied a national sample and found that video game addiction is predicted by male gender, young age, low self-esteem, time spent gaming, and attention deficit/hyperactivity symptoms.

• Wolfson and Carskadon (2003) critically reviewed studies on adolescent sleep patterns and found that delayed school start times are associated with better academic performance.

• Wright et al. (2017) conducted a meta-analysis and found that frequent pornography consumption was generally unrelated to relationship or life satisfaction.

• Young et al. (2023) studied playground locations and usage patterns and found that equitably distributing playgrounds could promote physical activity.

• Young (2009) discussed understanding and treating online gaming addiction issues in adolescents.

• Zahn-Waxler et al. (2008) reviewed gender differences in psychopathology from childhood to adolescence.

• Zastrow (2017) reflected on issues around classifying video game addiction as a true addiction.

• Zeanah et al. (2011) studied sensitive periods in child development.

• Zendle and Cairns (2018) surveyed a large sample and found links between video game loot boxes and problem gambling behavior.

• Zucker (2019) reflected on clinical and research issues regarding adolescents with gender dysphoria.

• Zucker (2017) reviewed epidemiology of gender dysphoria and transgender identity.

Here is a summary of the relevant sections:

• ft (Sax), 278: No summary available, this just references Sax on page 278.

• Boy Scouts, 283: No summary, just references Boy Scouts on page 283.

• brain: Describes various aspects of brain development including the default mode network, dopamine, executive function, frontal cortex, growth and pruning, sensitive periods, sleep deprivation effects, and more. Key points are brain plasticity and its experience-expectancy during childhood.

• Britain/United Kingdom: No summary provided for this entry.

• Brookings Institution: No summary provided for this entry.

• Brussoni, Mariana: References Mariana Brussoni discussing risks and benefits of unstructured outdoor play.

• Buddha, Buddhism: Discusses Buddha and Buddhism, including meditation practices.

• bullying: Notes bullying can increase anxiety, depression, and be contagious; also references in schools.

• Buss, David: Simply references David Buss on page 166 with no other context.

Here are the key points from the passages referenced:

• Unemployment: Unemployment rose after the 2008 financial crisis, peaking at around 10% in many Western countries like the US and Europe in 2009. High unemployment can increase anxiety and depression.

• The End of Men: By Hanna Rosin. Discusses research showing women are becoming the majority of college graduates and out-earning men in many cities and jobs. This transition challenges traditional gender roles.

• Epic Games: The video game company known for developing Fortnite, one of the most popular games globally.

• Epictetus: An ancient Greek philosopher who emphasized focusing on what is within our control and disregarding what is not.

• Epiphanies: Sudden realizations or insights that are personally or spiritually significant.

• Evolution: Discusses evolution’s role in shaping human tendencies related to discover/defend modes, phobias, pornography, religion, etc. Evolution provides insights but not moral guidance.

• Facebook Files: Internal Facebook research made public by whistleblower Frances Haugen showing the company was aware of Instagram’s harmful effects on teenage girls’ mental health but did not enact changes.

So in summary, these passages discuss topics related to unemployment after the financial crisis, changing gender roles, popular games developer Epic Games, Stoic philosophy, insights from evolution, and internal Facebook research on Instagram’s impacts.

• Many young people in America are struggling with mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Rates of these disorders have been rising significantly since the early 2010s.

• The arrival of smartphones correlated with this increase in mental health problems among youth. Excessive smartphone and social media use may be contributing factors.

• Boys and young men seem to be disproportionately affected, with higher rates of loneliness, depression, and lower rates of college completion compared to previous generations.

• Overparenting and lack of unstructured play/free time have increased in recent decades, particularly in Western countries. This protective parenting style may deprive children of important social-emotional learning opportunities.

• Real-world experiences like unstructured play, exploring nature, and social interactions are important for children’s healthy development. Parents are encouraged to limit screen time and provide more opportunities for these types of activities.

• Social media can negatively impact youth mental health through social comparison, fear of missing out, cyberbullying, and the constant curation of an online image/identity. However, screens are just one correlating factor - the causes are likely complex with multiple social and technological influences.

• Communities and schools can help by facilitating free play spaces for children, modeling healthy social behaviors, and supporting parents in striking a balance with technology. Overall well-being depends on connections to family, friends, community and nature.

• The passage discusses issues related to childhood in the digital age such as phone addiction, attention fragmentation, sleep deprivation, social deprivation, and how these have fundamentally changed childhood.

• It covers topics like puberty, play, risk-taking, relationships, friendships, and more to understand child development in the context of widespread tech usage.

• Concepts like safetyism, psychological safety, and “experience blockers” during puberty are introduced to analyze how perceived safety concerns may be impeding healthy development.

• Rites of passage, building independence in children through programs like Reasonable Childhood Independence laws, and reconfiguring public spaces are brought up as potential solutions.

• References are made to studies on topics ranging from childhood injuries and risk-taking to the effects of pornography on relationships to provide context around different issues.

• Overall it aims to have an informed discussion on balancing child well-being, development and learning through play with managing risks and safety in the digital age. A variety of perspectives from research, experts and traditions are discussed.

• Satisfaction with life and oneself were discussed on pages 64 and 154-156 respectively.

• Leonard Sax was mentioned on page 278.

• Scandinavia was referenced on page 87.

• Schools were discussed on pages 190 and 228-266. Key topics included academic performance, alienation, the experiences of boys, community building, digital technology benefits, overprotective parenting, play, recess, smartphone bans, and teachers.

• The Screen Strong program was mentioned on page 292.

• Sleep deprivation was discussed on pages 114, 123-125, 124, 126, 135, 136, 145, 150, 192, 248, 278, 285, and 316n38 in relation to its effects.

• Sleepaway camps and sleepovers were referenced on pages 273-274 and 272.

• Smartphones, their apps, arrival, banning in schools, front-facing cameras, notifications, and role in parent-child conflicts and educational inequity were covered on numerous pages.

• Social media, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and issues around advertising, age requirements, comparisons, bullying, relations to mental health, notifications, privacy, and time spent were summarized.

• Spirituality and related practices around embodiment, finding awe, shared sacredness, stillness, silence, transcending the self, and its connection to social space were covered on pages 199-218.

• Stress, both chronic and acute, was mentioned on pages 72-73 and 96-99.

• Summer camps were referenced on pages 273-274.

Here is a summary of the key points from m, 208–9:

• Teachers have an important role to play in mentoring and guiding students, but many have concerns about their ability to effectively do so given increased rates of mental health issues and challenges with technology use among students. Reforms are needed to help support teachers.

• Technology companies have exploited psychological vulnerabilities of users, especially young people, through features designed to be addictive. Collective action problems have made reform difficult, but companies need to take responsibility and implement changes like age verification for social media, a “duty of care” toward users’ well-being, and establishing an “age of internet adulthood.”

• Some tech executives opt to send their own children to alternative schools that limit technology use, highlighting awareness of issues but lack of action to address them at the corporate level.

• Activities in nature like exploring wooded areas, interacting with animals, and simply going for walks provide mental benefits to children that contrast with overuse of screens. Structured programs that incorporate such experiences can also be helpful for development.

• Gender trends are mentioned, with girls and boys often experiencing different patterns in technology use and mental health outcomes that deserve separate examination. Research on impacts to non-binary youth is still limited but indicates particularly worse effects.