Are smartphones bad for kids? Cal walks through the data on this question, including how researchers came to be worried, their findings, critiques of their findings, and where we are today. He then gives recommendations for how to think about technology when it comes to your kids.
In May of 2023, Cal Newport shared well-informed opinions about whether smartphones harm young people. In the first half of the podcast, he talks about depression and loneliness data.
Minute 30 of the podcast: Screentime harms teenagers because they inhibit the development of critical thinking skills. Deep critical thinking skills require training. Reading an analog book is better than screens (see my review of Tyler’s AI generative book and poastmodernism).
See my summary of Emily Oster on video games for kids. She does not clutch her pearls over violent video games. However, she is concerned about what activities get crowded out by screentime. She is especially worried about sleep, because on that topic the data are clear.
Minute 31, Call Newport: Tweens and teens scroll on their phones for too long instead of going to sleep. A 13-year-old boy with a smart phone will “be up until 4 in the morning.” A tween told him that middle school girls arrive at school too exhausted to function because they have been on their phones all night.
FYI, if you are the parent in an Apple device network, you can set time limits on the devices in your family. I filed this report about smart watches last year, incidentally in the same week as the release of Newport’s podcast episode.
Economist Writing Every Day 