Unlimited Access to Smartphones Isn't Smart

Depression. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, 48% of kids who use electronic devices five or more hours a day have suicide related thoughts or actions. Kids are often candidly cruel offline, which is particularly dispiriting at an age when their self-esteems are fragile. Studies suggest that young women are even more vulnerable than young men; their perception that friends on Facebook or Instagram are all happy can lead to intense social anxiety.

 Addiction. According to published studies by Frances Jensen, Chair of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, teens have less impulse control, empathy and judgment when compared to adults. They tend to be risk takers -a trait that allows them to learn, but also to become addicted.  Each bing from a smartphone releases a burst of dopamine, the feel good neurochemical. Eventually the smartphone becomes an appendage and separation from it is extremely unsettling. As with any addiction, social relationships suffer. Even when surrounded by friends, teens may be transfixed by their phones.

 Distractibility. It is easy to lose track of time when one is distracted. If a student constantly checks the phone, the quality vs. quantity of studying quickly becomes unbalanced. How many times has a parent lamented: “He was in his room studying the entire evening, yet he still performed poorly on the test”? Chances are that the student doesn’t have ADHD but rather is suffering from frequent disruption of the task at hand. Constant interference couldn’t come at a worse time: the prefrontal cortex, responsible for sustained focus, is forming from adolescence to mid-twenties. Their brains are being wired for the future.

            So what to do?

 Kids model parental behaviors. If a parent is checking the phone between tennis games or while standing in the grocery store line, the behavior is seen as normal. The upsurge of yoga classes and sale of mindfulness books seems directly proportional to the obsessive checking of the smartphone. Parents need to re-learn becoming comfortable with “nothing time”, checking their phones fewer times a day.

 Make the decision (and stand by it) to keep the phone out of kids’ bedrooms.   In fact, consider a contract with your kids outlining rules for Smartphone use.  Ban the phone from mealtimes. Believe it or not, kids really do like conversing with their parents. If your kids are still uncooperative, buy a flip phone without a data plan. Unconnected phones still allow teens to call or text.

One trait that becomes stronger with age: wisdom. Parents can take advantage of that. Don’t count on a smile from your kids, but by now you have the pre-frontal cortex wired and can resist immediate gratification. Right?