Jonathan Haidt’s Plan to Stop Gen Z from Scrolling to Its Doom
AP Comparative Government student Kassidy Shyu ‘25 places her phone in the cubby before class. Photo: Isabella Mason
By JAYLEN LI, JOSEPH WANG, and ISABELLA MASON
Take a minute and ask yourself: Does your life feel stressful? Do you feel like you get distracted too easily? If you said yes, you’re not alone. Rates of anxiety, depression, and short attention spans have all gone up over the last decade amongst teenagers.
Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University and the author of books such as The Happiness Hypothesis (2006) and The Righteous Mind (2012), thinks he might know the cause. For years, Haidt and his colleague Jean Twenge collected data on rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide in teens. The two professors found that in 2012, those rates began to rise drastically so that by 2019, depression rates had nearly doubled. They connected this trend to smartphones and social media.
By 2012, smartphones had gone mainstream. By 2015, two-thirds of teens owned one. Around this time, social media platforms experienced a surge in users and engagement features such as “likes” were added to create a sense of community. However, these features also led to unintended consequences, such as teens comparing themselves to their peers, cyberbullying, and increased loneliness.
Haidt’s latest book, The Anxious Generation, analyzes the issue in detail. In it, he proposes four new norms (social standards) to reverse the negative effects of phones and social media on teens’ mental health. They are:
No smartphones before high school
No social media before age 16
Phone-free schools
Kids should have more independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world
A poll we conducted (see full results below) found that roughly four in five teachers agreed with all of Haidt’s new norms.
Spanish teacher Ms. Susanna Sala has noticed the increase in smartphone usage among teens at Midwood. “I think it would be wise if people waited until they are older to have social media. It’s addictive and it can be harmful,” she said. “I see it in my students. They are always checking Instagram and TikTok in class instead of being focused.”
Ms. Sala emphasized the importance of learning without depending on a device. “Students need to know how to function without their phones and use the resources at their disposal, like books, notes, and their brains, instead of looking for an immediate answer on their phones,” she said. “I know there are schools that have some kind of locker system for phones. Perhaps Midwood could implement that too.”
One such option is the Yondr pouch. According to Yondr, using its pouches results in an 83% increase in student engagement.
Mr. Joseph Peters, a social studies teacher, has a mandatory phone cubby in his classroom.
“Obviously, I am a big fan of not having phones out and in use during class time,” he said. “They are a huge distraction for students and can lead to a lack of understanding in the topics being studied in any class. Midwood is fortunate enough to have a laptop cart in each classroom, so there is no need for a phone for educational use.”
“Limiting the use of cell phones, not just in class, but in life in general, and finding ways to communicate offline and participate in social events without electronic crutches is vital to being human and an active citizen,” he added. “Go touch grass!”
While most students are resistant to no-phone policies, many offered comments that validate Haidt’s research.
“I was exposed to a lot of societal standards and expectations at a very young age,” said senior Kassidy Shyu. “It’s really upsetting to see young girls saying ‘Let’s do this gym challenge.’ You’re literally in 8th grade; your body isn’t even fully there yet. Why are you worrying about your calories right now?”
“[Social media] is so much worse for girls,” said senior Faiza Aziz. “There are such strict beauty standards perpetuated on them from a young age. Everybody has such bad insecurities now.”
“I feel like [social media] has really ruined my drive for success,” said Aziz. “Do you see 18 year old influencers buying penthouses in New York? Social media is like a false reality.”
“I see everyone posting their college acceptances, and I feel like there’s a need for me to do better and do more,” said senior Macarthur Lee. “But it gets me so stressed out because I feel like I’m never doing enough.”
Afzal Akter ‘25 said he supports Haidt’s four norms. “I would limit the usage of phones in the classroom -- apart from education purposes like taking photos of the board -- and not allow kids to use social media before 16,” he said. “However, using a phone in general with moderation is fine after 12.”
Still, most Midwood students opposed Haidt’s suggested phone limitations, especially when it comes to having phones in school, according to our poll.
“Middle school is a time in which students learn how to navigate the world and go to school by themselves,” said senior Cindy Lin. “With a smartphone, they can call their parents if they ever end up lost or stuck somewhere without money to navigate home.”
Jeffrey Zhen ‘27 believes that smartphones can be helpful learning devices as well as a way to stay connected with family.
“Although it is true that it might become a distraction, it should be the responsibility of the parent to ensure that a kid stays safe on the internet and educates them about the harm,” said Zhen. “Social media can be a great learning platform for students to learn new hobbies and skills.”
A poll the Argus conducted in October found that most students think 13-14 is an acceptable age to be given access to social media apps. On the other hand, 66% of Hornets also agreed that they spend “too much time” on TikTok, and many are all too familiar with the magnetic force that seems to keep a user glued to their screen, doom scrolling for hours, consuming mind-numbing content and doing damage to their attention spans.
Debates on social media’s role in the lives of teens will persist, but in the absence of any official DOE phone policy, parents should monitor and guide their children’s internet experiences. Tech companies could also take a greater initiative to regulate their platforms, and teens themselves should be conscious of the time they spend on these apps and the content they consume.
Argus Poll Results: Jonathan Haidt's New Norms
We asked 227 Midwood students and 22 teachers whether they agreed with Jonathan Haidt’s recommended “new norms” (standards for society), which he argues would make Gen-Z healthier mentally. Here’s what our respondents said:
1. “In general, it would be better if parents did not let their kids have smartphones before high school.”
STUDENTS:
34% agree
66% disagree
TEACHERS:
82% agree
18% disagree
2. “In general, it would be better if kids couldn’t have social media accounts before age 16.”
STUDENTS:
49% agree
51% disagree
TEACHERS:
77% agree
23% disagree
3. “In general, it would be better if phones were not allowed in school.”
STUDENTS:
19% agree
81% disagree
TEACHERS:
77% agree
23% disagree
4. “In general, it would be better if kids had more independence, opportunities to play / hang out together without parental guidance, and responsibility in the real world.”
STUDENTS:
78% agree
22% disagree
TEACHERS:
82% agree
18% disagree
Summary:
Students mostly opposed Haidt’s new norms. A strong majority (66%) thought parents should let their children have smartphones before high school, and an overwhelming majority (81%) thought students should be able to have their phones in school. However, our teen respondents were about evenly split on whether children should be able to have social media accounts before age 16.
Teachers felt very differently; over three quarters of them supported all four of Haidt’s new norms, revealing concerns about the effects of smartphones and social media on teenagers both in and out of school.
The one thing both groups agreed on was the need for more free play and independence for children and young people – 78% of students and 82% of teachers supported this “new norm.”
STUDENT Comments:
“Kids should be allowed to have phones and social media accounts once they turn 13, because that’s when they really start maturing and understanding the world. When they make new friends, having a phone and social media will really help with those connections.”
“Younger generations are being exposed to devices at an early age instead of being engaged in academics. They are unable to do simple tasks and are spending less time outside and more time on the screen. Additionally, children are easy to manipulate, so whatever unsupervised content they are exposed to will have a psychological effect on them. It’s frightening to see this because they will be our future.”
“There should be a limit to the independence parents can grant their children, because that could mean coming home whenever they like, hanging around the wrong friend group, or acting impulsively because they were granted more freedom.”
“We need to have smartphones in schools for our safety. You never know what’s going to happen.”
“In general, social media needs to be reformed. The advertisement and algorithm business model is not good for anyone, and it has too much power over people for it to be controlled by private companies.”
“Unrestricted social media can be very damaging to children, especially developing teens. However, children shouldn’t be the only ones held accountable for their social media usage. It’s very important that adults properly teach internet safety!”
“While adding a valid age restriction for social media apps may limit adolescents’ exposure to harmful effects and ideologies, family intervention plays a bigger role in monitoring children’s internet activities and what they see and retain online.”
“The issue of age restrictions depends on the app and on the maturity of the child. Also, I’d try not to be too strict about it because strict parents raise sneaky kids. Completely sheltering children from social media will only make them want it more.”
“Little kids should not have devices since they aren’t mature enough to handle them. This is why things like cyberbullying happen so much, because kids can’t control themselves. If you need to call your parents to tell them that you’re safe, then you should buy a flip phone. Phones are a distraction from class, reality, and more.”
“Societal norms have made it so adolescents as young as seven want to start using social media to try and fit in.”
“Some children need to have access to social media to communicate with relatives and others. However, they should not be able to use it without restrictions until they reach a certain age. There is inappropriate and dangerous content online that kids should not have access to.”
“Honestly, I avoid social media and I feel like although teens may spend all their time looking at their phones, social media can create a mindset of not only comparing strangers to yourself, but also comparing friends to yourself, causing you to distance yourself from others at times.”