A Smartphone-based Childhood Ruins Kids

“Smartphone-based life, it turns out, alters or interferes with a great number of developmental processes.” – Jonathan Haidt

In his article for The Atlantic, Haidt explores the shift from flip phones to smartphones among kids in the early 2010s, noting that this transition facilitated a move towards online platforms, particularly social media, designed to capture attention and foster addiction.

Jonathan Haidt suggests that the prevalence of smartphone-based lifestyles has significantly impacted various developmental processes, leading to negative outcomes such as poor mental health, self-harm, anxiety, and depression among youth.

With the internet constantly accessible on their smartphones, Haidt argues that it has influenced every aspect of young people’s lives, including friendship, dating, sexuality, exercise, sleep, academics, politics, family dynamics, and identity formation.

I’ve spoken with Jon about these issues and am honored to collaborate with him as he brings his book, The Anxious Generation, to marketing on March 26. In it, you’ll read about his 4 new norms for childhood: #phonefreeschools, no social media until age 16, no smartphones under high school, and play-based childhood. We agree 1000% We’ve been saying similar things for almost 9 years. You can pre-order Jon’s book wherever books are sold.

Here are the Top Five Free Apps on Apple

We believe it’s important to keep track of the most popular apps, so we can best inform you, busy moms and dads, of what’s currently trending. This week in Apple’s Top Free Apps:

1. Threads, Instagram’s version of Twitter.
2. CBS Sports App: Scores & News. 
3. Shein, a Chinese-based clothing and shopping app. 
4. ESPN Tournament Challenge.
5. Temu – a Chinese-based shopping app similar to Amazon that held the #1 spot for most of 2023.

To summarize, the Top 5 Free Apps in the Apple App Store consist of 1 social media app, 2 sports apps (it’s March Madness!), and 2 Chinese-based shopping apps.

YouTube is Adding AI Content Labels

To help combat realistic AI-generated content, YouTube has added labels to help identify which videos have been altered. Interestingly enough, these labels don’t apply to videos with animations made for kids, which could lead to abuse.

When posting a video, creators will now be asked if the content includes any of the following:

• “Makes a real person say or do something they didn’t say or do,
• alters footage of a real event or place,
• or generates a realistic-looking scene that didn’t actually occur”

We don’t know how YouTube will enforce this. AI-deepfake images and videos are rampant everywhere. We just need to remain vigilant with our kids and whenever possible, do tech with them, asking curious questions about their media consumption. We’ve created an Ultimate Guide for YouTube as a starting point.

Roblox Adds More AI Tools that Parents Need to Know About

Roblox has added AI to its game-creation studio. This could be good and not good. Remember, Roblox isn’t just a game. It’s MILLIONS of games with hundreds of millions of users. Now those who create games can use AI to help with coding. Great for kids who are into that kind of thing.

But now new Roblox games will be created quickly and I suspect moderation of those games will lag. What’s the right age for Roblox? Whenever your child is ready to interact with people they don’t know, be in a space where 33% of the users are over age 16 – in other words, it’s a more mature space than most parents appreciate. Our Roblox App Review covers everything caregivers need to know.

Spotify is so Much More than Just Music

A note about Spotify because they’re adding more short-form video content.

Spotify is so much more than just music, which we’ve shared often on social media. It has explicit podcasts and horrible parental controls. It can be used decently well through a device like the Mighty Music player, which removes the screen and lets you use a playlist. We answer many streaming music questions from parents because we know kids love their music. For what it’s worth, my middle school boys have enjoyed an Alexa device + Amazon Music’s parental controls for a few years. It has been a great “right tech at the right time” device for our “slow tech” home. We do have a streaming music guide that you can check out.

Vulnerable Teens are Being Baited into Violent Acts: Roblox, Discord, Telegram

Finally, I want to re-emphasize the importance of the WIRED article from last week that shared the horrific abuse of mostly young, vulnerable girls. Baited into violent, evil, at times, suicidal acts all for the amusement of teen and adult men. The three apps most used for the identification and abuse were Roblox, Discord, and Telegram, all apps that we explain in detail in our app reviews.

“Chris, help! We have a tech emergency!”

That’s why we created The Table, our PYE membership where you can get immediate, emergency help, ask basic tech questions in our Tech Support space, become a specialist in YouTube setup, pornography education, or compulsive gaming, and interact with other, like-minded parents. Abby is there to take care of you! Join for 7 days free, try it out, and then stick around for $7/month or $70 for the year. I can’t wait to meet you at The Table!