Thanks, both! I’ll try to give the Pod a listen. I would love to know what the alternate theory is for the rise in teen mental health issues circa 2012. Seems to me that you could find a pile of teens to defend cell phones, but the plural of anecdote isn’t data. The stats are troubling.

You’ll find the analysis in the episode super interesting!! They dig into a ton of other research and competing hypotheses.

Full disclosure I haven't listened to that particular episode... but I will & I've been suspicious of The Anx Gen book, just as I am of most pop-psych attempts to reduce adolescent development to single "big" causes. I don't love adolescents spending hours on phone. I'm also not in favor of a full

ban in schools, either (but that ship has sailed). It's a nuanced issue & I'd rather invest in A) teaching teens healthy online habits/moderate use and B) investing in other things for them to do (ideally outside!) Too often we confuse symptom w/ cause.

I think the basically American tendency to just try to regulate/ban things that *might* get kids in trouble, that adults do/use all the time, as opposed to thinking thru how to gradually teach responsible/moderate use, is troubling. And kind of lazy.

I am very comfortable saying younger kids don't need phones. But teens? It's nuanced, and they have excellent uses.

There should be nuance for teens, but I’m comfortable with “teach teens responsible phone use outside the school environment” as the norm. The evidence of learning distraction isn’t trivial, and there are plenty of hours in the day beyond school. Also, do schools need ANOTHER job beyond academics?

Haha to be clear, I’m with you - I don’t feel v nuanced either about phones in schools. I do feel more nuanced re phones for teens in general. & I think there are several plausible stories about why teen mental health numbers are where they are, which Michael & Peter do a great job unpacking.

I don't agree abt phone bans (and it's possible to reduce distractions in some settings while teaching responsible use in others...also possible to restrict use entirely for some kids & allow limited use for others), but like I said, that ship has sailed, at least in NY....

What we can't quantify now is how much instructional/admin time will be lost enforcing bans. Based on my experience in a lot of different schools w/ varying levels of allowing access to devices, the answer will be: a whole lot.

I think they're open to the idea that could be the explanation, but that the research doesn't actually show that yet.