{"id":2283052,"date":"2024-06-25T08:35:01","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T12:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/4-pillars-of-a-sane-smartphone-policy\/"},"modified":"2024-06-25T08:39:58","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T12:39:58","slug":"4-pillars-of-a-sane-smartphone-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/4-pillars-of-a-sane-smartphone-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Pillars Of A Sane Smartphone Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F4-pillars-of-a-sane-smartphone-policy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2283052&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The \u200darticle discusses\u200b the increasing \u200dconcern over the negative\u2063 impact of smartphones on\u2062 children&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/beware-new-app-puts-your-daughter-in-danger-and-its-all-under-the-guise-of-mental-health\/\" title=\"Warning: New App Endangers Your Daughter, Disguised as 'Mental Health'\">mental\u200d health<\/a> \u200band development. It\u2064 highlights that excessive smartphone use has been\u200c linked\u200d to higher anxiety and \u200ddepression levels among the youth. Several \u2064leaders, including Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom and Republican\u2063 Governor \u200cSarah Huckabee Sanders, have voiced\u200d the\u200d need for \u2062<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/canadian-parliament-votes-unanimously-to-recognize-chinas-genocide\/\" title=\"Canadian Parliament Votes Unanimously To Recognize China\u2019s Genocide\">policy action<\/a> against the unrestricted use \u200bof smartphones in\u200c schools. Social psychologist\u200c Jonathan\u200b Haidt,\u200b in \u2062his book \u2064&#8221;The \u200bAnxious Generation,&#8221; \u2064emphasizes that smartphones\u2062 deprive children of essential real-world experiences,\u200b affecting their development and engagement with \u200bthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/knowles-no-democrats-are-not-the-real-transphobes\/\" title=\"KNOWLES: No, Democrats Are Not \u2018The Real Transphobes\u2019\">physical world<\/a>. The \u200cpiece suggests this is a significant issue that\u2063 transcends political\u200c lines and \u200bcalls for a balanced \u200bapproach to \u200dtechnology use, \u200backnowledging its benefits \u200dwhile addressing its drawbacks.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Smartphones are so bad for kids that even far-left Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom just called for them to be banned from schools. <\/p>\n<p>This follows the emergence of cell phone use as a big issue of our time, with the promotion of kids\u2019 mental health tied to the subtraction of the smartphone. The consequences of ubiquitous smartphone use in childhood are vast and unfolding. Yet, given new research and data, we know definitively that our youth are more anxious and depressed than ever, and this is tied to the rise of smartphone use during their years of formation and growth. <\/p>\n<p>Many leaders are sounding the alarm on the deficiencies of American children in their interactions with the world. New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has rightly called this phenomenon \u201cthe great rewiring of childhood.\u201d For most kids today, childhood is less about running, playing, and feeling the stuff of the Earth; it is now more about information transmission and faux socialization through an inadequate medium, the smartphone. <\/p>\n<p>Haidt\u2019s new book, <em>The Anxious Generation<\/em>, reveals how children are introduced to reality through their phones. In doing so, they miss out on developing contact with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-project-veritas-twitter-insider-records-ceo-jack-dorsey-laying-out-roadmap-for-future-political-censorship\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Project Veritas: Twitter Insider Records CEO Jack Dorsey Laying Out Roadmap For Future Political Censorship\">real world<\/a> through touch, taste, smell, and sometimes even sound. The fifth sense, sight, is only given a 2-D plane and is therefore stripped from within of its fullness too. Hence, everything through a smartphone presented to the senses is deficient in representing real things. This harms children\u2019s ability to grow and develop as embodied, rational creatures.   <\/p>\n<p>Earlier in May, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called on all governors to engage in policymaking that responds to the findings in Haidt\u2019s book. Shortly after, Texas House Rep. Ellen Troxclair declared she would file a bill to remove smartphones from Texas schools. As noted, Gov. Gavin Newsom also called to remove smartphones from schools. The issue of smartphone use among American youth appears to be a long overdue policy issue and has bicoastal and bipartisan attraction.  <\/p>\n<p>Wisdom traditions from Aristotle yield the insight that the five senses are essential for acquiring knowledge, as they represent the only means through which any knowledge can come to a person. Think about it: What can you do to acquire anything that does not use your senses? This has been obvious to inquisitive thinkers for millennia but bears recollection anew. Without this embodied experience, the person spiritually undergoes something analogous to muscle atrophy, where the lack of use leads to a loss. When kids find themselves in front of screens for at times even eight hours a day, with five of those hours on a smartphone, the spiritual loss we have long intuited is now clearly reflected in isolated data. It shows a gut-wrenching rise in anxiety and depression. <\/p>\n<p>In looking to taper smartphone use among children, I don\u2019t advocate that we attempt to return to a time that is neither possible nor desirable. To be sure, modern technology is a marvelous tool. We are the forerunners in a technological age that has ushered in unprecedented wealth, power, and pseudo-connectivity. <\/p>\n<p>The amount of change and the rapidity with which it has occurred cannot be overstated. The iPhone has 100,000 times more computing power than the computer that allowed the astronauts of Apollo 11 to land on the moon just 50 years ago. Additionally, the barrier to entry to access this technology has been pushed down to a level where, dare I say, every American can and generally does access it. In living through this age of ubiquitous smartphone tech, it can be easy to forget what once was and what has been lost.  <\/p>\n<p>While individual parents can and do moderate screen time to great effect, I believe new findings on mental health emphasize the need to regulate smartphones like the way we regulate alcohol. The abundance of smartphone use is analogous to giving kids a steady diet of Fruity Pebbles: It\u2019s not healthy. It\u2019s time to change that, and I propose we debate several policy prescriptions to change the typical trajectory.<\/p>\n<p>1. Ban the purchase of a smartphone for anyone under 16.<\/p>\n<p>2. Restrict the use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/big-tech-to-ban-parler-over-lack-of-content-moderation\/\" title=\"Big tech to ban Parler over lack of content moderation\">social media sites<\/a> to prohibit all children under 16, unless parental consent is given.  <\/p>\n<p>3. Restrict the use of cell phones on school premises.  <\/p>\n<p>4. Require social media apps to display a Disclaimer regarding the risk of depression and anxiety tied to using the application. <\/p>\n<p>Although these policy prescriptions have enjoyed a rapid rise in support, this work will be met with more hostility and pushback than may be initially thought. Big Tech is a cookie monster that wants to eat all the cookies. In this case, the cookies are revenue monetized from screen time that is tied to data and advertisements. From tech giants\u2019 distant vantage point, kids can be reduced to a cog in a machine that increases their bottom line. Leaders will need to intervene if we\u2019re ever going to fix the mental health mess our kids are being launched into.  <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Becca Williams is the Founder of Valor Education. She can be followed on X @therealbeccawilliams<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even far-left Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom advocates banning smartphones in schools, recognizing their negative impact on children. As cell phone use becomes a major contemporary issue, promoting mental health in kids involves reducing smartphone exposure. The consequences of their widespread use are significant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1731,"featured_media":2283053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/16993528795_f55214d252_b.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[8575,4326,18769],"class_list":["post-2283052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-management","tag-policy","tag-smartphone"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/16993528795_f55214d252_b.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1731"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2283053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}