The Anxious Generation, Parking the Mobile

 It being a wet Good Friday I began reading a new book. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. But even when the rain stopped I carried on and read to the end his fascinating and utterly persuasive case that children have been "over-protected in the real world and under-protected in the virtual world", leading to the epidemic of mental illness in the age group we call Generation Z.

Anxiety Head of a Girl
Jean-Baptiste Greuse  (1725-1805)
Photo Credit: Victoria Art Gallery [CC  BY-NC-ND]

Haidt shows that although recent technologies such as the internet, apps and mobile phones bring immense benefits to the world, their misuse by tech companies to develop addictive products for young people, destroying much of their social lives, depriving them of sleep and fracturing their attention spans, has done immense harm. His solutions are clear: no smartphones before age 11; no social media before 16; completely phone-free schools; and far more unsupervised play and childhood independence.

I suspect that it will not be many months before such proposals become mainstream. The state of Florida is planning to ban social media until age 14...

There are four alarming lessons from the damage done to young people. One, is that this has happened very quickly - in just one decade since smartphones and social media apps became ubiquitous, the mental health and social habits of teenagers have changed beyond recognition.

Two... this was the result of a vast experiment with the brains of tens of millions of young people by corporations that worked out how those brains could be exploited for profit.

Three, governments have been cautious about overreacting, understandably reluctant to intervene against almost universal personal habits and prospering businesses.

And fourth, China has already acted by banning addictive algorithms in social media that demand the users attention and time...

(William Hague, The Times, 2024)

So why is it, for example, that most young children don't walk to school but are driven to the school gate? Why is it that parents don't group together and pledge that their children will not have a smart phone until a certain age? Most schools in the UK already ban them. Why is it that China has already taken action? 

Parking the Mobile

Go to a fine Italian restaurant, and you expect to enjoy the imaginative pasta dishes, rich Chianti, sunny ambience and the raucous laughs and gesticulations of the other diners. Nowadays you may be disappointed. Italian couples, especially the young, will be sitting opposite each other in silence. There is no eye contact, no flirting, no clinking of glasses. Their gaze will be fixed on their phone screen, their thumbs flicking up posts, exchanging gossip and pictures with someone far away. They may even be texting each other.

It is not only in Italy where the phone has smothered spontaneity and killed the fun of a night out. In London, Paris, New York or Delhi the scene will be the same, with the occasional click as someone photographs the menu. But Italy is now leading the way in an attempt to revive the the restaurant's sparkle and fun.

Three Sicilian Peasant Men Eating, with a Dog
Giovanni Leone (active mid 19th Century)
Photo Credit: Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery

Niccolo D'Andrea, who owns and runs a restaurant on the Tuscan coast, is offering guests who deposit their phone at reception a €20 voucher to spend on their next visit. Noise and chatter have shot up. Television and Tripadvisor have showered praise on him. Competitors are rapidly following suit.

Britons, equally morose as they fire off texts to their offices, should try the joys of a phone-free meal. Indeed, locking the items up could make almost all social life more vibrant. No longer would the second half of plays and concerts be ruined by the ringtones of phones that weren't switched off after a frantic interval of texting. Parties would be rowdier, the mountain hike more refreshing, the landscape more tranquil. An evening of seduction would not come to a jarring halt.

The smartphone, some insist, is the greatest single invention of modern times. It satisfies almost all of life's perceived needs. It also crushes friendship, flirting and fun. Who would not park it for the promise of another good Italian meal?

(The Times, 2024)

Good on you Niccolo D' Andrea. There is nothing worse than going to a pub in the UK and finding little laughter, little banter and little conversation because most of the people there are on their phones!