It’s time for schools to support this change. They needn’t mirror the marketplace. Instead, they should be Walled Gardens that employ all we know about human flourishing — embodied connection, developmentally appropriate methods that cultivate rather than diminish attention, and the professional stewardship that meets our fiduciary responsibilities to younger generations.
It’s time that schools become the architects of the future we want, not the reactionary institutions we’ve come to expect.
To add to this and something they called out in the post — we older digital users don’t know what we missed out on by being addicted to the devices at a young age. So it’s difficult for parents today to see what damage is being done to their kids, therefore difficult see the benefits outweighing the costs, which feel immediate and are largely centered around fear-based “what ifs?” (e.g. fear of an emergency and they don’t have their phone, fear of their kid being left out socially, fear of losing connecting with kids, fear of backlash from being overly restrictive, etc).
This article and the movement is the beginning of awareness—realizing what we’ve experienced as a culture is not normal and should not be normalized.
I am not Gen Z but recently stepped away from social media and it is freeing. There is more space to focus on the things I enjoy. I wish you well with this endeavor.
As a survivor of Gen Z, smartphones and social media, and now a public speaker and writer about my experiences, deletion was the only way I got my mind back in 2022. I’ve been encouraging other Gen Z, and organizations like After Babel, to push for this message. Because, as I’ve mentioned before, there are a ton of us who have grown up and already lost life. Deletion of it all is the way through it, and the way to reclaim a life lost. It is the first step of what we can actually do about it, though it doesn’t end here.
Fabulous article! So many adults are with your older adults of Gen Z. Yes. Use your grief for change! As far as your grief, you can regain what you have lost from helping others to ensure they do not experience your grief from losses! As an adult, who believes in the youth, whatever I can do to help your older adults within your Gen Z generation, please let me know!
Social media, advertisements and ads can heavily influence one s actions. Should one want to help themselves help others who share your issues Healing occurs faster when people help each other real communication of issues, real experiences, real consequences explored both negative and positive. Technology for people with disabilities is not dismissed. These individuals use technology to socialize with others or to receive education or even the ability to speak to one another. Technology for disabled individuals is not a technology that is heavily influenced from ads or advertisements. Social media can harm the young with the number of friends. No real definition. Of the different friendships occurs Many students thought all were their friends on social media. But when the term friendship is explored many students listed terms such as honesty or trust that these friendships do not provide. Not even a labeling of acquaintances. Too much was lost from technology. Define friendships and then can you provide those items you listed as a friend to others you call friend as well as yourself as a friend. Relationships are a 2 way street. I am all for people with disabilities having technology for their needs. But the article I replied above, did not specify those people as part of the article. I am sure the author who wrote that article would agree that those with disabilities be given technology for them to do what they need to do for themselves. I ask you, Beth, do you object to the article or my reply as well as my conclusion to help any Gen Z adult to the best of my ability to regain what they lost. Is that upsetting to you?
social media, technology and advertising never makes anyone do anything. We choose our life trajectories and we have only ourselves to praise or to blame for the outcomes. Leave technology alone and let us all continually and forever work on ourselves. That is the only way that things will ever change. It must also be remembered that people with disabilities are going to once again be left out of the loop if technology keeps getting a bad name. I did not see a way to comment so I needed to reply. This is not meant just for the person I am replying to, it is meant for us all.
Beth, I completely disagree with you. First, this reflection by Freya India isn’t focused on people with disabilities. It’s a non sequitur to introduce it besides being a topic of its own unique focus. Second, the powerful manipulative abilities of the ever evolving algorithm far out weigh a human’s ability to choose freely and wisely. It takes extraordinary human consciousness to be aware of algorithmic intrusions and their distortions. Young minds don’t have a chance at fighting this alone.
How many alcohol beverages would you say you drink on a given week?
Are you using tobacco?
What are your screentime statistics?
I keep saying, it’s not just harmful to kids. Maybe a case could be made that adults have a higher faculty of agency (and that’s why we have age restrictions on alcohol and tobacco) but honestly, I doubt it.
Most people, adults included, are running on autopilot. Stimulus, response. Stimulus, response.
That’s why the scrolling apps are so habit forming: it’s a scientifically honed formula for a stimulus that engenders the response preferred by the app creators.
I know the crisis is the younger people and it’s great for Freya and After Babel to focus there. At the same time, our Boomer parents have got to be getting addicted at similar rates to our Gen Alpha children. Just from my personal, anecdotal observation.
My kids are Gen X, but they also have an addiction problem, mildler I suppose. But when I see kids out there today, it's like their phone is part of their body.
Thank you Freya for supporting this initiative. I would also suggest that in the midst of the addiction vacuum created by deleted of SM, that the void needs to be filled through a sustainable routine of getting outside, and realigning biological rhythms - aka being addicted to the sunrise.
Thanks for sharing Ms India's manifesto. As a concerned grandparent, I have grieved over the pressures and consequences of social media and internet garbage on my grandkids. It is so encouraging to see these Gen Z activists getting the message out to their peers. I have forwarded the manifesto and guide to my adult children and will encourage them to share with their kids!
I share the concerns about too much tech, about negative influences on human behavior, and especially (but not only) for severe impacts on young people.
But I don't like the language and implied morality as expressed by Freya. Claims of oppression and stolen lives, while perhaps rhetorically useful and even emotionally accurate, sound too much like post-modern/critical theory/woke/grievance studies politics, which IMO are destructive to free society. And it might be a stretch to claim that companies colonized brains through screens.
I see a distinct difference between using force of arms to steal lives and possessions, and offering products--as destructive as they might be--for people to choose to use. And I fear any movement that claims authority to ban products or use, no matter how noble the cause.
So please do advise people of your concerns. Encourage them to make better choices. But try to be rational. And try to respect liberty.
Age matters. Children do not need liberty. Adults can choose freely, children do not have the faculties or experiences to choose wisely (as well as some adults).
I would like to ‘like’ this comment 1000 times. Children do not need liberty, they need guidance (from parents). The need to be protected from the ‘guidance’ of social media and the internet. It’s difficult enough for adults to navigate internet ‘influencers’ - children are wholly vulnerable, innocent, and unequipped to handle this. This is exactly why the term ‘influencer’ has always rankled me. Beware of whom you allow to influence you, and especially who influences your children!
Thank you. I call my daughter and I the OG of this issue. She's 26, a recovered social media suicide survivor, and helping young adults develop the skills to deal with the real world that weren't taught during their formative teen years.
When she was 16 in the hospital under suicide support, her mother and I were standing outside the locked doors wondering how, where they went wrong. Today we know, it wasn't us, it truly was social media. If I could go back, I would not have handed her a phone when she was 13. The greatest regret of my life. It was my idea. But, my angel is a phoenix and has risen to become the voice of recovery. Social media isn't heroin, but to a 15 year old teen, it may as well be. There's a 50 50 chance they'll survive. I know. My daughter tried to committ suicide 6 times.
As a young mom, I knew it was my responsibility to model to my daughter how to manage screen time and social media use. For me personally, that meant deleting my social accounts. I am really encouraged to see this call to action and I stand with you all in this mission.
Bravo to Freya and others for your courageous determination, your grit, your defiance! Its a whole-of-society mission that absolutely needs leadership from those who’ve lived this hell my generation allowed and even enabled 🙏🏻
I want to greatly reduce phone (& tablet & laptop) use in my college classroom, but the textbook companies are making it impossible to do so because of their pricing. Ebooks (through their platform, usually, so not easy to engage with) are significantly cheaper than print books, which are outrageously expensive. Universities like mine are trying to reduce the costs of textbooks for students (since the rests of the costs of university have risen tremendously). So my university is pushing etextbooks hard. This means, of course, combined with learning management systems that are also required, that we are almost forced to allow tech devices to be on during class. And the students are mostly not reading. And they’re looking up quick answers on AI/the internet instead of searching themselves in the books. And they’re texting and playing video games and watching videos during class (including ones required for other classes). I yearn for a tech-less college classroom, but that has been made almost impossible, especially when departments require standard (online) textbooks in the gen ed classes.
By the way, the issue of "Anxiety" is not so special for GenerationZ, as respective problems existed before Computers became popular. For example, every time I stroll amidst the skyscrapers of NY, I imagine that there must be much "Anxiety" across all Generations in such dense City.
Thanks to everyone who commented because it’s here that we can figure out the next steps toward betterness. All comments provide insight, but the more critical ones help expose the gaps in the movement to correct for unbridled technology capture. Capture is a biz/regulatory term with unfortunate consequences: market capture and regulatory capture are 2 strategies that enable dominance. Tons of examples in the past of misuse of power in thrall to profit, without with power diminishes. The human face of misused dominance is the evidence but dismantling structural enablers is what make for betterness. And that gives me hope!
It’s time for schools to support this change. They needn’t mirror the marketplace. Instead, they should be Walled Gardens that employ all we know about human flourishing — embodied connection, developmentally appropriate methods that cultivate rather than diminish attention, and the professional stewardship that meets our fiduciary responsibilities to younger generations.
It’s time that schools become the architects of the future we want, not the reactionary institutions we’ve come to expect.
https://open.substack.com/pub/walledgardenedu/p/the-disappearing-art-of-deep-learning?r=f74da&utm_medium=ios
100% agree. Parents are passing down their trauma (smartphone addiction) to their kids. Schools can’t act without parents agreeing to the change.
To add to this and something they called out in the post — we older digital users don’t know what we missed out on by being addicted to the devices at a young age. So it’s difficult for parents today to see what damage is being done to their kids, therefore difficult see the benefits outweighing the costs, which feel immediate and are largely centered around fear-based “what ifs?” (e.g. fear of an emergency and they don’t have their phone, fear of their kid being left out socially, fear of losing connecting with kids, fear of backlash from being overly restrictive, etc).
This article and the movement is the beginning of awareness—realizing what we’ve experienced as a culture is not normal and should not be normalized.
I am not Gen Z but recently stepped away from social media and it is freeing. There is more space to focus on the things I enjoy. I wish you well with this endeavor.
As a survivor of Gen Z, smartphones and social media, and now a public speaker and writer about my experiences, deletion was the only way I got my mind back in 2022. I’ve been encouraging other Gen Z, and organizations like After Babel, to push for this message. Because, as I’ve mentioned before, there are a ton of us who have grown up and already lost life. Deletion of it all is the way through it, and the way to reclaim a life lost. It is the first step of what we can actually do about it, though it doesn’t end here.
Fabulous article! So many adults are with your older adults of Gen Z. Yes. Use your grief for change! As far as your grief, you can regain what you have lost from helping others to ensure they do not experience your grief from losses! As an adult, who believes in the youth, whatever I can do to help your older adults within your Gen Z generation, please let me know!
Social media, advertisements and ads can heavily influence one s actions. Should one want to help themselves help others who share your issues Healing occurs faster when people help each other real communication of issues, real experiences, real consequences explored both negative and positive. Technology for people with disabilities is not dismissed. These individuals use technology to socialize with others or to receive education or even the ability to speak to one another. Technology for disabled individuals is not a technology that is heavily influenced from ads or advertisements. Social media can harm the young with the number of friends. No real definition. Of the different friendships occurs Many students thought all were their friends on social media. But when the term friendship is explored many students listed terms such as honesty or trust that these friendships do not provide. Not even a labeling of acquaintances. Too much was lost from technology. Define friendships and then can you provide those items you listed as a friend to others you call friend as well as yourself as a friend. Relationships are a 2 way street. I am all for people with disabilities having technology for their needs. But the article I replied above, did not specify those people as part of the article. I am sure the author who wrote that article would agree that those with disabilities be given technology for them to do what they need to do for themselves. I ask you, Beth, do you object to the article or my reply as well as my conclusion to help any Gen Z adult to the best of my ability to regain what they lost. Is that upsetting to you?
social media, technology and advertising never makes anyone do anything. We choose our life trajectories and we have only ourselves to praise or to blame for the outcomes. Leave technology alone and let us all continually and forever work on ourselves. That is the only way that things will ever change. It must also be remembered that people with disabilities are going to once again be left out of the loop if technology keeps getting a bad name. I did not see a way to comment so I needed to reply. This is not meant just for the person I am replying to, it is meant for us all.
Beth, I completely disagree with you. First, this reflection by Freya India isn’t focused on people with disabilities. It’s a non sequitur to introduce it besides being a topic of its own unique focus. Second, the powerful manipulative abilities of the ever evolving algorithm far out weigh a human’s ability to choose freely and wisely. It takes extraordinary human consciousness to be aware of algorithmic intrusions and their distortions. Young minds don’t have a chance at fighting this alone.
Doctors ten years from now:
How many alcohol beverages would you say you drink on a given week?
Are you using tobacco?
What are your screentime statistics?
I keep saying, it’s not just harmful to kids. Maybe a case could be made that adults have a higher faculty of agency (and that’s why we have age restrictions on alcohol and tobacco) but honestly, I doubt it.
Most people, adults included, are running on autopilot. Stimulus, response. Stimulus, response.
That’s why the scrolling apps are so habit forming: it’s a scientifically honed formula for a stimulus that engenders the response preferred by the app creators.
I know the crisis is the younger people and it’s great for Freya and After Babel to focus there. At the same time, our Boomer parents have got to be getting addicted at similar rates to our Gen Alpha children. Just from my personal, anecdotal observation.
A Gen Z employee scanned the QR code on my phone to see “One Battle After Another” - fitting.
“What is this device?” - he asked referring to my phone.
“It’s a Light Phone,” I replied. “It doesn’t support any social apps.”
“Oh, that’s so cool!” - he exclaimed.
Change comes with setting an example in every day life, every day circumstances. Conversations start and soon the world is a different place.
My kids are Gen X, but they also have an addiction problem, mildler I suppose. But when I see kids out there today, it's like their phone is part of their body.
Thank you Freya for supporting this initiative. I would also suggest that in the midst of the addiction vacuum created by deleted of SM, that the void needs to be filled through a sustainable routine of getting outside, and realigning biological rhythms - aka being addicted to the sunrise.
Thanks for sharing Ms India's manifesto. As a concerned grandparent, I have grieved over the pressures and consequences of social media and internet garbage on my grandkids. It is so encouraging to see these Gen Z activists getting the message out to their peers. I have forwarded the manifesto and guide to my adult children and will encourage them to share with their kids!
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/266935/texas-boys-school-establishes-policy-to-destroy-smartphones
This is where my boys go to school.
I share the concerns about too much tech, about negative influences on human behavior, and especially (but not only) for severe impacts on young people.
But I don't like the language and implied morality as expressed by Freya. Claims of oppression and stolen lives, while perhaps rhetorically useful and even emotionally accurate, sound too much like post-modern/critical theory/woke/grievance studies politics, which IMO are destructive to free society. And it might be a stretch to claim that companies colonized brains through screens.
I see a distinct difference between using force of arms to steal lives and possessions, and offering products--as destructive as they might be--for people to choose to use. And I fear any movement that claims authority to ban products or use, no matter how noble the cause.
So please do advise people of your concerns. Encourage them to make better choices. But try to be rational. And try to respect liberty.
Age matters. Children do not need liberty. Adults can choose freely, children do not have the faculties or experiences to choose wisely (as well as some adults).
I would like to ‘like’ this comment 1000 times. Children do not need liberty, they need guidance (from parents). The need to be protected from the ‘guidance’ of social media and the internet. It’s difficult enough for adults to navigate internet ‘influencers’ - children are wholly vulnerable, innocent, and unequipped to handle this. This is exactly why the term ‘influencer’ has always rankled me. Beware of whom you allow to influence you, and especially who influences your children!
Thank you. I call my daughter and I the OG of this issue. She's 26, a recovered social media suicide survivor, and helping young adults develop the skills to deal with the real world that weren't taught during their formative teen years.
When she was 16 in the hospital under suicide support, her mother and I were standing outside the locked doors wondering how, where they went wrong. Today we know, it wasn't us, it truly was social media. If I could go back, I would not have handed her a phone when she was 13. The greatest regret of my life. It was my idea. But, my angel is a phoenix and has risen to become the voice of recovery. Social media isn't heroin, but to a 15 year old teen, it may as well be. There's a 50 50 chance they'll survive. I know. My daughter tried to committ suicide 6 times.
As a young mom, I knew it was my responsibility to model to my daughter how to manage screen time and social media use. For me personally, that meant deleting my social accounts. I am really encouraged to see this call to action and I stand with you all in this mission.
Bravo to Freya and others for your courageous determination, your grit, your defiance! Its a whole-of-society mission that absolutely needs leadership from those who’ve lived this hell my generation allowed and even enabled 🙏🏻
I want to greatly reduce phone (& tablet & laptop) use in my college classroom, but the textbook companies are making it impossible to do so because of their pricing. Ebooks (through their platform, usually, so not easy to engage with) are significantly cheaper than print books, which are outrageously expensive. Universities like mine are trying to reduce the costs of textbooks for students (since the rests of the costs of university have risen tremendously). So my university is pushing etextbooks hard. This means, of course, combined with learning management systems that are also required, that we are almost forced to allow tech devices to be on during class. And the students are mostly not reading. And they’re looking up quick answers on AI/the internet instead of searching themselves in the books. And they’re texting and playing video games and watching videos during class (including ones required for other classes). I yearn for a tech-less college classroom, but that has been made almost impossible, especially when departments require standard (online) textbooks in the gen ed classes.
By the way, the issue of "Anxiety" is not so special for GenerationZ, as respective problems existed before Computers became popular. For example, every time I stroll amidst the skyscrapers of NY, I imagine that there must be much "Anxiety" across all Generations in such dense City.
Thanks to everyone who commented because it’s here that we can figure out the next steps toward betterness. All comments provide insight, but the more critical ones help expose the gaps in the movement to correct for unbridled technology capture. Capture is a biz/regulatory term with unfortunate consequences: market capture and regulatory capture are 2 strategies that enable dominance. Tons of examples in the past of misuse of power in thrall to profit, without with power diminishes. The human face of misused dominance is the evidence but dismantling structural enablers is what make for betterness. And that gives me hope!