The results are in.
…exposing children to sexual and offensive content.
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50% of 12-yr-olds regularly see online porn.
44% of boys say it gives them ideas about the ‘kind of sex they want’.
…creating structural changes to children’s brains.
Excessive smartphone use is associated with psychiatric, cognitive, emotional, medical, and brain changes.
…increasing depression and anxiety in children.
There has been a 98% increase in depression since 2004.
10% of under 17s have attempted suicide.
…causing children to lose sleep.
When they should be sleeping, 80% of teens are using smartphones.
…addictive.
46% of teens say they use the internet « almost constantly », and 23% of young people have a dysfunctional relationship with their smartphones.
…pressuring girls into sending sexual images of themselves.
It is common for girls as young as 11 to be pressured into sending nude images of themselves.
…making children more likely to self harm.
Hospitalisation rates for self-harm have increased by 140% since 2010.
24% of UK girls aged 17 have self-harmed.
…damaging the development ofchildren’s spines.
69% of children with a smartphone report neck pain. 81% displayed a neck disability.
…exposing children to sexual abuse & grooming.
There has been a 1,058% increase since 2019 of webpages showing sexual abuse of 7-10 yr-old children.
…contributing to obesity in children.
On average children with phones are spending 9 hours a day on screens, however 5 or more hours a day has a 43% increased risk of obesity.
…damaging children’s eyes.
Children’s myopia risk (shortsightedness) is linked to smartphone use.
…reducing time with friends in person.
Children with smartphones are spending less time than ever socialising in person.
…contributing to the huge increase in cyberbullying.
84% of bullying in children with smartphones, takes place online, and children no longer have respite from bullies at home.
…reducing children’s ability to empathise & communicate.
Children are increasingly unable to read facial expressions or show empathy, compared to children in previous generations.
…encouraging children to turn to peers over parents for direction.
Peers are now children’s primary attachment, shifting the primary relationships away from their parents/guardians.
…preventing children playing outside.
Children spend twice as long looking at screens as playing outside.
…affecting children’s ability to focus.
Nearly 40% of children have experienced reduced levels of concentration due to their smartphones.
…increasing loneliness in children.
Loneliness has doubled in children since 2012. School loneliness is highest where access to smartphones and internet use is high.
The Silicon Valley billionaires who created the phones and apps that harm our children would never put smartphones in their own children’s pockets.
Right now we can work together to end this epidemic of mental illness in our children and commit to delaying smartphones until at least the age of 14.
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