I recommend reading the timely, well-written article by Ros Thomas titled “Kids told us that they want to stop scrolling but they don’t know how” in the Weekend Australian Magazine (Aug 16, 2025).
Thomas interviewed Australian teenagers over a nine month period about how they feel about themselves on social media. According to Thomas, “the open secret among the under-16s is that they already know social media makes them feel bad about themselves. They just don’t know what to do about it.” A number of teenagers told Thomas that their screentime can last from 8 hours, 9 hours to early morning. She wrote about the concern of Jonathan Haidt, the best-selling author of The Anxious Generation…” (2024) that “parents have overprotected children in the real world …but vastly underprotected them in the virtual world” giving them “an iPhone and IPad” and saying “we ‘re going to let you be guided into adulthood by a bunch of random people on the internet chosen by algorithms…”
The negative impact on young minds described by Thomas is real, deeply troubling and needs to be taken seriously. As a psychologist, I have encountered young people with significant internet addiction and withdrawal symptoms when their devices are taken away. The impact on the whole family is devastating.
Fortunately, as Thomas’ shared, there are school principals like Barry Finch and Matt Hopkins who have taken the road less travelled and put a “blanket ban” on phones for their students in school despite student pushback. Finch and Hopkins also pointed to a group who can be said to be part of the problem. As Finch noted, “ Thirty percent of my time … is spent dealing with parents’ inability to parent, ….to do boundaries… to remove the phone…” Hopkins said, “Parents need to step up and do their job. And 100 percent of schools should be banning phones outright…”
I admire their leadership and determination to do the right thing for young minds.
I believe that excessive screen time and social media addiction is responsible for one of society’s most consequential mental health crisis. I highly recommend educators and parents read this meaningful article. Share them with kids and give them the opportunity to make an informed decision about stopping before this addiction takes over their lives.