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What happened in the early 2010s that altered adolescent development and worsened mental health? According to the Pew Research Center, in 2011, only 23% of teens had a smartphone. By 2015, that number had risen to 73%, and a quarter of teens said they were online “almost constantly.”

God created humans to experience His creation. Children experience the world around them primarily through the medium of play. For children of all ages, one of the most powerful drivers of learning is the strong motivation to play. One of the crucial aspects of play is physical risk-taking. Teens have an even greater desire for increased risks and thrills, when failure may carry more serious consequences. Young people who are deprived of opportunities for risk-taking and independent exploration will, on average, develop into more anxious and risk-averse adults.

The pervasive use of smartphones has altered childhood. “Once young people began carrying the entire internet in their pockets, available to them day and night, it altered their daily experiences and developmental pathways across the board. Friendship, dating, sexuality, exercise, sleep, academics, politics, family dynamics, identity—all were affected.” Real-world experiences have been replaced by virtual activities that are nothing like the read-world experiences that God created children to encounter.

The smartphone has changed childhood from shared outdoor experiences to isolated indoor virtual experiences. Perhaps the most devastating cost of the new phone-based childhood is the collapse of time spent interacting with other people face-to-face.

Next time… what are the differences between digital communications and real-world, face-to-face communications, and what are the consequences of swapping the latter for the former?