“The nature of childhood itself was changing,” he says. “And it changes a lot.”
With public attention focused on the teen mental health crisis in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, experts and commentators have blamed skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression and suicide on smartphones. It is increasingly being linked to the rise of social media. Gray has emerged in recent years as a leading proponent of an alternative theory that has been quietly gaining traction among experts. Perhaps it’s not teenagers’ obsession with cell phones, but the disappearance of free play. What are the main factors that cause mental health crises in teens?
In a recent paper published in pediatric journal Late last year, Gray and colleagues made this claim based on a wealth of evidence across developmental psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and other fields. While it may be true that the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and suicide among children and teens appears to be increasing in parallel with smartphone and social media use, researchers say They concluded that the mental health of teens and children is actually declining over the years. At least 50 years. This period “corresponds to a time when children and teens have fewer opportunities to play, roam, and participate in other activities independently from direct adult supervision and control.”” they wrote.
“Everything I know about play suggests that taking it away from children has negative consequences,” said Gray, who published the book in 2013. Learn for free, He argued that free play is the primary means by which children develop resilience.
In 2019, nearly 1 in 5 children in the United States between the ages of 3 and 17 was diagnosed with a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder, according to the 2021 Surgeon General’s recommendations. This is an increase of over 40% compared to 2009. American suicide mortality rate for 12- to 17-year-olds from 2008 to 2020 It has increased by 70%.
In fall 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association issued a joint statement declaring child and adolescent mental health a “national emergency.” Shortly after, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy issued an unusual public health advisory calling youth mental health “the defining public health issue of our time.”
However, the Surgeon General blamed the crisis on social media and the amount of time children and young people spend online. These links are also important. “anxious generation,” New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt recently published a bestseller. Gray’s longtime collaborator Haidt also laments the decline of “play-based childhood” in his book. He records that it has been replaced by a “telephone-based childhood”. And what he calls a “massive rewiring” that impedes the healthy social and neurological development of our nation’s children and fuels the spread of addiction, loneliness, fragmented attention, and mental illness. It provides a detailed explanation of the situation.
Mr. Gray said he read Mr. Haidt’s earlier books and encouraged him to change his focus, but to no avail.
Gray argues that screens may actually help reduce the negative impact that reduced free play has on young people’s mental well-being. He suggests that the rise of collaborative online gaming in the early 2000s coincided with a temporary reversal in the incidence of mental health problems among young people. (He wrote about standardized testing, the common core, and Other changes in American schools have increased that number again).
“My objection to this book is that it reinforces everyone’s prejudices,” Gray said. “It doesn’t matter that he says this is also a play, because that’s not what people are going to focus on in this book. The first chapter is all on social media. That’s what resonates. Books are selling because of screens.”
Hite did not respond to requests for comment.
Lenore Skenazy, President let it growThe New York-based nonprofit, which claims to be leading the “child independence movement,” has listened to Gray and Hite debate the relative merits and demerits of video games for months. However, her opinion falls somewhere in between. But she, too, is concerned that Haidt’s message about play hasn’t received enough attention in media coverage of the book.
“You can’t just take away the phone,” she said. “We have to give back to our children what we took away from their lives: the autonomy to be part of the world without constant surveillance.”
Skenazy, New York-based journalist and author of this book “Free Range Kids” In 2009, she gained national fame after writing a column announcing that she left her 9-year-old son alone at Bloomingdale’s and allowed him to ride the bus and subway home alone. She teamed up with Gray. Haidt previously wrote about the psychological vulnerabilities of college students. And she founded the nonprofit in 2017 by Dan Shakman, an investor-turned-philanthropist and campus free speech advocate.
The organization works with schools across the country to “free play club” allows children to play freely without phones before or after school. It also lobbies state legislatures. pass a law The system protects parents from neglect and criminal charges if they allow their children to cycle or walk to and from school or nearby places, play outside, or stay home alone on “reasonable grounds.” The aim is to promote so-called “rational independence during childhood” by protecting children. ” Length of time. Since then, eight states have passed such laws, including Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Virginia, Illinois, Connecticut, and Montana.
In recent years, a growing body of evidence has emerged from scientific laboratories suggesting that “free” play is not just fun, but an important tool for normal development. One hint at its evolutionary significance is its ubiquity. Scientists have observed play, which can be defined as aimless activity done purely for fun, in dogs, cats, monkeys, alligators, bears, fish, and even spiders and bumblebees. They showed that play allows developing animals to try out new abilities and improvise. Test your limits and abilities in a safe and protected environment. In humans, children can use their imagination, express creativity, and learn to cope with and respond to unexpected situations.
Play with peers is also important for socialization. This is how animals “learn how to behave like card-carrying members of a species,” says Marc Bekoff, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. Play may even be crucial in shaping the developing brain by strengthening important neurons and “pruning” unused ones. A recent Canadian study says: The researchers showed that the brains of rats raised without play showed far less pruning in brain regions essential for executive functions such as emotional regulation, sociability, motivation, and cognitive processing. Later in life, they lack impulse control and are unable to respond appropriately to potential mates.
To make the case for playclubs, Gray helped design a systematic research study that Jessica Black, a professor at Boston University School of Social Work, is conducting in elementary schools across New Hampshire. Selected schools are working to set up “play clubs” that offer her one hour of free play to children in the city. Kindergarten through 5th grade, before or after school. Participating children undergo a variety of psychological tests designed to measure psychological well-being and other indicators. Their outcomes will be compared to a control group of schools without it.
“Play is how children naturally develop,” Gray said. “By doing so, children learn how to push boundaries, deal with fears, solve problems, manage anger, and get along with playmates. If you take that away, they learn how to It leaves you unprepared for the stresses of life.”
Adam Piore can be reached at [email protected].
