KBS Documentary Insight explores the lives of anxious children immersed in the digital world.
Mental health indicators for American teenagers have dramatically declined since 2012. U.S. social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues this decline coincided with the smartphone adoption rate surpassing 50%.
Haidt suggests the rise of smartphones significantly increased anxiety, depression, and suicide rates among children. He strongly advocates for a return to a ‘play-based childhood’ from a ‘smartphone-based childhood.’
How can anxious children, engulfed in the digital world, be brought back to reality? Part 1 of KBS Documentary Insight’s ‘Anxiety Exploration 2-Part Series – Burning,’ titled ‘Anxiety Generation,’ explores this question.
Australia’s Decision: War Against Big Tech
Australia was the first country to act in protecting children from smartphones. The Australian government recently announced legislation strictly limiting teenagers’ social media use, declaring a war against Big Tech.
The national initiative in Australia was prompted by the cries of parents who lost children due to social media. Their desperate outcry awakened society, leading the nation to declare ‘social media regulation for under 16s’ to free children from algorithmic pressure.
Three months into the law’s enactment, it remains to be seen whether children have regained a ‘safe daily life’ without smartphones.
Smartphone Generation: Kids’ Brains on Fire
Smartphones, the seemingly friendly device closest to children, have taken over their world. How has this ‘object in hand’ transformed children?
Studies worldwide suggest smartphones lead to cognitive decline. Korean researchers have captured functional transformations in the brain, finding that smartphone overdependence leads to hyperactivation, essentially causing the brain to “burn.”
Mental health is a more significant concern. Teachers report that today’s youth, influenced by smartphones, struggle with sustained attention and tire easily. Medical diagnoses are even more chilling: pediatric patients in psychiatric wards increase daily, and youth suicide rates are sharply climbing.
Experts suggest this may be related to smartphones. Can simply taking away smartphones free children from immense pain and anxiety?
Anxious Parents Create Anxious Children
A pediatric psychiatrist, who has long observed children in Daechi-dong, states this might not be the case, at least in Korean society.
In a society with scarce opportunities and a diminished sense of belonging, Korean parents have raised their children with desperation to prevent them from living anxious lives, replacing ‘play’ with an ‘endless academic competition system.’
Driven by anxiety, parents act as emotional greenhouses for their children, shielding them even from minimal frustration and failure. Such anxious parents struggle to foster independence in their children, leading the children to retreat home, unable to integrate into society. For these children, smartphones become the perfect escape.
Who Is the Real Anxious Generation?
Ironically, paths parents paved to provide stable lives for their children may lead them to lose their sense of direction. The lack of necessary childhood experiences involving frustration and self-exploration may later boomerang back as burnout.
Does an anxious youth await these diligent children, raised without experiencing frustration by their anxious parents?
Children who hide in the world within their palms instead of the outside world, and anxious parents who control and shield their children from failure—who truly constitutes the anxious generation?
KBS Documentary Insight’s ‘Anxiety Exploration 2-Part Series – Burning’ examines the essential deficiencies hidden behind smartphones. Part 1, ‘Anxiety Generation,’ will air on KBS 1TV at 10 PM on the 26th.
Image source: KBS 1TV ‘Anxiety Exploration 2-Part Series – Burning’
