My wife enjoys visiting antique stores. I do, too, but not for the furniture or the vintage trinkets. Instead, I gravitate toward the periodical sections and peruse old Life and Time magazines, where I read about wars that divided the world and space races that dominated our imagination.
It's a fascinating trip down memory lane. It's also a glimpse into society's shifting views. Consider, for example, cigarette ads. They're plentiful. And deceitful.
One cigarette ad from a 1972 Life magazine depicts a peaceful, rushing waterfall. Another shows a group gathered around a campfire, preparing to board a hot air balloon. A third one features a young woman sitting alone in a field of lush vegetation, preparing to puff.
Cigarettes, we are led to believe, are the choice of race car drivers and lively dates. They're the secret behind successful sports figures, too.
The ads, though, don't include the whole truth about cigarettes—the health risks, addictive nature, and long-term consequences. There are no photos of scarred lungs and frail bodies that aged far too quickly. We only see healthy people doing extraordinary feats.
Today, we look at such ads with bewilderment. How could our ancestors have been so foolish?
Then again, maybe we're blind to our own faults. Which aspects of today's society will future generations look back on and question? Sometimes, I wonder if it will be our addiction to smartphones and social media—especially the ease with which we've handed them to children.
We are the first generation of humans with smartphones, and our children, it seems, are the guinea pigs in this sweeping social experiment. Increasingly, research suggests that introducing these devices to youngsters was a monumental mistake.
I have four school-aged children. When my eldest entered high school, I gave him a smartphone but soon questioned that choice. For my next two, I opted for phone watches, often known as smartwatches, which are free of social media and the Internet. It has proven to be a much wiser alternative.
Maybe you're a parent with children who are begging for a phone. If so, here are four reasons to consider smartwatches:
1. They Avoid the Pitfalls
1. They Avoid the Pitfalls
It was never a good idea to discard seemingly every good thing in society (face-to-face conversations and walks through the woods, for example) and replace them with portable pieces of glowing glass. Now, though, research underlines the pitfalls of smartphones and social media, especially among teens.
Since 2010, anxiety and depression rates have skyrocketed among children, teens, and young adults, as have incidences of self-harm. That year, not incidentally, also roughly coincided with the launch of the iPhone (2007), Instagram (2010) and Snapchat (2011).
University professor Jonathan Haidt argues in his landmark book The Anxious Generation that parents have under-protected children in the virtual world—handing them smartphones with no strings attached—while overprotecting them in the real world. In 2012, only 23 percent of teens had a smartphone. That skyrocketed to 79 percent in 2016 and to 95 percent in 2022. Half of teens say they're on the Internet almost constantly, according to Pew. Teens average nearly five hours a day on social media.
As smartphone usage has surged among children and teens, their mental health has suffered.
Since 2010, depression among teens ages 12-17 has surged by 150 percent. Emergency room visits for self-harm among girls ages 10-14 have soared by 188 percent. Suicide rates have risen sharply as well -- up 91 percent among boys ages 10-14 and 167 percent among girls of the same age. College students are also affected, with anxiety rates increasing by 134 percent and depression by 106 percent. (Source: The Anxious Generation.)
Such rates—if you're curious—previously were stable. Other Western countries have experienced similar trends.
A carefree play-based childhood has been replaced by a stress-filled phone-based childhood, where teens endlessly chase "likes," constantly compete for attention, and always face the threat of bullying.
Unlike the teens of past generations, today's teens take every problem home with them through social media, missing out on the oasis that home once provided. Years ago, stepping through the house door meant leaving the bully behind. Now, teens battle their bullies even as they lie in bed. Meanwhile, they're getting less sleep.
They're addicted to platforms that were designed to addict, thanks to algorithms that exploit human psychology to maximize engagement. And we haven't even mentioned porn—or video games.
An increasing number of states have taken action by banning phones in the classroom. Florida did. So did California. It's an issue with rare bipartisan support. (Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders sent Haidt's book to every governor in the U.S.—Democrat and Republican alike—while telling them in an accompanying letter, "America's kids are facing a mental health crisis.”)
Debbie Jones, superintendent of Bentonville Schools in Arkansas, has witnessed firsthand the positive impact of limiting smartphone use among children since the district implemented major restrictions.
"Verbal and physical offenses at the high school dropped by more than 50 percent, as did drug-related offenses. Some 86 percent of teachers reported a positive impact," Jones wrote in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "There are less quantifiable impacts, too. Students walk the hallways with their eyes up, not peering down on their phones. In the library, students no longer gather in the corner with their hoodies around their faces, huddled around phones."
Imagine the impact on society if every U.S. school adopted such a policy. Imagine the impact if teens didn't have smartphones in the first place.
My oldest child has a passion for nature. My middle kids love sports—volleyball, basketball, and soccer. None of them had smartphones as a child. I sometimes wonder: Would they have had the same interests had I handed them a phone at a young age?
2. It Meets the Need
2. It Meets the Need
Purchasing a smartphone to keep in contact with your child is like buying a sports car to run errands. It's not necessary.
When they were in sixth grade, I bought my twins a "phone watch," sometimes called a smartwatch. It doesn't have social media, the Internet, or a camera. It can make phone calls, text, and have GPS. And that's about it. (If you're curious, each individual phone number on their contact list requires a parent's approval.) It has a few simple games, too, but nothing overly distracting.
The watch meets the need. If basketball practice ends early, they can call. If a sleepover at a friend's house isn't going as planned, they can text.
Their watch, in other words, does what cell phones did prior to Jan. 9, 2007, when Steve Jobs stepped onto the stage at the Macworld Convention and introduced society to the iPhone.
Haidt, who teaches at New York University, recommends four reforms to fix America's anxious generation: 1) no smartphones before high school, 2) no social media before 16 years old, 3) no phones in schools, and 4) giving children and teens more independence, free play, and responsibility.
I'm not convinced that a high school freshman needs a smartphone or that social media is harmless to a 16-year-old. Still, those guidelines are a good first step. The later teens get a smartphone, the better.
My 12-year-old daughter often asks me what age she'll get an iPhone. I often respond by citing the social data, hugging her, and responding in my kindest voice: I don't know.
Of course, old-fashioned flip phones ("dumb" phones) can meet the same need. We've simply opted to try something different.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Onfokus
3. It's Less Expensive and Less Likely to Get Lost
3. It's Less Expensive and Less Likely to Get Lost
We pay roughly $20 per month for each child's plan, a price that includes insurance. (If they misplace the watch, it costs us another $40 to get a new one.) Many smartphone plans cost more than twice that much, if not more. Replacing a lost phone, too, is pricier.
Smartwatches have another benefit for an active child, tween, or teen: They're less likely to get lost. A smartwatch is worn on the wrist throughout the day, rarely removed, and designed to withstand daily activity. On the other hand, a phone is more prone to being misplaced—falling out of a pocket, left on a table, or buried at the bottom of a backpack.
A handful of companies are meeting the needs of parents looking for an alternative to smartphones. Gabb, Cosmo and TickTalk are three popular choices, although major phone carriers also have their own options.
All of them come with a wide range of features—some of which you might not need or want—so take time to research and find the best fit.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Drazen Zigic
4. It Gets You Ahead of the Curve
4. It Gets You Ahead of the Curve
Most teens are given a smartphone only after they've begged and begged.
Smartwatches allow you to flip the script, giving your children a high-tech gadget before they've even asked. That's why I did.
Last Christmas, my sixth-grade twins sat under the tree as they tore through the red-and-white wrapping paper and examined what lay inside, each one of them wearing a grin.
"What is it?" my son asked in curious excitement, having never seen such a gizmo.
But once they learned more about them, they were hooked. Besides, it gave them a new sleek-looking accessory with a colorful band to show their friends. And I had filled a need. They could call me, and I could call them, and social media wasn't part of the equation.
Of course, I'll face another decision when my children enter high school and more of their friends start carrying smartphones. Do I get them a flip phone or perhaps a restricted smartphone without social media? (Yes, those do exist.) I'm not sure yet. But I do know this: They won't be getting an unrestricted smartphone.
Social media is the armpit of a self-centered society, and I want my children to steer clear of it.
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
That well-known verse isn't about smartphones, social media, or modern-day gadgets. But it is about instilling values, wisdom, and good habits. Smartphones inhibit all three.
Does anyone honestly believe society has improved in the era of smartphones and social media? Are we kinder, more selfless, and more Christ-like? Or are we meaner, more selfish, and more divided than ever? If it's changed adults for the worse, then why would I want my children to start down that path so young? Smartphones have distracted us from everything good: friends and family, conversations and connection, and our quiet time with God.
For the next few years, I want my children to experience life without screens shaping their every thought. I want them to build good habits, grounded in the richness of the real world.
Eventually, they'll have a smartphone. But not yet.
Originally published December 06, 2024.
