NYC’s top doc says kids shouldn’t get phones before age 14 to safeguard mental health
Social media has become such a menace for kids that the city health commissioner is recommending parents don’t give their children cell phones till at least age 14.
Pediatrians also should make talking to parents and children about social media part of check-ups, says Big Apple Health Commish Ashwin Vasan.
“Adolescents using social media have a greater risk of experiencing poor mental health, including symptoms of depression and anxiety,” wrote Vasan and city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Chief Medical Officer Michelle Morse in a Sept. 5 letter to doctors and other medical professionals.
“Recommend parents and caregivers delay giving children a smartphone, or similar device that can access social media, until age 14, and then reassess based on current evidence of harms and the child’s strengths and needs,” the missive said.
“When children begin to travel more independently in NYC, ask parents to start children with a phone that does not have the ability to access social media,” the department’s docs added.
Pediatricians also should discuss the perils of over exposure to smart phones and social media with parents and their children as part of a “family media plan” to curb or prohibit use, according to the letter.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing for a ban on smart phones in schools and currently conducting a “listening tour” to see how it can be done.
She and the state legislature approved a law in June to give parents more control over social media usage on apps such as TikTok and Instagram.
The city’s top doctors, in their letter, cited statistics indicating local youths are more depressed than a decade ago and suggesting social media addiction could be a culprit.
In 2021, 38% of city high schoolers felt so sad or hopeless during the previous year that they stopped engaging in their usual activities, compared with 27% in 2011, according to the city’s youth risk-behavior survey.
Preoccupation with dying — suicidal ideation — increased by more than 34% among this group from 2011 to 2021, the survey found.
Social-media use has become commonplace among many people: 54% of children, 93% of teenagers, and 78% of parents use some form of social media, the Health Department said, citing its own special report on social media.
Children who use social media experience higher rates of anxiety (16%) than children who do not (12%).
Teenagers who use social media experience anxiety (27%) and depression (14%) at higher rates than teenagers who do not (9% and 4%, respectively), too.
Many adults are more stressed after repeated checks of their smart phone, a recent University of Michigan study revealed.
Some adults are not good role models — and even inconsiderate — while absorbed scrolling on their phone.
A Post reporter at a gym in Queens on Saturday saw three customers sitting on their seats in a row of exercise weight machines, with their heads down staring at their smart phone and scrolling through information, slowing down the workout regimen.
The top city doctors urged their colleagues to share resources with patients such as the city Department of Education’s Digital Citizenship Curriculum for students in grades K to 12; the Health Department’s NYC Teenspace mental health support program for students ages 13 to 17, and the health agency’s guide to parents, “Social Media and Youth Mental Health.”
