In today’s world, where technology pervades every aspect of our lives, it’s easy to forget the simple joys of childhood: the spontaneous laughter, the imaginative games, and pure, unstructured play. The summer holidays present a golden opportunity to rekindle these joys and to remind our children of the wonders of real-world connections and adventures. Inspired by
@JonathanHaidt ’s insights in “The Anxious Generation,” it’s clear that the key to a memorable summer lies far from the screens that dominate our children’s lives.
Remember the days of the flip phone? Those basic devices did little more than facilitate direct communication with friends and family. There was no constant stream of notifications, no endless scroll of social media feeds. Instead, our connections were more meaningful, and our time was spent engaging with the world around us. This era of simpler technology fostered genuine interactions leaving room for play.
We know the mental health of young people has sharply declined with the rise of smartphones and social media. A constant barrage of curated content and the pressure to maintain an online prescense have displaced crucial real-world interactions.
This summer, let’s prioritise play and connection over screens. By doing so, we can give our children the chance to experience the true joys of childhood and build the skills they need for a happy, healthy future. Change has to happen but requires a collective effort. At Safe Screens, we’re committed to raising awareness and advocating for safer smartphone usage among children. If you want to help join our movement for a safer and healthier digital future.
👉 Learn more about our impactful initiatives by clicking the link in our bio. Let’s build a safer digital world for our children 🫶
Together, we can create a summer filled with real-world adventures and lasting memories.
![“Age-gating social media is hugely popular. Over 80% of adults believe parental consent should be required for social media, and almost 70% want platforms to limit the time minors spend on them.“Thank you @profgalloway for a thoughtful post about age-gating.“Arguments [against age-gating] boil down to the assertion that these multibillion-dollar organizations, who’ve assembled vast pools of human capital that wield godlike technology, can’t figure out how to build effective, efficient, constitutionally compliant age-verification systems to protect children. If this sounds like bullshit, trust your instincts.”“The platforms could design technology that reliably collects sufficient information to confirm a user’s age, then wipes the information from its servers. They could create a private or public entity that processes age verification anonymously. Remember the blockchain? Isn’t this exactly the kind of problem it was supposed to solve? They could deploy AI to estimate when a user is likely underage based on their online behaviors, and seek age verification from at-risk people. If device manufacturers (or just the device OS duopoly of Apple and Alphabet) were properly incentivized, they could implement age verification on the device itself.”](https://sp1.pixwox.com/p/pt_6811716173693143114753_0_ca76dc217d97896308f5874de41e89c7.jpg?v/t51.29350-15/449614316_807140234841208_5831354375967005763_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6ImltYWdlX3VybGdlbi43Mzl4NzM5LnNkci5mMjkzNTAifQ&_nc_ht=scontent-sea1-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=104&_nc_ohc=efoI6Um7dm8Q7kNvgGideKT&edm=ABmJApABAAAA&ccb=7-5&ig_cache_key=MzQwMTg5MzQzODI1MTU4Mjg5NQ%3D%3D.2-ccb7-5&oh=00_AYCexIAmJLXaiAq0VgB05AtqzMduAYuTjL3xhKfYzPVXLw&oe=668C2A75&_nc_sid=b41fef)
