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Play Video about Jonathan Haidt speaking on stage at ExcelinEd
Dakota Medical Foundation
Dr. Jonathan Haidt zooms out on the youth mental health crisis involving smartphone use and proposes solutions during the ExcelinEd summit.
The video above: social psychologist and author, Jonathan Haidt, at the ExcelinEd summit in November 2023
Source credit: After Babel and ExcelinEd
Use the link below to read Dr. Jonathan Haidt’s published article in its entirety.
Research and Revelation
For several months now, our team here at Dakota Medical Foundation has researched and reported on the correlation between deteriorating mental health and smartphone use. We worked with our partners, the Matto Foundation and Valley Christian Counseling, in hosting a summit last August about digital addiction and a subsequent Techwise Community Training session about the effects of digital addiction on mental health and strategies to manage screen use.
The stats are sobering. Digital addiction is real.
Our brains and our kids’ brains are getting hooked, and it’s a battle finding the way back to how we lived before carrying our “smart” digital drug in our pockets and purses daily. Yet we press on in addressing this issue, and others do too.
More Than a Mention
It’s not just us who are concerned. Those in charge of headlines and news time worldwide are giving more than a mention to what clinical professionals and educators are witnessing: mental health is declining, alarmingly in youth, and they are connecting it to screen time and digital media, especially the ever-present and ever-pinging media on smartphones.
How did we get here? What do we do now?
How did we let this addiction gain hold of us and our youth? What’s the antidote we need to be healed, and how do we get it? Sure, we can limit screen time and have designated “no phone” areas and other safeguards, but is there something deeper, more life-based and cultural we can do?
It is said, “Sometimes you need to take a step back to see the bigger picture.” The bigger picture often reveals what we cannot see closeup in the stats and empirical results. In other words, zoom out from an issue, see it from a different perspective, and search for clues leading to a better understanding and deeper, more profound solutions.
In the video above, Dr. Jonathan Haidt, does this; he zooms out on this issue and proposes novel solutions to educators and government officials during the ExcelinEd summit.
Watch the video above and read the article linked through the button below to discover Dr. Haidt’s research and recommendations.
Dr. Jonathan Haidt references a new book he has authored called The Anxious Generation • HOW THE GREAT REWIRING OF CHILDHOOD IS CAUSING AN EPIDEMIC OF MENTAL ILLNESS Dakota Medical Foundation does not explicitly endorse or receive a commission from sales of this book.
Pre-order the book by clicking on the image below.
