two years ago New York Times published an article – which hilariously went viral – on Luddite Club from Brooklyn, New York. A group of teenage skeptics gathered in Prospect Park to enjoy nature, listen to the wind, read Dostoyevsky, Kerouac and Vonnegut, sketch and paint. Giving up smartphones or social media in your free time, unlike the activities of your peers, seemed too radical. But it caught the public’s attention and raised awareness of the dangerous effects of social media on young people.
Much of the Luddite Club talk was about how TikTok is misleading their generation.
The Luddite Club: The Antithesis of Social Media
During the last two years, The Luddite Club Movement has grown significantly, with branches in various high schools and colleges in various US states. They now have a messy website to help spread the word, while one of the founding members is in the final stages of turning the club into a registered non-profit.
“We want to say that we are a group of ex-screeners who connect young people to communities and knowledge to overcome agendas resistant to big technologies.” says Logan Lane, one of the founders. He recently spoke at a symposium examining the impact of technology on society at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.
Screenwriters
Speaking to a packed audience, she painted a sad picture of her life before the Luddite Club, when everything revolved around what was happening on social media.
“Like other iPad kids, I found myself from the age of 10 wanting to be famous on apps like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.” she said. “My phone kept the busy lives of my peers with me everywhere I went, following me to the dinner table, to the bus stop, and finally to my bed, where I lay groggy and nervous, often in the late hours of the night, glued to my device.”
However, when she turned 14, she became depressed.
“One day sitting by the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, I had a sudden urge to throw my iPhone into the water.” he told the audience. “I didn’t see the difference between the garbage on my phone and the trash in the sewer. After a few months, I turned off my phone, put it in the closet, and signed off from social media forever. And so began my life as a Luddite.”
“For today’s youth” he concluded, “The experience of development has become dirty, it has become cheap.” who am i “How do I appear?”
Mental health crisis
“I’d rather have my kids than smoke on social media” says American pediatrician and author Dr. Meg Meeker. She believes that parents need to rethink their social media habits, which their families approve of.
“If you smoke from age 13 to 18 and stop, your lungs will recover and you’ll be fine. If you’re on social media a lot from age 13 to 18 and you’re addicted to it and (then) addicted to it, it’s changed your brain. We know that brain mapping continues into adolescence and what children do affects their visual and motor development.” 19, many things are set in place and it will not change. “
Recently, former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recommended that social media platforms should have warning labels to inform users that they “is associated with significant mental health harm for adolescents”.
In one an opinion piece for New York Timeshe wrote that the mental health crisis among young people is an emergency and social media has emerged as a major contributor.
“One of the worst things for parents is knowing your children are at risk, but not being able to do anything about it. That’s how parents tell me when it comes to social media – they feel helpless and alone in the face of toxic content and hidden harm. I think of Lori, a woman from Colorado who was moved to tears when she told me about her teenage daughter’s life. Her daughter’s account and phone were being damaged every day, but her child was being harmed.”
Teenagers spend more than three hours a day
“There’s no seat belt for parents to click on, no helmet to put on, no guarantee that trusted experts have researched and guaranteed that these platforms are safe for our kids. It’s just parents and their kids trying to figure this out on their own, against some of the best product engineers and well-resourced companies in the world.”
Research shows that teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media face a double risk of developing symptoms of anxiety and depression. The average daily use in this age group in the US is about five hours and that number is increasing. Additionally, nearly half of all teens say social media makes them feel good worse their body.
Marketing and advertising
If you own a smartphone and are on social media, you may have noticed a phenomenon where people are talking about a particular brand or something you want to buy. In the next moment, you will see the promotion of this item on social media. That’s because as a user, your focus is currency, and your phone’s settings are designed to match your next purchase.
Social psychologist and author The Troubled Generation: How Big Changes in Childhood Drive the Epidemic of Mental IllnessJonathan Haidt explains that these companies can track exactly what is happening on their users’ phones and use this information to their advantage.
“For example, when a girl deletes many selfies on her phone, at that moment they bombard her with advertisements for beauty products. Someone realized that if (a girl) deletes many selfies, she must not be satisfied with her appearance. So (the thinking is), let’s give her beauty products. They actively play to make girls’ lives feel more beautiful and spend more money on more beauty products.”
Haidt added, “All over the world, family life has become a battle for screen time. We’re all fed up; we want to do something about it.”
Rules and support
A study by UNICEF South Africa and the South African Department of Social Development made some surprising findings about risky online behavior among South African children:
- 70% of surveyed children use the Internet without parental consent;
- 25% confirmed that they have added people they have never met in person to their list of friends or contacts;
- 18% have sent a photo or video of themselves to someone they have never met; and
- 67% of child participants who viewed sexual images were exposed to them on an online device.
In early 2025, Denmark is ready to ban cell phones entirely in schools and after-school programs at the recommendation of a government commission. Other European governments are similarly trying to introduce stricter rules.
In 2018, France already banned the use of phones by primary and secondary school students during school hours and was piloting a “digital break” for children under 15. President Emmanuel Macron announced last year. blocking access to social networks for children under 15 within “a few months”, if it does not happen at the European level first.
In Norway, the government recently announced a minimum age limit for social media from 15 years old.
What can parents do to protect their children?
- Set a healthy example. If you’re always on the phone, why should your kids do anything else?
- Decide on an appropriate age for your child to have a smartphone or their first social account. Most experts agree that children under 16 should not have either.
- Set screen time limits as a family. It is also useful to examine the breakdown of device screen time activity, as this provides insight into where and when most time is spent.
- Use parental control software. It helps you control, filter and monitor content, block specific websites, track location and manage devices.
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