Teens and adolescents nationwide are in a mental health crisis. Major depressive episodes among American teens have more than doubled since 2010. Educational performance among teens across over 30 nations has also been in decline over the last decade.

New research in the book The Anxious Generation suggests that the only available explanation for why this happened in many countries at the same time is that the ancient “play-based childhood” was replaced by the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. Specifically, children and adolescents began to spend much more time on smartphones, social media, video games, and pornography, and much less time doing healthy activities such as face-to-face interactions with friends and family, sleep, exercise, and reading books.

In the book, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt makes very specific recommendations to help end the youth mental health crisis and improve academic performance. It will take collective action from parents, schools, and the government to help support our children as they move through an incredibly sensitive and important phase in their development.

In The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt lays out four reforms or “new norms” that would provide a foundation for a healthier childhood in the digital age:

1. No smartphones before high school. 

Parents should delay children’s entry into round-the-clock internet access by giving only basic phones (phones with limited apps and no internet browser) before 9th grade (roughly age 14). 

2. No social media before 16. 

Let kids get through the most vulnerable period of brain development before connecting them to a fire hose of social comparison and algorithmically chosen influencers. 

3. Phone-free schools. 

Students from elementary through high school should not have access to their phones, smartwatches, and any other personal devices that can send or receive texts on the bus or during the school day.

4. More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world. 

These are the best ways for children to develop social skills, overcome anxiety, and become self-governing young adults