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Describes how platforms’ incentive structures drive engagement through advertising, targeting younger users, and using AI-powered feeds alongside autoplay and infinite scroll.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/distracted-by-design-smartphones-harm-childrens-mental-health-and-learningbut-we-can-fight-back/577039/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/distracted-by-design-smartphones-harm-childrens-mental-health-and-learningbut-we-can-fight-back/577039.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Patrick","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-25","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":26},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"Why did mental illness rates among adolescents rise sharply in the early 2010s?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"Mental illness increased in multiple countries for Gen Z while older generations were less affected. The article connects the shift to converging technology trends starting around 2009.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"Which smartphone and social media developments are cited as major drivers?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The text highlights the arrival of the iPhone, the spread of high-speed broadband, the launch of “like” and “retweet/share” buttons, and later the boost in image posting enabled by front-facing cameras and Instagram.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"How do platform business incentives contribute to harmful outcomes?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Companies prioritize user acquisition, time spent in-app, and content posting/engagement. 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Some of them helped  \npeople to connect and communicate, and therefore it seemed likely they would be a boon to the growing number of emerging democracies. But the tech industry wasn’t just transforming life for adults. It began transforming life forchildren too. Children and adolescents had been watching a lot of television since the 1950s, but the new technologies were far more portable, personalized, and engaging than anything that came before.  \nJonathan Haidtis the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership atthe New York University Stern School of Business. He hascofounded a variety of organizations and collaborations that apply moral and social psychology to help important institutions work better, [including LetGrow.org](including LetGrow.org), Heterodox [Academy.org](Academy.org), [ConstructiveDialogue.org](ConstructiveDialogue.org), [and EthicalSystems.org. A member](and EthicalSystems.org. A member)[ ](and EthicalSystems.org. A member)of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he has written more than 100 academic articles and several bestselling books, includingThe Happiness Hypothesis (2006), The Righteous Mind (2012), and The Coddling of the American Mind (2018). This article is adapted, with permission, from his 2024 New York Times bestseller The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, published by Penguin Random House.  \nThere was little sign of an impending mental illness crisis among adolescents in the 2000s.1 Then, quite suddenly in the early 2010s, things changed. Mental illness went up in many countries between 2010 and 2015 for Gen Z (and some late millennials) while older generations were much less affected. Why was there a synchronized international increase in rates of adolescent anxiety and depression?  \nThe oldest members of Gen Z began puberty around 2009, when several tech trends converged: the rapid spread of highspeed broadband in the 2000s, the arrival of the iPhone in 2007, and the new age of hyper-viralized social media. The last of these was kicked off in 2009 by the arrival of the “like” and “retweet”(or“share”) buttons, which transformed the social dynamics ofthe online world. Before 2009, social media was most useful as a way to keep up with your friends, and with fewer instant andreverberating feedback functions it generated much less of the toxicity we see today.2 A fourth trend began just a few years later, and it hit girls much harder than boys: the increased prevalence of posting images of oneself, after smartphones added front-facing cameras (2010) and Facebook acquired Instagram (2012), boosting its popularity. This greatly expanded the number of adolescents posting carefully curated photos and videos of their lives for their peersand strangers not just to see, but to judge. As a result, Gen Z is the first generationto have gone through puberty hunched over smartphones and  \n4 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | SPRING 2026  \ntablets, having fewer face-to-face conversations and shoulder-toshoulder adventures with their friends.  \nChildren have been drawn powerfully to screens since the advent of television, but they could not take those screens with them to school or when they went outside to play. Before the iPhone, there was alimittothe amount of screentime a child could have, so there was still time for play and face-to-face conversation. But the explosion of smartphone-based apps such as Instagram in the exact years in which GenZ teensand preteens were moving from basic phones to smartphones marked a qualitative change in the nature of childhood. By 2015, more than 70 percent of American te","cbCaiosabs77c4DC","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiosabs77c4DC","pdf",299063,"English","# The Mental Health Turning Point\n## Early 2010s crisis and international increases\n## Why Gen Z was affected more\n# Smartphone-Driven Changes in Childhood\n## From limited screen time to constant access\n## Social media features and image posting\n# Predatory Practices Behind Engagement","[{\"question\":\"Why did mental illness rates among adolescents rise sharply in the early 2010s?\",\"answer\":\"Mental illness increased in multiple countries for Gen Z while older generations were less affected. The article connects the shift to converging technology trends starting around 2009.\"},{\"question\":\"Which smartphone and social media developments are cited as major drivers?\",\"answer\":\"The text highlights the arrival of the iPhone, the spread of high-speed broadband, the launch of “like” and “retweet/share” buttons, and later the boost in image posting enabled by front-facing cameras and Instagram.\"},{\"question\":\"How do platform business incentives contribute to harmful outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"Companies prioritize user acquisition, time spent in-app, and content posting/engagement. The article argues these incentives lead to weak enforcement for under-13 users and use of AI feeds and engagement features.\"}]","Distracted by Design - Smartphones Harm Children’s Mental Health and Learning—But We Can Fight Back | PDF",1792030924]