We’re not helpless against smartphones hurting kids. Step one: Ban them in schools | Opinion

Last month, I reviewed Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation,” which details how constant social media use is crippling the psychological health of our children.

But the dangers he describes in his book go beyond anxiety. Frighteningly beyond. They include depression, low self-esteem, body image issues, sleep disorders, increased vulnerability to bullying, exposure to inappropriate content, reduced attention span, addiction, social isolation, loneliness and suicidal thoughts — not to mention the strain all that puts on their relationships with their parents.

If there is a greater threat to our children, I am unaware of it.

Most parents — perhaps you are one of them — feel they are losing their children to social media. In fact, we have lost an entire generation.

Is there anything we can do? Professor Haidt believes there is.

His first recommendation is to keep smartphones out of the classroom. Seems a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

In one interview, Haidt asked those of us who grew up before smartphones what it would have been like if our teachers had encouraged us to bring our stereos, televisions and VCRs to class. That would have put an end to any learning.

Clinical studies confirm that with smartphones in the classroom, students recall less information and score lower on tests.

The remedy? School districts around the country are sweeping smartphones out of the classroom. One reader of my last column, a local high school vice principal, wrote that it is his job to enforce the no-phone in class rule. The kids call him the “phone guy.”

Way to go, my friend! Lead on!

Haidt also recommends no smartphone use before age 13 and no social media before age 16. That’s good advice, not only for parents but also for legislators.

Laws in 36 states address social media harm to minors. Some require social media companies to monitor content shown to children. Others have an age restriction.

But underage kids can sneak past that fence by entering a fake birthday when they sign-up, the way teens of previous generations did, using fake IDs to buy beer. With online signup, though, there is no actual person there to inspect the driver’s license.

Social media companies are experimenting with different methods of age verification. Some require either the scanning of a government-issued ID or permission from a parent via email. Others use AI-generated software that can tell how old the user is by assessing what content they are watching.

There are privacy issues to work through, to be sure, and clever pre-teens can find ways to beat the system — 40% of 10-12 year olds regularly use social media — but this is a step in the right direction.

While most social media companies require users to be at least 13 years old, Texas doesn’t enforce that rule. In the next legislative session, we should add an age restriction and require companies to give parents tools to control and monitor what their children are viewing.

We should all get behind that effort. Social media tragedy strikes even the children of attentive parents, and it could happen to any of us.

Now for some good news: societal trends are shifting. And the shift has been brought about by the unlikeliest of technologies and the most uninfluential of influencers: members of Gen Z and their growing affinity for the flip phone.

Haidt’s last recommendation, to give children more unsupervised free play, might be my favorite. It reminds me of growing up in the 1970s, playing NERF football until we were worn out, then retreating to my friend’s air-conditioned guest house to play pool and listen to Roger Miller songs.

We had to be creative, crafting games that required us not only to make the rules but also to mutually enforce them. We got sweaty and overheated, but we also experienced the joy of cooling off with iced lemonade and oftentimes the water hose. Not to mention the “Stand-by-Me” camaraderie we shared.

Those playful, carefree days of your childhood don’t need to be relegated to just a scrapbook of nostalgic memories. They can live again, in another generation. Even in the anxious generation.