A Warning Label for Smartphones?

A Health Advisory Warning Might Remind Parents of the Dangers of Digital Devices for Their Children

The guest opinion piece below is by Dr. James Winston, a Miami Beach-based psychologist with 30 years of experience in the field of addiction. He has funded significant research into the effects of digital devices and social media on adolescent brains. I wrote in Forbes three years ago about his family foundation campaign organized against Facebook and other social media platforms. I wrote last year about Dr. Winston’s theory that digital addiction might cause a nutritional deficiency in developing brains.

Trisha Posner

and I serve as directors with Dr. Winston on The Winston Family Initiative in Technology & Adolescent Brain Development.

A growing body of research points to the deleterious mental health effects for children and adolescents who spend too much time on social media. The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSA) is designed to address some of these concerns and, if passed, is a good start. But it does not address a more critical variable responsible for today’s adolescent mental health crisis: The device itself is responsible. There have been numerous suggestions about how to address this problem, including banning smartphones from some schools. One solution that is missing is a warning label to alert parents to the addictive properties woven into the architecture of smartphones.

Smartphones are strategically engineered to be hyper stimulating, architecturally constructed to grab and hold attention. Phones do this by providing a nearly limitless supply of digital stimuli in a parallel universe in portable form, meaning access to this “digital drug” is an immediate 24/7 experience. In the hands of children and adolescents it exerts a gravitational pull that they are incapable of managing. It is not laziness or an unwillingness but rather they are neurobiologically and emotionally incapable.

Parents of children witness this daily. Their children’s undeveloped brains simply cannot resist the constant ping of new and anticipated stimulation. It is scientifically established that the adolescent brain undergoes enormous change between the ages of 9 and 14, paring down neural connections that are no longer needed and building new ones, creating the foundation for the neurological “highway” system that lasts a lifetime. The adolescent brain is also highly sensitive to external influence and the need for social connection during this time is as powerful an instinct as hunger. Add to this mix the fact that our ancient brains hardware system is programmed to absorb visceral input (think eye contact, voice quality, touch) to unfold in a healthy manner (essentially nutrition for the brain) and the combination becomes problematic at scale.

Short periods of screen time might not present a problem. But research shows adolescents spend on average, eight hours a day — 4 months a year — attaching through a screen (even toddlers under the age of two spend an hour daily on tablets). Screen involvement is, by definition, devoid of the exact in-person nutrition required for the development of basic emotional and cognitive faculties. There is no way to access and assess the nuances embedded in actual face to face contact with another person when that “connection” is through a screen. It is analogous to the profound difference between sugar in fruit and sugar in candy. The former has nutritional value, the latter does not.

The result of this tech immersion and nutritional deficiency is manifested in today’s mental health crisis, with significant increases in depression and anxiety.

The Surgeon General’s Mental Health Crisis warning is a compelling call to action. Children are not allowed to access slot machines. We understand intuitively and emotionally that they are incapable of managing them responsibly. Electronic devices, particularly smartphones, are the hyper stimulating equivalent of a slot machine and children should not be allowed unfettered access. This is especially critical considering that a major component of the development of any addiction is access to the “drug.” The fact that we carry phones in our pockets amplifies this addictive process. We need to elevate our concern for children’s neurological and emotional health above the financial and convenience priorities that now govern the narrative. Chile’s introduction in 2016 of warning labels on ultra processed foods led to a significant decrease in the consumption of nutritionally harmful ingredients. A similar label would not only alert parents to the smartphone’s addictive properties, but it would also offer children a longer runway before gaining access to such a hyper stimulating device. This would allow the adolescent brain to develop in a more natural manner and absorb the visceral input required for healthy emotional development. Every major historical social change movement, from tobacco to gambling, has undergone a vigorous national debate. We are in the middle of the same process today regarding the smartphone and our children’s health. Delay in marking the device with an appropriate warning label will only serve to put more children at risk for the long-term negative effects of smartphone addiction.