Are we losing control?

If something feels wrong about how our children are growing up and if your concerns are only growing as we step into a new world of AI, you are not alone.

This is a call to parents, educators and anyone invested in the next generation.

The digital world is reshaping childhood in ways we can't afford to ignore.

No-one is coming to fix this.

It's up to us.

📰 Substack

Sources

Screen Time & Youth Mental Health

Twenge, J.M., & Campbell, W.K. (2018). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents. Preventive Medicine Reports, 12, 271–283.

Zhu, X., et al. (2023). Trajectories of screen time across adolescence and their associations with adulthood mental health and behavioral outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 52(7), 1433–1447.

Zablotsky, B., Arockiaraj, B., Haile, G., & Ng, A.E. (NCHS). Teenagers with higher daily screen time were more likely to experience both anxiety and depression symptoms.

National Center for Health Statistics

Infants, Toddlers & Early Childhood Development

Brushe, M.E., et al. (2022). Screen time and parent-child talk when children are aged 12 to 36 months.

📍 JAMA Pediatrics

Haughton, C., Aiken, M., & Cheevers, C. (RCSI). Cyber Babies: The Impact of Emerging Technology on the Developing Infant.

📍 RCSI CyberPsychology Research Centre

Chaudhary, I., Younus, N., & Saddiqa, A. (2025). Environmental Factors Affecting Toddler Speech Delay: Language Exposure, Social Interaction and Screen Time.

📍 International Premier Journal of Languages & Literature

Huang, P., et al. (2024). Screen time, brain network development and socio-emotional competence in childhood.

📍 Psychological Medicine, Cambridge University Press

🔗 [Published Feb 5, 2024]

Slobodin, O., et al. (2024). Infant screen media and child development: A prospective community study.

📍 Infancy, Wiley Online Library

Domingues-Montanari, S. (2017). Clinical and psychological effects of excessive screen time on children.

📍 Acta Paediatrica

Mutlu, N., & Dinleyici, M. (2023). Evaluation of Screen Time in Children Under Five Years Old.

📍 Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Turkey

Webster, E.K., Martin, C.K., & Staiano, A.E. (2019). Fundamental motor skills, screen-time, and physical activity in preschoolers.

📍 Journal of Sport and Health Science, 8(2), 114–121

Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine (2021). Early childhood screen time as a predictor of emotional and behavioral problems in children at 4 years: a birth cohort study in China.

[Open access, Volume 26, Article 3, 2021]

Meydila, M., Wijaya, M., & Angreni, I. (2024). Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Neurodevelopment, Learning, Memory, Mental Health, and Neurodegeneration: A Scoping Review.

📍 Literature Review Practices in Health

Christakis, D.A., et al. (2018). How early media exposure may affect cognitive function: A review of results from observations in humans and experiments in mice.

📍 PNAS

🔗 [Published Oct 1, 2018]

AI, Jobs & Society

Brundage, M. (Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute):

“We urge attention to the ways in which AI can be used maliciously.”

📊 Chart – AI job replacement

🔗 Goldman Sachs/Key4biz PDF

📊 Public Attitudes & Research Reports

British Standards Institute (BSI) (May 2025):

“Half of young people want to grow up in a world without the internet.”

Common Sense Media (2023). The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, 2023.

Related YouTube Links (Clips, Interviews & References)

Jonathan Haidt interview:

🔗 CSPAN2: “The Anxious Generation” (start 299s)

Kelly Boesch on AI & Art

Supporting video clips:

#ReclaimChildhood #DigitalParenting #KidsAndScreens #MentalHealth #JonathanHaidt