The Problem

Harmful tech is destroying childhood.

Since widespread adoption of smartphones and social media, the mental health and well-being of adolescents has plummeted. This is not a coincidence.

Major depressive episodes, anxiety, and self-harm incidents are emeraldrocketing.

Since the widespread adoption of smartphones and social media in the early 2010s, the mental health and well-being of young people has plummeted around the world. Multiple independent trend datasets show sharp rises in adolescent depression, suicidality, and suicide and an increasing body of research points to heavy social media and phone use as a driver of these trends.

See the evidence

Kids are lonely and isolated from other kids.

Adolescents across many countries report higher loneliness and spend less time socializing face‑to‑face with peers. As smartphone use has risen — teens now spend nearly five hours per day on social media — time spent with friends has collapsed, falling 70% since 2005.

See the evidence

Academic performance, sleep, and physical health are all declining.

Reading and math scores, sleep quality, and physical health markers are all falling among young people. Across the board, there is mounting evidence that today’s tech environment is materially harming children’s development and wellbeing.

See the evidence

What's Coming

Without change, the problem will only get worse.

More powerful artificial intelligence systems will make phones and social media more addictive — and potentially destructive. We are still in the early days of AI deployment, but we are already seeing evidence of the damage it could do to kids and teens if left unchecked.

AI "companions" that cripple kids' ability to form real human relationships.

Tools that degrade their ability to think, reason, and problem solve on their own.

Endless feeds of content curated by powerful algorithms to consume even more of their attention and time.