From CNN:

A rather eye-opening article about the effects of phones on the current generation: What this high school senior wants adults to know about classroom phone bans

My teachers and other experts aren’t wrong about the impact of smartphones on teens. Phones make us miserable, and I appreciate that my school is trying to address the problem. Honestly, I’d like to give up my phone, but the way our schools, jobs, teams, activities and social lives are set up makes it impossible. Locking up a phone for a class period is a start, but it barely makes a dent.

I got my first smartphone when I was 13 years old, and I start doomscrolling as an automatic response to boredom or uneasiness. Inevitably I become stressed out that I’ve wasted so much time on mindless scrolling. To ignore my stress, I start doomscrolling again, and I’m trapped in a vicious cycle. It’s hard not to compare my life with the impeccably curated posts of total strangers, and it’s hard not to judge myself. In the past few years, I sometimes spent up to six hours a day on screens.

After three years of having the app, I did finally delete TikTok during my sophomore year of high school. Not because I was spending almost five hours on it some days — that wasn’t reason enough for me to get rid of it. I only deleted it because my friend wouldn’t, and I wanted to prove that I could.

For weeks, I clicked the icon where TikTok used to be and was sent to my calculator. I kept staring at the ceiling, unable to focus but also having no 15-second-video relief to fall back on. 

...with some caveats.  The book by Jonathan Haidt that this student cites may be unscientific (see HERE and HERE for more information).  And her entire argument is based on anecdotes.

Nonetheless, as a teacher myself, I certainly feel that what he's saying is true.  I feel that I have witnessed a decrease in the ability of the younger generation to concentrate on tasks like sustained reading.  I also feel that everywhere I look nowadays, I see people (both young and old) constantly looking at their phones.

(I was walking through Crescent Mall yesterday, here in Vietnam, and I couldn't help but notice how many of the people there were walking while looking at their phone screen.  It was most of them--close to 90%, I think.  Of course that's just Vietnam, but, it's getting like that everywhere now, right?)

And I worry that the constant use of smart phones by teenagers nowadays is unhealthy.  (Although... what the long term effect of all this is remains to be seen.  Maybe they'll just grow out of it as they get older and go on to become normal adults?)

And, like many people old or young, I also feel like the Internet has ruined my own attention span.  (I feel like it's more difficult for me to concentrate on reading a book for long periods of time than it was 20 years ago.)

I also feel her frustration about not being able to get rid of her phone.  I too would love to get rid of my smart phone, but I can't.  A number of years ago, smart phones just became an expectation of modern life.  I couldn't get through my day without it.  I need it to book my rides to and from work.  I need it for the 2 factor authentication to access my computers at work.  Etc.

And also social media like Facebook. I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook.  On the one hand, I resent how much time I waste on it.  On the other hand, I love seeing what old friends are up to.  (Without social media like Facebook, I expect I would just have lost touch with everyone from my high school days, which would have been a pity.  With Facebook, even though I don't have time to keep up a correspondence with everyone from my past, I can still see what they're up to.)

...anyway, there's a lot more to be said on this whole subject, but I'll save that all for another day.  For now, I just want to share the link to this article, as food for thought.

Update:  And now this is in the news: From Vnexpress: Internal TikTok documents show prioritization of traffic over well-being

The lawsuit claims TikTok's research found that after viewing 260 videos, a user likely became addicted to the platform.

The company's studies also correlated "compulsive usage" with negative mental health effects, including "loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, conversational depth, empathy, and increased anxiety."

While TikTok has implemented features to limit young users' screen time, including parental controls and a one-hour timeout, the documents suggest ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, did not seek to improve these tools despite knowing their limited effectiveness.