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ARWhat are we doing to our children?
Mental health problems in our children and young people have skyrocketed over the past decade. There is growing evidence that points to screen use, and social media as a major factor.
One of the voices leading the fight to keep this technology out of our children’s classrooms is Sophie Winkleman. She joined us at ARC 2025 to call for urgent changes to limit screen use in our children, in a talk that has now reached millions worldwide.
Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation is now the seminal text on this subject, and Jonathan described Sophie’s ARC speech as ‘the best talk I’ve ever seen on what computers and tablets on the desktops of children do to the child’s education.’
Sophie’s words ring in our ears:
“I visited schools up and down the country, and too often I saw children distracted in classrooms yet silent in playgrounds. Screens were taking their attention away from their teachers during lessons and away from each other during break time. I also observed children in general becoming a different species. The raucous exuberance of youth was being replaced with an anxious, irritable insularity, which was disturbing to see.”
From social isolation to cognitive decline, Sophie warned of the irreversible damage caused by constant screen exposure in childhood. Her solution? A return to ‘analog’ childhood—classrooms alive with discussion, playgrounds filled with laughter, and homes where books and imagination take precedence over digital distraction.
What do you think? Can smartphones and iPads be part of a flourishing childhood? Or is now the time to take radical steps for the future?
Find her full talk at the link our bio 🔔
@arc_conference
