Get kids outside: myopia, mental health and character all point outdoors
An eye researcher, a social psychologist and an outdoorsman arrive from different directions at the same advice: children need more time outdoors and less indoor screen time. Outdoor time appears to protect eyesight, supports healthier development than phone-based childhood, and builds self-reliance.
What do recent studies say slows nearsightedness in children? Show answer
Time outdoors in full-spectrum sunlight. Dr. Goldberg says the first randomized trials show slower progression over a couple of years.
How much outdoor time makes a clear difference for children's eyes? Show answer
The difference between zero and one or two hours a day is clear, though the optimal dose is not yet known.
When does most myopia develop? Show answer
Before age 10, with smaller changes through the 20s and very little after 40. That is why childhood is the window.
What does Jonathan Haidt call the great rewiring of childhood? Show answer
The years 2010 to 2015, when teenagers moved from flip phones to smartphones with front-facing cameras, high-speed internet and Instagram.
What are Haidt's three acts in how children lost the outdoors? Show answer
The loss of community and trust, the loss of play-based childhood as parents feared abduction, and then smartphones and tablets.
What does free play teach that video games do not? Show answer
Making rules together, judging fouls and accepting outcomes. In video games the software manages all of that.
What are Haidt's four norms? Show answer
No smartphone before high school, no social media until 16, phone-free schools, and far more independence, free play and responsibility in the real world.
Why does Haidt tell families to act together? Show answer
A single family that holds its child back from smartphones and social media imposes a social cost on that child. He calls it a collective action trap.
What does Michael Waddell do for young people each year? Show answer
He takes 15 to 20 Navajo youth hunting with the Navajo Nation's game and fish department.
How do Goldberg and Haidt differ on screens? Show answer
Goldberg says the issue for eyesight is where the time is spent, not the screen itself. Haidt wants smartphones and social media delayed.
Why does Huberman say puberty matters here? Show answer
It is the most profound brain change we undergo, and rewards drive plasticity fast. Whatever a child is rewarded for gets wired in quickly.