RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia First Lady Suzanne Youngkin is sounding the alarm on the dangers of social media and student phone use.
In the evening on Thursday, Sept 19, she hosted a discussion – and spoke with Dr. Jonathan Haidt, the author of “The Anxious Generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness.”
“Schools need to learn from schools that have gone ahead of them because there were, there are some challenges to implement it. But what I can tell you is this: I have never heard of a school that went phone-free and regretted it,” Haidt said.
Around a dozen parents showed up at Richmond Community High School for the Sept. 19 discussion.
The hour-long chat hosted by the First Lady was also livestreamed to several participating schools across the state.
Dr. Haidt explained in his book how students being on their phones too much can impact maturity, mental growth, the ability to learn, and more.
“Parents are ready to go. Teachers despise phones. Teachers are quitting in droves because for years they can’t get through to the students,” Haidt said. “So, a phone-free school is really a no-brainer.”