The specialist recommends that young people should only have access to mobile phones after the age of 16. While some have questioned this recommendation, Haidt maintains that the perspective is based on years of research: investigations describing the growing mental health issues among American teenagers and statistics indicating that many teenagers in the United States are already depressed or anxious, as reported by CNN.

The American Psychological Association (APA) has also expressed concerns in a new report that calls on social media platforms for models that are "clearly unsafe for children". The APA report, published on April 16th, says that children do not have the "experience, judgment and self-control" to protect themselves from the negative effects of these platforms. The association believes that the responsibility should not solely fall on parents, app stores or young people but should involve the platform developers.

But parents probably cannot rely on developers, which leads to Haidt's disturbing conclusion: we are at a turning point as a society, and if adults do not take action, they could risk the mental health of all young people indefinitely.

Haidt, the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, has spent countless hours disseminating the message of his book since its release on March 26th. CNN recently discussed his data, his book, and what lies ahead for parents and teenagers alike.

The psychologist explained that in the 1990s, the world believed that the Internet would be the savior of democracy and would make children smarter, but some parents were not concerned when their children started spending four, five, six and even nine hours a day on phones. The main argument is that parents overprotected their children from the real world and underprotected them from the online environment, but they were wrong in both cases.

The specialist says that when everyone received a smartphone in the early 2010s, boys got into video games, YouTube and Reddit, while girls preferred more visual social media platforms, especially Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr.

A second difference is that girls share emotions more than boys. They talk more about their feelings and are more open with each other. The level of anxiety in girls increases significantly during this period, once they become hyperconnected to each other through social networks.

Jonathan Haidt believes that it is most important for teenagers not to have smartphones before high school and not to have access to social networks until they are 16 years old. These platforms were not made for children. Also, children should not bring phones to school. There is no argument for allowing children to have the greatest attention-distraction device ever invented in their pockets during school hours. If they have phones, they will text during class and focus on phones. If they do not have phones, they will listen to their teachers and spend time with other children.