Joanne Jacobs
90% of teachers support cellphone bans
Ninety percent of teachers in a NEA survey want their schools to ban cellphones in class, and 83 percent back all-day bans.
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Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 13
- 2 min
US follows the politics -- not the science -- on gender care for kids
Britain's new Labour government plans to continue the ban on puberty blockers ordered by the Tories."We will always put the safety of...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 30
- 1 min
Growing up is hard to do: 'Puberty hits like a wrecking ball'
Pixar's new Inside Out 2 is about dealing with puberty and growing up, writes Emma Camp on Reason. Inside Out, released in 2015, featured...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 15
- 3 min
Evidence is 'shaky' for 'gender affirming care,' says UK report
There's no reliable evidence that puberty blockers, hormones and surgery are the best treatment for children with "gender-related...
Joanne Jacobs
- Mar 24
- 3 min
Childhood's end
Phone-centered childhood is a disaster, writes Jonathan Haidt in The Atlantic. In the early 2010s, "adolescents in rich countries traded...
Joanne Jacobs
- Nov 19, 2023
- 1 min
The therapist is online
New York City is offering free online therapy to teenagers 13 to 17 years old, reports Michael Elsen-Rooney on Chalkbeat. Teenagers can...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 20, 2023
- 1 min
'Smartphones are kryptonite for learning'
Schools are going phone free to remove distractions in class and encourage students to socialize in their free time, report Meg Oliver...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 21, 2023
- 2 min
I am a rockgender, I am an autismgender
When Simon and Garfunkel sang "I am a rock, I am an island," they weren't thinking about gender or sexuality. But, nowadays, rock can be...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 8, 2023
- 1 min
Missing persons: Will absentees show up this year?
Chronic absenteeism -- missing 18+ days of a 180-day school year -- is way up, writes Ed Navigator's Tim Daly. Twenty-five percent of...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 1, 2023
- 1 min
Study: School closures 'largely explain' the youth mental health crisis
"School closures largely explain the deterioration of youth mental health" during the first wave of the pandemic, concludes a study in...
Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 5, 2023
- 2 min
Let the kids play and the teenagers work
Teenagers wouldn't be so anxious, depressed and fragile if they'd spent more time playing outside with friends -- without adult...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 15, 2023
- 2 min
'The Runaway Bunny' goes to college
A "dramatic mental health crisis" is challenging colleges and universities, writes Mary Dana Hinton, president of Hollins University, on...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 25, 2023
- 2 min
Awkward? Anxious? There's a pill for every problem, available online
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, writes Frey India, but it's more like Marketing Pills to Girls Month. She was inundated with...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 24, 2023
- 2 min
'At lunch hour, everyone eats alone, scrolling TikTok'
But, Mom, everyone else has a smartphone. Parents are trying to say "no" to smartphones for elementary and middle schoolers, but it's...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 24, 2023
- 2 min
Surgeon General: Social media is hazardous for your kids' health
Social media is endangering the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents, warns Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in a 19-page...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 20, 2023
- 2 min
Study links early smartphone use with poor mental health
At what age did you get your first smartphone or tablet? The younger the age of getting the first smartphone, the worse the mental...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 13, 2023
- 1 min
Sad, sleepy teens: Will starting school later improve mental health?
Worried about the teen mental health crisis, nine states and a number of major cities are considering mandating later start times for...
Joanne Jacobs
- Mar 12, 2023
- 2 min
Digital danger: Screen time is stealing childhood
Screen time is very bad for kids, argues Michel Desmurget, a French neuroscientist, in Screen Damage: The Dangers of Digital Media for...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 18, 2023
- 1 min
Sad girls: Social isolation predates Covid
Fifty-seven percent of teenage girls felt "persistently sad or hopeless" in 2021, reports the Centers for Disease Control. That's double...
Joanne Jacobs
- Feb 16, 2023
- 1 min
Emotionally fragile college grads say they're not prepared for work
People who fell apart under pressure were "nervous in the service," my father used, a World War II veteran, used to say. There are a lot...
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