Expert urges parents to push 'green time over screen time' this summer as childhood loneliness surges
Girls as young as 5 years old are experiencing loneliness, according to recent data
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Disturbing data has revealed that girls as young as five are increasingly feeling the pangs of loneliness, leading experts to consider how America's escalating reliance on technology is exacerbating the crisis.
Thomas Kersting, a renowned psychotherapist and author, said Tuesday that today's kids are missing a crucial stage of social development.
"Parents need to replace the screen time with green time as much as possible," he said, sharing some advice ahead of the summer season on "Fox & Friends."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Get your kids involved, whether it's going to sleepaway camp, day camp, sports activities, playdates, going to the town pool, get the kids out of these bedrooms and out of the houses and outside."
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A group of tween girls and boys have fun playing together on a jungle gym play structure during school recess on a sunny afternoon. (iStock, courtesy of user Fly View Productions)
He also encouraged parents to make sure their teenagers have summer jobs so they aren't staying at home and on their phones all day.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Don't let them sleep in to 1:00 every day. They need to be productive members of society, and they need to be constantly interacting with their fellow humans."
The Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) survey of 1,000 girls provided a glimpse into the growing loneliness problem, finding that 64% between ages 5-7 are now experiencing the feeling. Sixty-seven percent of girls aged 8-10 and 73% of girls aged 11-13 reported feeling loneliness, according to the survey released last month.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Children are getting more screen time than the generations before them, leading them to a series of mental health consequences. (iStock)
The findings coincide with warnings from U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, who released an 81-page advisory to raise awareness about the issue last year.
Murthy has similarly cautioned against children using social media, warning of the mental health consequences it can have on younger minds.
"When our kids are not in their natural habitat, which is being outdoors with other kids, having the ball taken away from them, scraping their knees, they're not developing critical skills that they're going to need as they transition into teenagers and into adulthood – coping skills, social skills and communication skills," Kersting said.
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In his private practice near the end of summer, Kersting asks kids what their favorite part of sleepaway camp was. Many give him a surprising answer.
"They say to me, not having their phone. And the reason for that is because they've experienced something that they inherently crave, which is the social emotional dialog and communication and the memories they're making around the campfire and in their bunks," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}More shocking data from the CDC indicated that one in nine children aged 3-17 have been diagnosed with ADHD. Kersting said many of those cases are misdiagnoses related to technology.
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"Some experts estimate that about 70% of kids that are diagnosed at an older age don't actually have ADHD. They just have the symptoms of it," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"What a lot of people do not realize is a neurological condition that you're born with. It's not something you just get later on. And the average age of diagnosis is eight years old so, when a parent comes to me with a 14 or 15-year-old, they say, ‘My son was just diagnosed with Attention Deficit [Hyperactivity Disorder].’ What I try to explain to them is, if you can somehow do a 30-day digital detox, that brain that's so used to being stimulated will come back to Earth and the executive functions will start to operate effectively again."
Some parents have considered withholding smart devices from their children until they reach a certain age, opting for flip phones as an alternative to ensure kids have a healthier, more well-rounded childhood.