Screen Time & Children Revision

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key authors, concepts, empirical evidence, and international legislation regarding screen time and youth mental health.

Jonathan Haidt

NYU professor and author of The Anxious Generation (2024) who argues that a "Great Rewiring of Childhood" shifted youth from play-based to phone-based living, creating structural generational harm.

The Anxious Generation

A 2024 book by Jonathan Haidt asserting that smartphones caused a structural, generational break in child development, particularly affecting adolescent girls through image-based platforms.

Great Rewiring of Childhood

Jonathan Haidt's concept describing the generational transition from a "play-based" to a "phone-based" childhood starting around 2010-2013.

Frances Haugen

Former Meta employee turned whistleblower who leaked internal research ("the Facebook Files") in 2021 showing Instagram worsened body-image issues for teen girls.

Tristan Harris

Former Google insider and founder of the Center for Humane Technology who argues that engineers deliberately design platforms to create compulsive use, inspiring the term "digital heroin."

Amy Orben & Andrew Przybylski

Oxford Internet Institute researchers whose large-scale studies show that the correlation between social media use and teen wellbeing is statistically detectable but practically negligible ($r \sim 0.04 - 0.06$).

"Potato-chip" effect size

A comparison popularized by Amy Orben demonstrating that social media's impact on adolescent wellbeing is roughly equivalent to the effect of eating potatoes or wearing glasses on life satisfaction.

Specification curve analysis

A methodological approach used by Orben & Przybylski that tested thousands of statistical models on the same data set to reveal that claims of screen time harm were not robust.

Displacement hypothesis

A zero-sum concept asserting that time spent on screens directly displaces essential developmental activities such as sleep, face-to-face socializing, and physical activity.

Variable-ratio reward schedule

A persuasive design technique functioning like a slot machine to drive dopamine loops via unpredictable notifications, likes, and infinite scroll.

Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act

Australia's late 2024 law (enforced 10 December 2025) creating the world's first nationwide social media ban for under-16s, carrying platform fines up to A$49.5 million.

Anthony Albanese

Prime Minister of Australia who announced plans in 2026 to toughen social media restrictions after findings showed over 8 in 10 teens still accessed social media despite the under-16 ban.

Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)

US federal legislation passed by the Senate in 2024 that would require platforms to allow minors to opt out of algorithmic recommendations and disable addictive features.

NetChoice

A tech industry group that challenged Mississippi's age-verification law at the US Supreme Court in 2025 on First Amendment grounds.

Digital Services Act (DSA)

European Union regulation enforcing transparency and risk-mitigation obligations on major tech platforms to protect minors online.

French "digital majority" law (2023)

Legislation in France that set 15 as the minimum age to open a social media account without parental consent, though implementation has faced verification obstacles.

Passive vs. Active screen use

The distinction between passive scrolling (correlated with negative wellbeing) and active social participation like messaging or video calling (showing minimal to no harm).

Publication bias (in screen time research)

The systemic tendency for journals and media to prioritize alarming, sensational claims over null or reassuring empirical findings.