The recent Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Make Our Children Healthy Again report details a stark decline in children’s overall health in the country, including a section titled “The Crisis of Childhood Behavior in the Digital Age.” While the internet already heightens a child’s risks of sexual exploitation, the report identifies clear connections to worsening mental health and detrimental shifts in how kids spend their time. As our society replaces dirt with data, we must once again break beyond shortsighted convenience to ensure we are building a fruitful future for tomorrow’s leaders.
According to the report’s health review, over 10% of children have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These rates track a continued rise with around 1 million more diagnoses in 2022 than 2016. Additionally, mental health has taken a devastating and pervasive decline in the last few decades, particularly for children:
- In 2021, the CDC reported that 42% of U.S. high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, up from 28% in 2011. Female students faced disproportionate impacts with 57% reporting persistent sadness or hopelessness and a 58% increase in suicidal ideation from approximately 19% in 2011 to 30% in 2021.
- Teenage depression rates nearly doubled from 2009 to 2019 with more than 1 in 4 teenage girls in 2022 reporting a major depressive episode in the past year.
- Suicide deaths among 10- to 24-year-olds increased by 62% from 2007 to 2021, and suicide is now the second leading cause of death in teens aged 15-19.
“The Crisis of Childhood Behavior in the Digital Age” section outlines potential causes for such effects, noting “over the past four decades, American children have transitioned from an active, play-based childhood to a sedentary, technology-driven lifestyle.”
As the education systems have developed, physical fitness and time outdoors have become less of a priority. It notes, “Weekly recess time fell by 60 minutes since 2001, and PE access dropped by 32% since 1990.” Only 10 states mandated recess in 2022, and fewer than half had any formal recess policies. Additionally, children do not walk to school like they used to. While 48% of kids regularly walked or biked to school in 1969, that number decreased to 12.7% by 2009. This accompanies a general decline in the average time children spend outdoors.
Multiple cited studies suggest that time outdoors directly and significantly decreased ADHD symptoms and improved a child’s attention performance. It is no surprise this fall of time outdoors coexists with increasing prevalence of attention deficiency, particularly in the classroom. In the 2023-2024 school year, over 7.5 million K-12 students received special education services, following a consistent year-to-year increase.
It is good for children to be outdoors. It is good for children to play. It is good for children to see God’s beauty displayed in His creation. Even in their youngest years, children see that nature bears witness to our Creator.
In 2024, 95% of 13–17-year-olds reported having access to smartphones and 46% reported being online “almost constantly.” This seemingly addictive use leads to the displacement of time outdoors, playing with friends, rest, and other hallmarks to childhood development. The report notes that kids “face a nationwide sleep crisis” in the Digital Age with 95% of 12th graders reporting less than recommended sleep.
Untethered access to the internet also not only heightens a child’s risk to sexual exploitation, but the prevalence of social media carries a unique burden on children’s mental health. Social media is known to be linked with worsening body images issues, suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, and aggravation of existing mental health conditions.
With 95% of teens using at least one form of social media, the report recognizes that “understanding the nuanced consequences and mental health impacts of social media on their developing well-being is of critical public health importance.”
The Administration has already taken significant steps forward to making the internet a safer place for kids. Just last month, President Trump signed the Take It Down Act which empowers victims of online sexual exploitation with extended, robust protections for children. The Senate also recently acted to halt a Biden-era rule that increased a child’s exposure to unprotected internet access. The “Biden Hotspot Rule” would have granted children access to social media sites and more while traveling on a school bus, outside the oversight of parents/teachers.
These protections are significant steps forward. But as our society hurls through the Digital Age, we must not only protect children from exploitation but remain mindful of these other potential effects. God’s design for nature, rest, and community play pivotal roles in a child’s development that modern technology will never replicate. It is time we intentionally reclaim these foundations for childhood—designed by a Creator Who knows our truest needs.