We Took the Phones but Forgot the Kids
What we call a mental health crisis is a reward system pushed past its limit — and starved of the one thing that resets it
Photo by Mary Taylor
On her Substack, The Biology of Becoming, Pamela Cantor, M.D. writes a sequel to her recent article "Why Putting Phones Down Isn't Enough", and takes on the largest study yet of school phone bans.
The bans did what they were built to do. Kids used their phones far less. But test scores, attendance, and bullying held steady, and well-being rose only slowly over time.
Dr. Cantor turns to biology to explain why. A reward system pushed past its limit doesn't reset when the phone goes in the pouch. The reaching keeps going. What resets it is connection, the steady human presence that builds focus, belonging, and agency in a young person.
"Taking something away changes what a kid does. Putting something in changes who a kid becomes."
Read the article on Substack
