Axios Finish Line

October 15, 2025
Welcome back! Smart Brevityβ’ count: 328 words β¦ 1 min. Copy edited by Amy Stern.
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1 big thing: Plan a movie night
"Don't be afraid of movie night."
- That was social psychologist Jonathan Haidt's message to parents at the World Mental Health Day Festival in New York last week.
Why it matters: Haidt β a leading researcher on the effects of screens on kids' attention spans and mental health β says not all screen time is equal. The real problem, he argues, is short, addictive content on screens kids can touch, like smartphones and tablets.
- "It's a solitary device, up close with a touch screen, which gives a stimulus response reinforcement behavioral feedback loop. That's what trains the kids far more quickly than you could ever train your kids," Haidt said at the festival.
π± By the numbers: Kids' and teens' screen time is on the rise, while the time they spend socializing with their friends in person is falling.
- About 7 in 10 U.S. parents of kids 12 and under say their children use tablets, and about 6 in 10 say their kids use smartphones, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
- Stunning stat: Even among parents of children under 2, nearly 30% say their toddlers interact with tablets, and close to 40% say they're on smartphones.
π‘ Reality check: Parents are under a great deal of pressure to make the right decisions for their children on technology and screens, but it's nearly impossible to avoid screens completely.
- Haidt offers a potentially helpful middle ground with movie night: "Stories are good things, and if your kid wants to watch a long story or a movie on a TV screen that they can't interact with, that's actually good."
Instead of isolating kids behind their personal screens, movie night pulls the family together β and can even spark fun dinner table conversations.
π Parting shot!

Cars drive around a bend in the road surrounded by fall foliage in the Taunus region in Frankfurt, Germany, today.
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