Youth

Axios - A company called Yondr that sells lockable cellphone pouches is rapidly cornering the market in K-12 schools as educators crack down on texting and social media during class, Banning cellphones in schools doesn't get students to stop using them there. School districts in at least 41 states have turned to Yondr in hopes the company's pouches will. When students get to school, they have to lock their phone (and smartwatch, AirPods, etc.) in a pouch they carry all day.

• When they leave for the day, they unlock the pouch by pressing it against a device near the exit.
• In case of emergency, they can go to the school office to get it unlocked. Some classrooms also have unlocking devices.  MORE

Axios - A shocking number of American kids are sad, suicidal and stuck on small screens sucking away their zest for life. This is the indisputable and alarming trend among American children, based on the latest polling and deep research by a prominent social psychologist in a book out next week.   Rates of depression and anxiety among American adolescents jumped by more than 50% in multiple studies between 2010 and 2019, writes Jonathan Haidt, a leading expert on the spike in teen mental illness. Those numbers were relatively stable in the 2000s.

• The suicide rate for kids between 10 and 14 tripled between 2007 and 2021, according to the CDC.
• The share of high school girls who seriously considered attempting suicide jumped from 19% in 2011 to 30% in 2021.  MORE

CDC