Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: No Wonder So Many Of Our Children Are Depressed; Encourage Kids To Play Outside, Get As Dirty As They Want
The New York Times: We Have Ruined Childhood
According to the psychologist Peter Gray, children today are more depressed than they were during the Great Depression and more anxious than they were at the height of the Cold War. A 2019 study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology found that between 2009 and 2017, rates of depression rose by more than 60 percent among those ages 14 to 17, and 47 percent among those ages 12 to 13. This isn’t just a matter of increased diagnoses. The number of children and teenagers who were seen in emergency rooms with suicidal thoughts or having attempted suicide doubled between 2007 and 2015. To put it simply, our kids are not O.K. (Kim Brooks, 8/17)
The Washington Post: Let Your Kids Play And Get Dirty
Many people wonder whether our society’s desire for cleanliness may have gone too far and is causing health problems. For parents, this raises an interesting question: How dirty should you let your kid get? Eating dirt might be a stretch, but it’s certainly good for them to play in it, and it’s definitely important and beneficial for children to spend time in natural areas such as farms and forests. (Cosby Stone, 8/17)
The New York Times: Our Kids Do Not Need A Weight Watchers App
Weight Watchers — now rebranded as WW — has introduced an app called Kurbo, for children 8 to 17 years old. As a registered dietitian who specializes in helping people recover from disordered eating, I strongly recommend that parents keep this new tool — and any weight-loss program — away from their children. Our society is unfair and cruel to people who are in larger bodies, so I can empathize with parents who might believe their child needs to lose weight, and with any child who wants to. Unfortunately, attempts to shrink a child’s body are likely to be both ineffective and harmful to physical and mental health. (Christy Harrison, 8/18)
