From Playground to Phone Screen: Childhood in the Attention Economy

I was talking with a friend recently about when we think our daughters will get their first phone. They’re in 4th grade, and some of their friends already have them. The conversation quickly veered into “when we’ll have to, because their friends do” instead of “what’s best for our kids’ development and mental health.” Most parents would probably agree: less phone time is better. Yet here we are, nudged toward decisions by the pressure of what everyone else is doing.

That pressure comes from comparison—what other parents are doing, what kids see their friends have etc. But underneath it all is a bigger truth: these devices and the apps on them were never designed with kids’ growth in mind. They were designed to capture attention. And even as adults, we struggle to manage that pull. We fight the endless scroll, the late-night dopamine hits, the lure of constant notifications. So to hand these machines to children and expect them to somehow develop a healthy balance is, at best, unreasonable—and arguably irresponsible.

We’re not bad parents. We’re doing the best we can. But the competition for our own attention has gotten in the way, ironically, of recognizing the true magnitude of what’s happening. That’s how we’ve arrived here so quickly—swept along by forces that have been building quietly for over a decade…

Think of two trains leaving the same station.

One train represents our growth—focus, creativity, and happiness. The other represents corporate profit. Both run on the same fuel: attention.

The more fuel poured into the profit train, the less remains for ours. What looks like progress on one side comes at direct expense to the other. That’s true for all of us.

But the stakes are even higher for kids. Their train hasn’t built up the same reserves of discipline or perspective. When their attention is siphoned off, it robs them of depth, patience, and the space to discover what excites them most. And instead of being understood, they risk being labeled—“distracted,” “hyper,” “unfocused.” In truth, it’s not their energy that’s broken. It’s the environment stealing the focus they need to grow.

This is where we come in. As parents, educators, and communities, we can choose differently. We can slow the pull of distraction by setting boundaries, fueling kids’ passions, and modeling what it looks like to guard attention like the precious resource it is.

We don’t have to accept distraction as the norm. We don’t have to hand our kids over to the highest bidder for their attention. We can stand together—families, schools, neighborhoods—and make it acceptable, even expected, to say: less screen, more life; less profit, more presence.

If enough of us do, our kids’ train can still run strong—carrying them toward the future they deserve.

~ Rich Kazbour