Everything that I know about play suggests that if you take play away from children, there’s going to be negative consequences, said Gray, whose 2013 book “Free to Learn” argued that free play is the primary means by which children develop resilience.

 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/22/metro/depression-teens-social-media-free-play-childhood/

In a recent paper, published in The Journal of Pediatrics late last year, Gray and his colleagues made the case by drawing from a voluminous body of evidence spanning developmental psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and other fields. While it may be true that the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and suicide among children and teenagers appears to have risen in tandem with the use of smartphones and social media, they concluded that teen and child mental health has actually been on the decline for at least five decades. That period coincides with the decline in opportunities “for children and teens to play, roam, and engage in other activities independent of direct oversight and control by adults,” they wrote.