Pastor’s Corner — August 3rd, 2025
Alarming Stats Around the Key Driver in Mental Health Decline in Kids
For years Principal Carley Dunphey and I have warned about the dangers around kids using social media and having smartphones at a young age. Along with publishing and recommending articles over the years (one of the most comprehensive of which is here), hosting of a Parenting in a Digital Age at St Pat’s with two experts, and promoting the “Wait Until 8th” Initiative, we continually strive to empower parents to recognize and respond to what we all know intuitively: social media use on smartphones is severely damaging to the mental, emotional and spiritual health of children. In the face of tremendous pressure parents experience to give kids smartphones and allow them to use social media anyway, a new study came out that has even more alarming statistics:
• Study tracked over 100,000 people aged 18–24 to examine the effects of childhood smartphone ownership on adult mental health.
• Those who got smartphones before age 13 showed much higher rates of suicidal thoughts, aggression, and emotional struggles.
• Girls were especially affected, with 48% of those who got phones at age 5–6 reporting suicidal thoughts, compared to 28% at age 13.
• Researchers urge policy changes, recommending age restrictions and mandatory digital literacy training to protect developing minds.
Here is another quote:
“Early smartphone ownership correlates with a troubling range of symptoms in young adulthood beyond suicidal thoughts. Those who got phones before age 13 show higher rates of aggression, feelings of detachment from reality, and hallucinations. Among specific mental health functions, early smartphone users struggle more with self-image, self-worth, emotional control, and resilience – particularly females. Males show greater difficulties with stability, calmness, and empathy.
Comparing those who got smartphones at ages 5-6 versus 13-18, researchers documented 20 percentage point higher rates of suicidal thoughts among females and 11 percentage points higher among males. Hallucinations increased by 14 percentage points for females and 9 points for males.”
Parking Update: Two items
First, an update from Ryan Nardozzi on the new lot: The new parking lot across the street will be open this weekend! Line striping will be completed after the resurfacing of the existing PLC lot. See graphic below for reference. Regarding the existing lot, we’ve encountered a few soft spots that need time to dry out. While the lot remains open for parking, we’ll need to wait a couple of weeks before asphalt can be installed. Thank you all for your patience!
Second, we have secured additional parking for Saturday/Sunday Masses. The following businesses along Grand River Ave have formally and generously agreed to allow parishioners to park in their parking lots for Saturday and Sunday Masses: Coldwell Banker, Mancuso Law Firm, Farm Bureau, Williams Nack and Burrows, Ecto HR, Livingston Right to Life. (We weren’t able to get a hold of the tattoo place, but we’ll ask when we do). I know some have already been parking here but this formal agreement is good news for our parking problem.
I’m especially thankful that Coldwell Banker, whose lot is fairly large, can help us with our Sunday Mass parking problem.
Youth Offerings for the Fall: Registration Opens August 1st
On August 1st we will be opening registration for our fall youth formation offerings, which you’ll hear more about at Mass.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias