In 2025, the rapid rise of artificial intelligence access for the public at large also means growing concern about the mental health impact of screen time on children and their AI engagement.
Concerns encompass the harvesting of children’s personal data and children’s and teens’ vulnerability in dialogue with AI chatbots — some now in cuddly stuffed animals.
There are also risks that the promise of AI for learning and companionship could deprive children of the essential human relationships and hands-on play experiences that are foundational for their well-being and cognitive development.
AI is entering classrooms quickly, whether through children’s own AI use or lesson plans. The New York Times recently reported on an AI school in Texas that replaced teachers with “guides,” and AI-led lessons. Many apps, meanwhile, promise to diagnose, assess and “optimize” children’s learning.
As a researcher with expertise in how early education shapes children’s learning and developmental trajectories, and a retired practising psychotherapist, I amplify educator calls for caution. We need to regulate technologies and safeguard children’s privacy, especially considering the rapid rate that children adapt to technology.
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72 million data points by age 13
In the transition back to fall routines, educators and parents concerned with the benefits of children’s active outdoor play for their well-being struggle to balance such play with the return to more sedentary and online routines.
A recent Organization for Economic Development Report entitled “How’s Life for Children in the Digital Age?” outlines the importance of a “four-pillar” approach to enhancing child well-being that involves parents and guardians, a legal and policy framework, teachers and schools and the voices of children themselves.
(Sanket Mishra/Unsplash)
Concern over children’s mental health in the digital world is hardly new. Advocacy groups such as FairPlay for Kids and their 5 Rights Foundation have long pushed for stronger monitoring and regulation, urging tech companies to put children’s needs ahead of corporate profit.
They have amassed “overwhelming evidence” that child-targeted marketing, and the excessive screen time it fuels, undermines healthy development. By the time a child turns 13, technology companies may have already amassed up to 72 million data points on them — and there is virtually no regulation governing how that information is used.
OECD data shows that 70 per cent of 10-year-olds in developed countries own a smartphone, and by age 15, at least half of them spend 30 or more hours a week on their devices.
Called “persuasive design,” techniques like infinite scroll, autoplay, intermittent rewards and eye-catching design are used to hook children and keep them glued to screens, reshaping childhood.
From cognitive off-loading to emotional mining
AI, with its growing ability to “think” for us, is accelerating cognitive off-loading, outsourcing mental effort to machines. For young children whose neural pathways for reasoning are still forming, this is especially troubling. If for adults this sounds abstract, ask yourself how many phone numbers you can remember without your device.
What researchers call “emotional AI” goes even further, mining facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, text sentiment and even heart rate to engage children more deeply. The technology is increasingly built into smart toys, wearables and, perhaps most concerning, AI chatbots that children or teens turn to for comfort.
The stakes are high: without deliberate safeguards, we risk not just outsourcing children’s memory and reasoning, but compromising their opportunities to develop empathy and emotional resilience.
Policymakers’ lag on digital regulation
Researchers are increasingly recognizing the risk to student mental health, and there are growing calls for stronger oversight and regulation. In law, and with regulation and guidance in schools and in the home, student mental health and privacy protection should be prioritized.
But policy experts note regulatory efforts in Canada related to youth and data exploitation are wanting.
The Liberal government’s proposed Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, died with Parliament’s prorogation in 2025, and with it the promise of a Digital Safety Commission with the power to audit and penalize companies.
Calls have grown for the federal government to revisit the act again.
Privacy commissioner consultations
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada recently held consultations on the need for Canada to follow international trends in digital regulation, with the consultation window closing in mid-August.
Forty-one leading civil organizations, academic institutions and experts endorsed a joint statement outlining 15 principles for effective oversight, inspired by the United Kingdom’s age-appropriate design code. The top principle: the best interests of the child.
Some voices of children
But never underestimate a child. When social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, and a team of researchers collaborated on a Harris Poll of more than 500 children between the ages of eight and 12 in the United States, they found something striking.
While most children said they weren’t allowed out in public alone, and more than half had never walked down a grocery aisle unaccompanied or used a sharp knife, their online use was remarkably unsupervised.
But when asked how they prefer to spend their leisure time, only a quarter mentioned their devices, favouring free play with their friends. Eighty-seven per cent of surveyed children said they wished they could spend more time with their friends in person outside of school.
Read more:
Raising independent and resilient children: Lessons from TVO’s ‘Old Enough!’ and the science of love
Parents and educators are navigating a world where screens, algorithms and AI companions compete for children’s attention and shape their development.
In this context, the humble call from kids for more unstructured play with friends is not nostalgia; it’s a health intervention. Protecting that space may do more to safeguard their cognitive and emotional growth than any app, program or device ever could.
