Should Parents Be Tracking Their 18- to 25-Year-Old Kids On Their Smartphones?
Navigating the line between safety and autonomy. PLUS: A deep dive into Andrew Tate's "empire of abuse," and a look at who is fighting to keep Kratom legal.
Hi Readers!
I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.
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In this edition:
Behind Every Dad Bod Is a Healthy Dad Brain
Can Smartphones Help Explain The Drop In Birth Rates?
Men Are in an Epidemic, Just Not the One You Think
How an Addictive Gas Station Drug Found Allies in Trump’s Cabinet
Andrew Tate’s Empire of Abuse
Most Parents Track Their 18- to 25-Year-Old Kids On Their Smartphones. Is It Healthy?
They Explain Autism — And Come Under Attack, Even From Within The Autism Community
Behind Every Dad Bod Is a Healthy Dad Brain (New York Times)
By Darby Saxbe: We already know that the children of engaged fathers show advantages across a variety of domains, from their self-regulation abilities to their social skills and educational attainment. We also know that hands-on dads relieve stress on mothers, improve their partners’ relationship satisfaction and can even buffer the risk of postpartum depression in mothers.
But as I discovered when researching my new book, becoming a committed father also directly benefits men. Men who prioritize fatherhood may lose some sleep, gain some extra weight and enjoy less free time, but they can also discover a richer life with greater meaning, purpose and connection. And when it comes to brain health and mental fitness, becoming a father is one of the best things you can do. READ MORE
Can Smartphones Help Explain The Drop In Birth Rates? (NPR)
By Scott Horsley: In a provocative new working paper titled “Is the iPhone Birth Control?” Economist Caitlin Myers argues that the spread of smartphones could explain between a third and a half of the decline in birth rates during that period.
To test that theory, she makes clever use of an accident of history that creates a kind of natural experiment. When iPhones first came out, they worked only with AT&T.
“In some areas of the country, AT&T had broadband coverage and you could get an iPhone, and in other areas, including where I live in Vermont, that coverage was much more limited,” Myers recalls. “And what you can see in this simplest of comparisons, births start to fall in the places where you can get one, and they’re not falling nearly as much in the places where you can’t.” READ MORE
