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Connections
A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.
Connections

What teenagers say will get them off their phones

By Evan Dawson,
Elissa Orlando, Julie Williams
Published September 10, 2025 at 3:50 PM EDT
Two men wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a man at left has short brown hair and a brown beard and is wearing glasses, a black blazer and a blue button-down shirt; a man at right has short dark hair and is wearing glasses, a blue button-down shirt, jeans and sneakers.
George Yeadon
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WXXI News
Michael Scharf with host Evan Dawson on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Wednesday, September 10, 2025
A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.
WXXI News

New data finds that teenagers want more freedom and autonomy. Give them those things, and they say they’ll spend less time on their phones.

Here’s the problem: modern parents are giving kids freedom in the wrong places. They’re giving kids more freedom online, where kids are getting addicted to social media and discovering violence and porn earlier than they used to.

Meanwhile, parents are giving kids less freedom in the real world. So how can that be flipped?

Our guests:

  • Michael Scharf, M.D., Mark and Maureen Davitt distinguished professor in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center
  • Hawa Ali, Edison Tech student

Connections
Evan Dawson
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
See stories by Evan Dawson
Elissa Orlando
Elissa Orlando is a producer for “Connections with Evan Dawson.” She returns part-time to WXXI News after stepping back from a long career in public media and in translational science.
See stories by Elissa Orlando
Julie Williams
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.
See stories by Julie Williams