Phil McGraw, known professionally as Dr. Phil, discussed the impact of school closures and distance learning on children during the pandemic with hosts of “The View,” emphasizing the negative effects of social media and isolation on mental health.
He criticized the decision to shut down schools, highlighting the risks it posed to children’s well-being and safety.
Sara Haines asked Dr. Phil to explain his comment that “you’re not the only voice in your kids’ ears, so you have to be the best voice.”
“Well, think about it — in, like, ’08, ’09, smartphones came on, and kids … they stopped living their lives and started watching other people live their lives,” he said.
“So we saw the biggest spike and the highest levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness and suicidiality since records have ever been kept,” McGraw said. “And it’s just continued on and on and on.”
“And then COVID hits 10 years later, and the same agencies that knew that are the agencies that shut down the schools for two years. Who does that? Who takes away the support system for these children? Who takes it away and shuts it down?” he said.
“And by the way, when they shut it down, they stopped the mandated reporters from being able to see children that were being abused and sexually molested — and in fact, sent them home and abandoned them to their abusers with no way to watch. And referrals dropped 50 to 60 percent.”
“There was also a pandemic going on and they were trying to save their lives,” Sunny Hostin cut in.
“They were trying to save kids’ lives,” Whoopi Goldberg said. “Remember, we know a lot of folks who died during this. People weren’t laying around –”
“Not schoolchildren,” Dr. Phil interjected.
“Well, you know what? We’re lucky. Maybe we’re lucky they didn’t, because we kept them out of the places that they could be safe because no one wanted to believe we had an issue,” Goldberg said.
“Are you saying no schoolchildren died of COVID?” Ana Navarro asked.
“I’m saying it was the safest group,” McGraw said. “They were the less-vulnerable group, and they suffered — and will suffer — more from the mismanagement of COVID than they will from the exposure to COVID. And that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact.”
“Well, Phil, we don’t even have time to talk it out now, man. But thanks for coming,” Goldberg said.
Despite good intentions, the detrimental consequences of prolonged school closures and the importance of prioritizing children’s needs has remained a pressing issue in schools across America.
