Savannah Guthrie has teased an upcoming "special event" taking place in the Today studio next month, which will see the show tackle issues facing parents and their kids.
The 51-year-old host made the announcement following a report from Senior National Correspondent Kate Snow, who shared the findings from a study by Common Sense Media about children's relationships with their phones.
During her video report, Kate explained that the organization tracked the phones of 200 children between the ages of 11 and 17. They found that 97% of children use their phones during school hours, while 60% use them between midnight and 5am on school nights. She also revealed that more than 50% receive over 237 notifications or more every day.
© NBCWhile chatting about the issue, the hosts expressed their concerns. Savannah revealed that her six-year-old son, Charley, is already begging her to have a phone, adding: "There's so much pressure… but once you give them the phone it's like it's over, you lost them."
Hoda Kotb added: "Their brains are developing until they're in their 20s, so we're talking about a study on a child's brain because we don't know! It's almost like these are all experiments walking around staring at phones and many years later we're going to say, 'oh my gosh what happened to these kids?'"
Towards the end of the segment, Savannah shared her worries for the future. "It's pretty dramatic to say this but I have this feeling that in ten, 15 years, the science is going to show us that handing [kids] phones when they were ten, 11, 12, in their teenage years without access is like giving them a packet of cigarettes. That it's as severe as that and as consequential as that."
She went on to tease the show's upcoming "special event" which will take place in October. "We're very, very focused on this issue. It's a topic we're going to keep focusing on, including next month when we're going to have a special event right in the studio," she said. "We're going to tackle all these issues facing parents and kids. Try to get us together to do our part, do the best we can."
© NBCSavannah and Hoda both have young children. Savannah shares her nine-year-old daughter Vale and six-year-old son Charley with her husband Michael Feldman.
Meanwhile, Hoda has two daughters, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine, whom she shares with her ex-fiancé Joel Schiffman.
READ: Who is Savannah Guthrie's husband?
MORE: Hoda Kotb on baby number three plans - all Today host has said about another child
Savannah has previously opened up about her parenting style and spoke about the importance of setting boundaries.
"I've never subscribed to that old-fashioned notion of 'Wait until your father gets home,'" she told Today.com in April, explaining that discipline comes from both parents.
"You're not parenting if your kid hasn't called you mean – that's how you know you're doing it right," the anchor continued.
"I don't like hearing it, but you have to have boundaries, you have to have those limits, and your kids won't like them. So sometimes you have to let them think that you're mean."
