There’s an interesting article at The Conversation by Jean Twenge that considers the causes of the recent spike in depression and suicides among adolescents. Was it caused by smartphone use?
In a new paper published in Clinical Psychological Science, my colleagues and I found that the increases in depression, suicide attempts and suicide appeared among teens from every background – more privileged and less privileged, across all races and ethnicities and in every region of the country. All told, our analysis found that the generation of teens I call “iGen†– those born after 1995 – is much more likely to experience mental health issues than their millennial predecessors.
What happened so that so many more teens, in such a short period of time, would feel depressed, attempt suicide and commit suicide? After scouring several large surveys of teens for clues, I found that all of the possibilities traced back to a major change in teens’ lives: the sudden ascendance of the smartphone.
I suspect it is not smartphone use alone but the technologically-enabled isolation I’ve written about before. The adolescent years are important in the development of social behavior and try as we might to rationalize it, smartphones are not a substitute for face-to-face interactions. Or exercise for that matter.
Hat tip: The Moderate Voice
“…..smartphones are not a substitute….â€
Nor are video games. And none of them are replacements for parenting.
I wonder if smaller families and lack of siblings is also a part? As far as the smartphone goes I think it is the social media that evolved at the same time. I suspect that if kids didn’t have smartphones but still had laptops to use social media it would still be a problem.
Steve