Our teens are in crisis. The share of American high school students reporting “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” has increased to nearly half of youth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That troubling news came on the heels of a report from Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program that the well-being of young adults has dramatically declined compared to older age groups.
A host of factors are driving our kids to despair, from decreased social connection to increased worries about the future of the planet.
But there is no doubt that technology figures heavily in the problems besetting our teens. Current estimates suggest that children ages 8 to 12 spend 51⁄2 hours a day on screens, while teens ages 13 to 18 spend nearly nine hours a day. Parents struggle with what that means for their children, concerned that so much media use may be harmful, but unsure of what to do.Adolescents themselves are anxious about it. A recent Wheatley Institute study found that over 60% of adolescents thought they spent too much time on social media, and half were concerned about the toll it was taking on their lives.
In her landmark article “Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation?” published five years ago in The Atlantic, Jean Twenge touched off a cultural debate when she concluded that surging adolescent depression and anxiety was directly linked to the spike in digital media consumption. In the years since, hundreds of research studies have explored the link between media use and mental health challenges.
Their conclusion? On average, the link between social media use and mental health risks are modest for most kids. Yes, the surging emotional problems of our teens seem to be partly rooted in excessive screen time, but other ambient features of the environment — secularization, loneliness and normlessness, to name three — also help explain why so many kids are struggling.
But there are adolescents for whom the negative effects of digital media use can be profound and significant. These adolescents appear to be especially vulnerable to falling down the teen-tech rabbit hole, ending up depressed and otherwise struggling. They ought to be the center of our attention as we try to address the significant mental health challenges facing youth today. Who are these at-risk youth? The largest study on social media use to date found that girls between the ages of 11-13 appeared to be especially vulnerable to negative impacts as well as boys ages 14-15. The “culture of performativity” inherent to social media appears to exacerbate the normal insecurities of youth, undermining an already fragile sense of self.
But a new report from the Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatley InstituteTheir conclusion? On average, the link between social media use and mental health risks are modest for most kids. Yes, the surging emotional problems of our teens seem to be partly rooted in excessive screen time, but other ambient features of the environment — secularization, loneliness and normlessness, to name three — also help explain why so many kids are struggling.
But there are adolescents for whom the negative effects of digital media use can be profound and significant. These adolescents appear to be especially vulnerable to falling down the teen-tech rabbit hole, ending up depressed and otherwise struggling. They ought to be the center of our attention as we try to address the significant mental health challenges facing youth today.
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