Smartphones and Social Media are Destroying Children’s Mental Health
Smartphones and social media are destroying children’s mental health | Financial Times (ft.com)
Studies show that the more time teens spend on social media, the worse their mental health is. Digital socializing has also displaced in-person gatherings. The share of US teens who meet up in-person with friends less than once a month stood at 3% between 1990 and 2010 but reached 10% by 2019. This percentage is continuing to increase. As screen-time increases, everyone hangs out less.
The effect of social media is more prevalent for girls in the 15–24-year-old range. It is also said that there are higher rates of depression among liberal teens than conservatives. Through research, it has been proven that liberal youth simply spend more time online than conservatives. While there is a difference among rates, the conservative youth’s trend is rising just with a lag.
A question arises, “what can we do to stop this?”. Similar to other addictions, public information campaigns are notoriously ineffective. Most researchers are not optimistic.