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Does the smartphone really make young people sick? What science says (and what it doesn’t)
The smartphone has become an integral part of the lives of young people, not to mention the lives of the elderly. But young people seem to suffer much more than we think, according to psychologist Jonathan Haidt; he says that we have even cultivated a generation anxiety disorder with the smartphone. I’m not sure if I’d go that far, but there are growing signs that social media is taking a toll on young people’s mental health. Still, are these alarming claims actually true? What does the science really say about smartphone use?
Addicted and vulnerable
Various studies show that young people spend more and more time on their screens and sleep less, move less, and have less contact with others in the real world. Social media platforms are designed to be maximally addictive: notifications, likes, and endless feeds trigger the dopamine system in our brain, similar to how slot machines do. (Thijs Launspach, Asociale media )
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt goes one step further. In his book The Anxious Generation, he points to a sharp increase in mental health issues among young people from about 2012 — when smartphones and social media became mainstream among teenagers. According to him, this technology has made an entire generation mentally ill…
