New studies demonstrate that approximately one in five older British teenagers involved in one study displayed problematic phone use (PSU), which resembles an addiction. This can mean they feel panicky or upset when their phone is unavailable, find it difficult to control their screen time and use their phone to the detriment of other meaningful activities.
“Even if we could wave a magic wand and make all smartphones go away, these kids could still have problems overdoing other stuff.”
Research, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, was published in two studies. One, in the journal Acta Paediatrica, surveyed 657 teenagers aged 16 to 18 at five schools across England. The second analysis, published in BMJ Mental Health, studied a smaller group of teenagers for a month: 62 pupils aged 13 to 16 from two London schools.
Teens with PSU were twice as likely to have anxiety, three times more likely to have depressive symptoms and 64 per cent more likely to be insomniacs. Instagram and TikTok were the social media accounts most strongly linked to PSU.
The studies also showed that that teens were keen to find ways to restrict their phone use. The most effective methods were putting their device on “do not disturb” or “airplane mode”, turning off notifications and keeping smartphones out of the bedroom.
Dr Nicola Kalk, senior author on both studies, said the work “does contribute to an accumulation of evidence that suggests that a proportion of teenagers use their smartphone in a way that is starting to look more and more like an addiction”.
Professor Ben Carter, professor of medical statistics at King’s, said: “By revealing the link between problematic use of smartphones and poorer mental health, and demonstrating that young people are aware of this problem and are eager to manage their use, these studies highlight the need for evidence-based interventions to help adolescents struggling with difficult behaviours around their smartphone use.”
Chris Ferguson, professor of psychology at Stetson University, who is quoted above said: “Even if we could wave a magic wand and make all smartphones go away, these kids could still have problems overdoing other stuff. Ultimately, I think this data suggests we do need to reframe our approach to technology.
“There’s little evidence here, or elsewhere, that restricting technology, putting age limits on social media or banning smartphones in schools is helpful in improving teen wellness or academic performance. Technology overuse is best understood as a new symptom of age-old disorders such as depression, anxiety or ADHD, not a new set of problems.
“Further indulging a moral panic over smartphones and social media is unlikely to help any youth.”
Sources:
Kalk NJ, Downs J, Clark B, Carter B. Problematic smartphone use: What can teenagers and parents do to reduce use? Acta Paediatrica. First published: 31 July 2024. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.17365 Carter B, Armed, N, Cassidy O, Pearson O, Calcia M, et al. ‘There’s more to life than staring at a small screen’: a mixed methods cohort study of problematic smartphone use and the relationship to anxiety, depression and sleep in students aged 13–16 years old in the UK. BMJ Mental Health. July 2024. https://mentalhealth.bmj.com/content/27/1/e301115.
Smartphones are ubiquitous in modern society. It seems that as soon as we sit down on a bus or wait in a line at the Post Office, the first thing we do is pull out our phones. A number of studies have shown that the average American checks their phones almost 100 times a day and spend more than five hours daily staring at that pocket-sized screen.
While we may be killing time by scrolling through social media or checking sports scores, a new study published in the Journal of Economic Psychology concludes that our seemingly constant use of the phone may come at a social cost.
The researchers highlight that many adults can remember a time when people taking public transportation or at a gathering would chat or engage others in conversation, whereas now, everyone is “plugged in and looking down.” Generally – no longer socializing.
The Study
For their experiment, they brought groups of six students into a laboratory and had them wait together for 20 minutes. Some groups were allowed to use phones as usual. For others, they confiscated the phones and made them wait without them. They then broke the students up into pairs to play a simple trust game that gave them the chance to earn more money back by sharing up front—if they trusted the partner to split the final pot rather than pocket it, and if their partner actually did send back money.
Results
Those who didn’t have phones and who also interacted with other people in the waiting room tended to share more up front than those who didn’t interact. Even more significantly, the partners without phones also gave back more than those with phones—and more than they’d received. The researchers attribute this generosity to the trust engendered when people connect with one another. “If you are not looking someone in the eye, you’re almost treating them as less than human—it’s just money,” she says. “But if you’d looked up and smiled and chatted, then you’d developed more of a sense of who this person is. They are no longer a blank slate.”
Conclusions
While our phones undoubtedly connect us to loved ones and others far away, they can also distance us from strangers close at hand, lead researcher Campbell concludes. People might look at their phones in social situations for a number of reasons, including boredom, shyness, or a feeling like others might not want to talk to them. Campbell suggests, however, that by putting away our phones around strangers, we might feel more of a sense of trust that could enrich everyone’s lives.
Children could learn more social skills by giving up their phones during the school day or at summer camp. In a business context, managers might foster a sense of trust by limiting phone usage at certain times, such as orientations, when new hires could be encouraged to drop their phones on the way into the room and pick them up on their way out.
“Obviously, our phones are immensely valuable, but in some situations, it may be more valuable to chat to the person next to you,” she says. “You might be surprised to find they want to chat with you too.”
Source:
Campbell S, Sneezy U. Smartphone use decreases trustworthiness of strangers. Journal of Economic Psychology, Volume 102, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2024.102714.
This week in a New York Times Opinion Piece, Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people. He has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms similar to those now mandatory oncigarette boxes.
Implementing a surgeon general’s warning label, requires congressional action, and would serve to regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy said. “Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.”
Social media use is prevalent among young people, with up to 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 saying that they use a social media platform, and more than a third saying that they use social media “almost constantly,” according to 2022 data from the Pew Research Center.
Last year Dr. Murthy warned that there wasn’t enough evidence to show that social media is safe for children and teens. He said at the time that policymakers needed to address the harms of social media the same way they regulate things like car seats, baby formula, medication and other products children use.
To comply with federal regulation, social media companies already ban kids under 13 from signing up for their platforms — but children have been shown to easily get around the bans, both with and without their parents’ consent.
Other measures social platforms have taken to address concerns about children’s mental health can also be easily circumvented. For instance, TikTok introduced a default 60-minute time limit for users under 18. But once the limit is reached, minors can simply enter a passcode to keep watching.
Murthy believes the impact of social media on young people should be a more pressing concern. He wrote, “Why is it that we have failed to respond to the harms of social media when they are no less urgent or widespread than those posed by unsafe cars, planes or food? These harms are not a failure of willpower and parenting; they are the consequence of unleashing powerful technology without adequate safety measures, transparency or accountability.
A new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens conducted Sept. 26-Oct. 23, 2023, among 1,453 13- to 17-year-olds – covered social media, internet use and device ownership among teens. Even though negative headlines and growing concerns about social media’s impact on youth has drawn the attention of parents, teachers, the medical profession and lawmakers, teens continue to use these platforms at high rates – with some describing their social media use as “almost constant.”
YouTube continues to dominate. Roughly nine-in-ten teens say they use YouTube, making it the most widely used platform measured in our survey.
Other key findings include: TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram remain popular among teens: Majorities of teens ages 13 to 17 say they use TikTok (63%), Snapchat (60%) and Instagram (59%). For older teens ages 15 to 17, these shares are about seven-in-ten.
Teens are less likely to be using Facebook and Twitter (recently renamed X) than they were a decade ago: Facebook once dominated the social media landscape among America’s youth, but the share of teens who use the site has dropped from 71% in 2014-2015 to 33% today. Twitter, which was renamed X in July 2023, has also seen its teen user base shrink during the past decade – albeit at a less steep decline than Facebook.
Teens’ site and app usage has changed little in the past year. The share of teens using these platforms has remained relatively stable since spring 2022, when the Center last surveyed on these topics. For example, the percentage of teens who use TikTok is statistically unchanged since last year.
And for the first time, we asked teens about using BeReal: 13% report using this app.
When asked about frequency
By Gender Teen girls are more likely than boys to say they almost constantly use TikTok (22% vs. 12%) and Snapchat (17% vs. 12%).
But there are little to no differences in the shares of boys and girls who report almost constantly using YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
By Race and Ethnicity There were also differences by race and ethnicity in how much time teens report spending on these platforms. Larger shares of Black and Hispanic teens report being on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok almost constantly, compared with a smaller share of White teens who say the same. Hispanic teens stand out in TikTok and Snapchat use. For instance, 32% of Hispanic teens say they are on TikTok almost constantly, compared with 20% of Black teens and 10% of White teens.
By Age Older teens are more likely than younger teens to use many of the platforms asked about, including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Reddit. For example, while 68% of teens ages 15 to 17 say they use Instagram, this share drops to 45% among teens ages 13 and 14.
Today, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health. While social media may offer some benefits, there are ample indicators that social media can also pose a risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. Social media use by young people is nearly universal, with up to 95% of young people ages 13-17 reporting using a social media platform and more than a third saying they use social media “almost constantly.”
Health Advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence – [Original Post 5/10/23]
Psychological scientists are examining the potential beneficial and harmful effects of social media use on adolescents’ social, educational, psychological, and neurological development. This is a rapidly evolving and growing area of research with implications for many stakeholders (e.g., youth, parents, caregivers, educators, policymakers, practitioners, and members of the tech industry) who share responsibility to ensure adolescents’ well-being. Officials and policymakers including the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy have documented the importance of this issue and are actively seeking science-informed input.
The American Psychological Association offers a number of recommendations which are based on the scientific evidence to date, and the following considerations.
A. Using social media is not inherently beneficial or harmful to young people. Adolescents’ lives online both reflect and impact their offline lives. In most cases, the effects of social media are dependent on adolescents’ own personal and psychological characteristics and social circumstances—intersecting with the specific content, features, or functions that are afforded within many social media platforms. In other words, the effects of social media likely depend on what teens can do and see online, teens’ preexisting strengths or vulnerabilities, and the contexts in which they grow up.3
B. Adolescents’ experiences online are affected by both 1) how they shape their own social media experiences (e.g., they choose whom to like and follow); and 2) both visible and unknown features built into social media platforms.
C. Not all findings apply equally to all youth. Scientific findings offer one piece of information that can be used along with knowledge of specific youths’ strengths, weaknesses, and context to make decisions that are tailored for each teen, family, and community.4
D. Adolescent development is gradual and continuous, beginning with biological and neurological changes occurring before puberty is observable (i.e., approximately beginning at 10 years of age), and lasting at least until dramatic changes in youths’ social environment (e.g., peer, family, and school context) and neurological changes have completed (i.e., until approximately 25 years of age).5 Age-appropriate use of social media should be based on each adolescent’s level of maturity (e.g., self-regulation skills, intellectual development, comprehension of risks) and home environment.6 Because adolescents mature at different rates, and because there are no data available to indicate that children become unaffected by the potential risks and opportunities posed by social media usage at a specific age, research is in development to specify a single time or age point for many of these recommendations. In general, potential risks are likely to be greater in early adolescence—a period of greater biological, social, and psychological transitions, than in late adolescence and early adulthood.7,8
E. As researchers have found with the internet more broadly, racism (i.e., often reflecting perspectives of those building technology) is built into social media platforms. For example, algorithms (i.e., a set of mathematical instructions that direct users’ everyday experiences down to the posts that they see) can often have centuries of racist policy and discrimination encoded.9Social media can become an incubator, providing community and training that fuel racist hate.10The resulting potential impact is far reaching, including physical violence offline, as well as threats to well-being.11
F. These recommendations are based on psychological science and related disciplines at the time of this writing (April 2023). Collectively, these studies were conducted with thousands of adolescents who completed standardized assessments of social, behavioral, psychological, and/or neurological functioning, and also reported (or were observed) engaging with specific social media functions or content. However, these studies do have limitations. First, findings suggesting causal associations are rare, as the data required to make cause-and-effect conclusions are challenging to collect and/or may be available within technology companies, but have not been made accessible to independent scientists. Second, long-term (i.e., multiyear) longitudinal research often is unavailable; thus, the associations between adolescents’ social media use and long-term outcomes (i.e., into adulthood) are largely unknown. Third, relatively few studies have been conducted with marginalized populations of youth, including those from marginalized racial, ethnic, sexual, gender, socioeconomic backgrounds, those who are differently abled, and/or youth with chronic developmental or health conditions. (References in link below)
Recommendations
1. Youth using social media should be encouraged to use functions that create opportunities for social support, online companionship, and emotional intimacy that can promote healthy socialization
2. Social media use, functionality, and permissions/consenting should be tailored to youths’ developmental capabilities; designs created for adults may not be appropriate for children.
3. In early adolescence (i.e., typically 10–14 years), adult monitoring (i.e., ongoing review, discussion, and coaching around social media content) is advised for most youths’ social media use; autonomy may increase gradually as kids age and if they gain digital literacy skills. However, monitoring should be balanced with youths’ appropriate needs for privacy.
4. To reduce the risks of psychological harm, adolescents’ exposure to content on social media that depicts illegal or psychologically maladaptive behavior, including content that instructs or encourages youth to engage in health-risk behaviors, such as self-harm (e.g., cutting, suicide), harm to others, or those that encourage eating-disordered behavior (e.g., restrictive eating, purging, excessive exercise) should be minimized, reported, and removed;23 moreover, technology should not drive users to this content.
5. To minimize psychological harm, adolescents’ exposure to “cyberhate” including online discrimination, prejudice, hate, or cyberbullying especially directed toward a marginalized group (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, religious, ability status),22 or toward an individual because of their identity or allyship with a marginalized group should be minimized.
6. Adolescents should be routinely screened for signs of “problematic social media use” that can impair their ability to engage in daily roles and routines, and may present risk for more serious psychological harms over time.
7. The use of social media should be limited so as to not interfere with adolescents’ sleep and physical activity.
8. Adolescents should limit use of social media for social comparison, particularly around beauty- or appearance-related content.
9. Adolescents’ social media use should be preceded by training in social media literacy to ensure that users have developed psychologically-informed competencies and skills that will maximize the chances for balanced, safe, and meaningful social media use.
10. Substantial resources should be provided for continued scientific examination of the positive and negative effects of social media on adolescent development.
A new mental health smartphone App has been developed to help people regulate their emotions in healthy ways.
Rutgers researcher, Edward Selby, PhD, Director of Clinical Training for the Rutgers University Clinical Psychology Program has taken a different approach to a mental health app. The app prompts users to consider their mental health at different times throughout the day, increasing awareness of unique personal experiences. Progress and improvement can be viewed over time to help users identify and better understand how their emotions change and the triggers that may cause those changes.
According to Dr Selby, “The better we can understand the underlying causes and dynamics that result in the problems we define as ‘mental illness,’ the better we can design, tailor and adapt treatments to help improve those underlying problems. Selby’s research shows people often react emotionally to stressful situations in ways that make the situations worse. When this happens, people are at higher risk for harmful behaviors, such as substance use, binge eating, hostility and self-injury.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 20 percent of adults in the United States experienced mental illness in 2020. There is increasing evidence that technology may be used to address mental health care beyond the conventional office setting. These approaches, including smartphone treatment apps, may also help reach patients in need of mental health services who lack access to care.
The name of the app is “Storm/breaker” and it’s goal is to “help people naturally and automatically understand dynamic emotional, cognitive, interpersonal and behavioral experiences occurring in their lives. As understanding of these processes grows, they will spontaneously begin to make more healthy and adaptive responses to upsetting situations that arise.”
Storm/breaker app is designed to help users in a number of ways, including:
People can learn to understand their unique emotional, psychological and behavioral patterns which Selby said is essential to making positive changes in one’s life.
People can begin to make changes to improve their emotional experiences that may help to defuse upsetting situations and avoid problematic behaviors.
The app’s customizable clinical toolkit will allow people to link to other smartphone apps that may help further manage their stress, including entertainment apps to distract, relaxation apps and productivity apps.
Selby said while other apps attempt to convert typical in-person therapy into a smartphone experience, Storm/breaker is a standalone intervention designed specifically to harness the advantages of daily smartphone use.
Selby will discuss his research on mental health in an episode of the PBS series Healthy Minds with Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein in May 2023 during Mental Health Awareness Month. The app was programmed in collaboration with Michigan Software Labs.
