The Anxious Generation ~Smartphones & Mental Illness!

Pastor Leslie Chua

We are living in an anxious time and there is an especially anxious generation. I am referring particularly to the young people, those who are in the Gen Z and Generation Alpha cohorts.

Gen Z are those born between 1996 and 2010 while Generation Alpha refers to youngsters born after 2011.

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Mental health issues among young people are a grave concern, and they must be taken seriously not just by the government but also by parents, teens, and preteens themselves.
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In recent years, we have witnessed a surge in mental-related illnesses such as chronic anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidal tendencies. This is a global phenomenon and it has now reached a crisis level. Earlier this year, mental health was declared a national priority by our Singapore government.

Mental health issues among young people are a grave concern, and they must be taken seriously not just by the government but also by parents, teens, and preteens themselves.

Numerous factors contribute to the escalating crisis, among which are childhood trauma, stress, anxiety over global warming, and the shifting financial landscape. But increasingly, fingers are pointed at the heavy usage of smartphones in video gaming and social media.

While the suspicion was anecdotal in the past, research data in the last 2 years have conclusively shown the frequent usage of smartphones to be the main culprit. These are hard data based on psychological and biological research.

Smartphones were introduced in 2007 and they were widely adopted by 2010. Gen Z was the first generation to grow up in the era of ubiquitous digital connectivity. The internet and social media are part of their daily life. Hence, their identity is shaped by the digital age, and they are rightly called digital natives.

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This is not a gospel issue. So, why am I talking about it? That is because it affects everybody in our digitally connected society, and Christians are not immune to its adverse impacts. Mental-related issues affect our ability to function healthily. We cannot serve God without good emotional and psychological health. We also want to raise healthy children and adolescents.
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In the early 2000s, the mental health situation among preteens and adolescents was generally stable. Research has shown a dramatic shift after 2010, which corresponded with the beginning of the widespread adoption of smartphones and digital devices.

The U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health’s statistics showed a surge in reported cases of chronic anxiety, depression, self-harm, ADHD, and bipolar disorders since 2012.

These alarming rates of increase in mental health issues among children and young people must not be ignored.

This is not a gospel issue. So, why am I talking about it? That is because it affects everybody in our digitally connected society, and Christians are not immune to its adverse impacts. Mental-related issues affect our ability to function healthily. We cannot serve God without good emotional and psychological health. We also want to raise healthy children and adolescents.


A Synopsis of the Book, The Anxious Generation

In this reflection, I will discuss briefly how the excessive usage of smartphones and social media has an adverse mental health impact on young people.

These thoughts are a synopsis of Jonathan Haidt’s latest book entitled “The Anxious Generation – How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.” This book is a bestseller. It is a good read and I highly recommend it.

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and professor of ethical leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business.


Synaptic Pruning

Why is the frequent use of smartphones so detrimental to the mental health of children and adolescents?

In a nutshell, the introduction of smartphones has eroded the traditional play-based childhood, which is so important for the healthy emotional and social development of young people.

Humans have a relatively longer childhood than all the other animals. Our kids take a longer time for their brain development, and that is for a good reason. The slower pace enables the brain to undergo a critical process of synaptic pruning. As children grow and learn, their experiences strengthen the neural connections that are relevant while those that are rarely used fade and weaken.

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In a nutshell, the introduction of smartphones has eroded the traditional play-based childhood, which is so important for the healthy emotional and social development of young people.
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This process of pattern and habit formation happens in 3 ways: free play, attunement, and social learning. Smartphones draw children into the online virtual world where it is difficult to fully explore these functionalities.


Free Play

Children’s brains are wired up through unstructured and undirected play. The more vigorous and more often the play, the better. Children learn to cooperate with each other, form friendships, assess risks, and exercise their imagination through play.

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Children’s brains are wired up through unstructured and undirected play.
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When adults get involved, the play becomes more controlled and less beneficial. Parents usually cannot stop themselves from directing the play and protecting their kids.

It is the same with playing with smartphones. The contents and interactions in the virtual world are usually structured. So, they cannot provide the same level of developmental opportunities as free play in a physical environment.

Attunement

Attunement is the art of connecting with others. This is another important area of child development.

From a young age, children learn to read emotional cues and build social bonds through their synchronous interactions with their caregivers, peers, and the people around them. That is, they learn to connect by synchronising their movements and emotions with others.

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Attunement is critical for developing emotional self-regulation and social skills.
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Attunement is critical for developing emotional self-regulation and social skills. According to a U.S. statistic, about one-third of preteen girls reportedly spent 20 hours a week on social media. These are opportunities lost for attunement.


Social Learning

Social learning is the process by which children emulate effective behaviours and social strategies from role models. Again, this process is negatively affected by the frequent usage of smartphones.

By spending more time on smartphones and social media, children have less time for real-life interaction, and hence, social learning.

There is also another downside. Children can choose certain role models to emulate using the metric systems provided by the social media, such as the number of likes and views. These people might not be good role models in terms of their values and behaviour. They might also set impossibly high standards for the kids to live up to, which can affect them negatively.  

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By spending more time on smartphones and social media, children have less time for real-life interaction, and hence, social learning.
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In summary, the rise of the smartphone has fundamentally changed the nature of childhood and adolescent experience. Children are now deprived of the critical experience of free play, attunement, and social learning. This subtle, but seismic shift, has resulted in an alarming rise in mental health issues among young people.


4 Direct Adverse Impacts of Smartphones

We have just explored the subtle impacts of the ubiquitous use of smartphones. Now, let us take a look at the 4 direct adverse impacts of smartphones on the mental well-being of young people.


Social Deprivation

Firstly, social deprivation.

As we noted earlier, face-to-face social interaction is critical for the healthy development of children and adolescents.

Research statistics show that from 2010 onward, the amount of time that young people spent interacting with one another has dropped significantly. It dropped from about 160 minutes per day in the early 2000s to just above 40 minutes per day in 2019 for the age range of 15 to 24 years old. It is a whopping decline.

Even when these young people are meeting physically, the mere presence of smartphones somehow diminishes the quality of their interaction. They would also invariably turn to look at their phones whenever a notification beep comes in.

Family life has also suffered. Adults are just as distracted by their smartphones. In a study, 62 per cent of children in the age group of 6-12 reported that their parents were “distracted” by their smartphones when they tried to talk to them.


Sleep Deprivation

Secondly, sleep deprivation.

A large number of teenagers tend to use their smartphones late into the night, depriving themselves of the necessary sleep and rest.

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Apart from some physical health issues, prolonged sleep deprivation is also a direct cause of anxiety, chronic stress, depression, aggression and other serious mental issues.
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Many studies have concluded a direct correlation between the use of smartphones and sleep deprivation among adolescents. Apart from some physical health issues, prolonged sleep deprivation is also a direct cause of anxiety, chronic stress, depression, aggression and other serious mental issues.


Attention Fragmentation

Thirdly, attention fragmentation. This is another serious adverse effect of the excessive use of smartphones.

Research data in the U.S. shows that teenagers receive about 11 notifications per waking hour on their smartphones. For heavy users, it can go up to as many as 1 notification per waking minute. I suspect that the figures are the same in many other countries, including Singapore.

Unknown to many, social media are intentionally designed to pull your attention away from whatever you are doing by pushing to you a constant stream of notifications. You get a dopamine rush whenever you respond to the notification beep.

This constant never-ending stream of interruption will cause attention fragmentation. It will affect the teenagers’ ability to think. Potentially, it may also leave permanent marks in their rapidly reconfiguring brains.

Studies have shown that the continuous use of a smartphone during childhood and adolescence can affect their ability to focus. Attentiveness is an important quality for learning as well as for engaging in slower, more reflective modes of thinking. Some studies also point to the correlation between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and heavy usage of the smartphone.

Here is another concern with attention fragmentation. It may interfere with the development of the adolescents’ executive function. The executive function refers to a child’s growing ability to make plans and then do the things necessary to execute those plans.


Addiction

Fourthly, addiction.

We can certainly attest to the fact that smartphone, gaming, and social media usage can be addictive.

This is not accidental. These platforms and apps are deliberately designed to be addictive and habit-forming. Their creators employ advanced behavioural techniques to create compulsive habits in users. They use triggers like notifications and rewards such as likes and views.

The plasticity of the human brain is well known. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to be rewired to function in some way that differs from how it previously functioned.

Children’s and adolescents’ brains are especially plastic and therefore even more vulnerable to developing addictions.

When these addictions cannot be satisfied, the common withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, dysphoria, irritability, and insomnia.

Taken together, these 4 adverse impacts of smartphones – social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction – have caused an alarming rise in mental disorders among children and young people.


Solutions

This is a big problem that parents cannot afford to ignore. While it is not easy to resolve, we have to do something about it.

What can we do?

Generally, young people need less screen time and more time doing face-to-face interaction with people.

For children below 5 years old, the suggestion is to limit screen time to a minimum and maximise opportunities for free, unstructured play. It is not enough for parents to play with their children. They also need to play and engage with other children, ideally with children of different ages. This will help them to develop essential social and problem-solving skills.

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Generally, young people need less screen time and more time doing face-to-face interaction with people.
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For preteens and teens, allow more screen time but put a limit. The focus should be on developing competence and self-efficacy skills. For example, they should learn to take public transport, undertake more responsibilities at home, and participate in sports and outdoor activities. Acquiring life skills and learning to be independent through all these activities will go a long way in helping to prepare your children for adult life.

In the book, Jonathan Haidt suggested giving your children a smartphone and allowing them to have social media accounts only at the age of 16. This is going to be a very tough call.