What you've heard
Screen time is destroying a generation
Verdict
Unproven as stated, with a serious case on both sides; heavy use is a fair worry, and the causal claim is open
Is screen time destroying a generation?
Unproven as stated, with a serious case on both sides; heavy use is a fair worry, and the causal claim is open.
The rise in teenage depression, anxiety and self-harm is real and well documented. One prominent social psychologist argues that between about 2010 and 2015 a play-based childhood gave way to a phone-based one, that this is a major cause, and that girls were hit hardest; his remedies are later smartphones, phone-free schools and more free play. A developmental psychologist answered that searches for large effects have found only no, small and mixed associations, mostly correlational, and that where links appear over time, distressed young people seem to use the platforms more, rather than the platforms causing the distress.16 Across hundreds of thousands of adolescents, technology use accounted for a tiny slice of the differences in how teenagers felt, less than half of one percent. A later analysis found little overall sign that the link had grown stronger, though social media use had become more strongly tied to emotional problems.17 Heavier use keeps turning up alongside worse outcomes.
Where the book tests it
What the book recommends instead
Charge the phone outside the bedroom
ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.for children and teensEmergingEvidence grade: Emerging. Early, small, animal-only, or actively contested.for adultsHow: a charger in the kitchen or hall and a cheap alarm clock by the bed. Why: an expert panel agreed that screen use before bed harms sleep in children and teens, where the evidence is firmest; among young adults, more screen time in bed goes with more insomnia and less sleep (Chapter 8).
Sources
- 16.Odgers, C.L. (2024). "The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?" Nature, 628(8006), 29-30. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00902-2 ; Twenge, J.M., Martin, G.N., and Campbell, W.K. (2018). "Decreases in psychological well-being among American adolescents after 2012 and links to screen time during the rise of smartphone technology." Emotion, 18(6), 765-780. (Twenge's analysis reports a cross-sectional dose-response link.)
- 17.Orben, A., and Przybylski, A.K. (2019). "The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use." Nature Human Behaviour, 3(2), 173-182. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1 ; Vuorre, M., Orben, A., and Przybylski, A.K. (2021). "There is no evidence that associations between adolescents' digital technology engagement and mental health problems have increased." Clinical Psychological Science, 9(5), 823-835. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702621994549 (Orben and Przybylski analyzed 355,358 adolescents across three datasets.)
Note numbers are those of Chapter 12, Attention in the Age of the Phone.
This verdict is one of the "What you've heard" boxes in Chapter 12, Attention in the Age of the Phone, where the book tests the claims people repeat against the studies behind them.
Educational content, not medical advice. Disclaimer.