Despite the promise of connection, social media has caused a crisis of isolation among young people. The level of anxiety, depression, loneliness and mistrust is increasing drastically, and behind it all are social media and time spent in front of the screen, which displaces outdoor activities and undermines the experience of belonging.
Since the widespread adoption of social media and ubiquitous screen time, levels of reported anxiety, depression and loneliness among young people have increased significantly, as have emergency room visits for self-harm, suicide attempts and suicide.
Every indicator of mental health and psychological well-being among teenagers and young adults has become more negative since 2012, warns psychologist Jean Twenge.
Can so many worrying trends be attributed to the growing use of technology?
Unfortunately, there is now convincing evidence of cause and effect.
Between 2004 and 2006, Facebook was introduced to the public first on college campuses, but not all campuses introduced the pioneering platform at the same time. The phase-in created a useful research opportunity: mental health data from campuses that did not yet have Facebook could be used as a control variable to assess the impact of social media.
A recent study led by Alexey Makarin did just that, examining data from more than 350.000 student responses at more than 300 colleges, comparing colleges that had Facebook to those that didn't.
His team found that the introduction of Facebook caused clinical depression in about 2% of students. And that was before the introduction of the likes of News Feed or the 'like' button - let alone platforms like Tik Tok - which probably have a far greater capacity to hijack the brain's 'reward' systems.
Beyond social media, we are just beginning to understand the complex consequences of screen time that greatly affect the developing brain.
Professor Michael Rich of Harvard Medical School, who is director and founder of the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital, claims that the growing human brain is constantly engaged in building neural connections while using less-used connections.
Screen time provides depleted stimulation to the developing brain compared to real-life interaction. Young people thrive on a diverse selection of experiences – including time spent outdoors, time interacting face-to-face with others and time to just let the mind wander, says Dr Rich, adding that boredom is a space where creativity and imagination thrive. Ordination.
The fight against envy, jealousy and mistrust
It is clear that devices prevent children from spending time outside, live with friends. It is also clear that the use of social media contributes to the decline of trust.
A 2022 paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that scrolling through social media feeds is more likely to elicit feelings of envy, jealousy, and judgment about the happiness of others than compassion or joy. Because of the distance and relative anonymity of life online, people are less likely to feel empathy than in live situations – a factor that leads to high rates of mistrust of other people and institutions, especially among young people.
What can we do as families and as individuals?
University of Cambridge psychologist Amy Orben offers a useful metaphor especially for parents.
Social media is like an ocean. This means that before letting their children swim in open water, parents should ensure that the child is well trained and equipped – with swimming lessons, life jackets and plenty of supervision. Ultimately, though, the onus cannot be shifted to young people – or even to their parents – to solve this problem. These are systemic problems of the economy and society.
The European Union has proposed regulations holding social networks responsible for harm and ensuring transparency of the algorithms they use. In the US, a bipartisan group of 42 attorneys general filed lawsuits against Facebook's parent company Meta, alleging that parts of its networks are addictive and target young people. These are important steps, but insufficient when considering the general mental health of the future.
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