Surely, I’m Not Addicted…

Or Maybe I am?

H. A. G. Longstaff

SOMETHING WENT SUDDENLY AND HORRIBLY WRONG for adolescents in the early 2010s. Rates of depression and anxiety in the United States, fairly stable in the 2000s, rose by more than 50% from 2010 to 2019. The suicide rate rose 48% for adolescents aged 10 to 19. For girls aged 10-14, it rose 131%.

The problem was not limited to the USA, with similar data in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Canada. It now seems clear that Generation Z (those born after 1996) are suffering from anxiety, depression, self-harm, and related disorders at levels higher than any generation for which we have data.

American social psychologist Professor Jonathan Haidt of New York University’s Stern School, both in an article in ‘The Atlantic’ and his new book ‘The Anxious Generation’ argues that the new phone-based childhood that took shape roughly 12 years ago has rewired childhood is making young people sick, and is blocking their progress to flourishing in adulthood.

Generational Researcher Jean Twenge agrees that phones are at fault. In an August 2023 ‘Times’ article, she argues that generational changes were usually gradual, often taking decades to manifest (hence, we can clearly define the ‘baby boomer’ or ‘Gen X’ generations). But now the changes have become sudden. Teens were spending a lot less time with each other face-to-face socially. Then there’s also a big increase in teens saying they felt lonely, that they felt left out. They felt like they couldn’t do anything right, that they felt like their life wasn’t useful, and that they weren’t enjoying life. And those last three are classic symptoms of depression.

Australian lawyer and social researcher David Gillespie has been delving into the complex business of the teenage brain. This is well covered in an ABC Conversations 2019 podcast, “How the iPhone rewrites the teenaged brain”, which I had the great misfortune to be forced to listen to on a long drive to Byron Bay. Gillespie says the usual teenage compulsions like smoking, drinking and drug taking are in steep decline, as teenagers are now more likely to seek a pleasure hit from their screens. But the games and social media apps they use are deliberately engineered to be addictive, consciously designed, and cunningly calculated to deliver dopamine hits triggering the reward centres of the brain. Instagram is damaging the neural pathways of a generation, shortening attention spans, and reducing resilience.

So, what needs to be done? Haidt argues that we need a dramatic cultural correction, including four new norms:

● No smartphones before high school.

● No social media before 16.

● Phone-free schools.

● More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world

Others feel that this is impractical and unrealistic, something that could only be dreamed up in the ivory towers of an academic institution.

What’s your experience? Is the phone the first thing you look at in the morning and the last thing at night? Do you talk to friends on the train/bus, or are you on Instagram and Snapchat? Is your phone beside you as you study, calling out for attention?

Maybe you’re not addicted. Or maybe you are?