Could technology be having a negative impact on our children’s mental health?
Topic areas
“Mental health and well-being is fast emerging as the single biggest public health issue affecting young people today, both here in the UK and globally.”
The Evidence
16-24 year olds are the loneliest group in society. There was a correlation between the more friends young people had on Facebook and the more lonely they felt.
All in the Mind shines a light on loneliness | BPS
You may have read or heard on the news the rising concerns about mobile phone use in young people and the associations with mental health problems. Ideally, there would be a few watertight studies that confirmed the link and helped us as parents with our decision making.
IN 2022, ACCORDING TO RESEACRCH BY THE NHS 18% OF 7-16 YEAR OLDS HAD A PROBABLE MENTAL HEALTH DISORDER. THIS RISES TO 22% OF 17-24 YEAR OLDS.
90% of 11-year-olds own a smartphone and the majority of under 13s have a social media profile.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/234609/childrens-media-use-and-attitudes-report-2022.pdf
There are concerns that the blue light of smart phones and their constant bleeping at night are stopping our children sleeping; that their high speed technology is contributing to ADHD; and that social media and cyber bullying is contributing to rising levels of anxiety and depression in young people. One of the strongest arguments against phone usage is linked to the unexplained rise in anxiety and depression in teenagers across the globe. Never before have we seen such a rise in mental health problems in our young adults. Depressions and economic hardships haven’t caused this effect before, and neither has exam pressure or poor job prospects
Distraction
You only need to walk down the street to see the distraction smartphones are causing. Coffee shops are full of people looking at their phones instead of each other, whilst school teachers battle for pupils’ attention. A generation is emerging where every spare moment is consumed by their phone. Phones stop our young people from sleeping at night and cause them to miss out on real-life experiences during the day.
7- to 16-year-olds who go online said they spent 3 hours 48 minutes a day online.
online-nation-2021-report.pdf (ofcom.org.uk)
Sleep
Sleep deprivation is linked to poor thinking and reasoning, susceptibility to illness and weight gain, and it also affects mood. People who don’t sleep enough are prone to depression and anxiety. Although we can’t prove the path of causation, smartphones could be causing a lack of sleep which leads to depression, or the phones could be causing depression which leads to lack of sleep.
In a recent survey almost half (45%) of students admit they check their mobile device after going to bed, with 23% checking their devices more than 10 times a night.
Almost all (94%) of these students are on social media after going to bed.
https://www.hmc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Mobile-Device-Media-Brief-FINAL.pdf
“This might be partly explained by the fact that the thousands of children we talk to in schools tell us that their parents often don’t know how much time they’re spending on their devices overnight, or what they are actually doing online. This is a new and hidden world which adults can find hard to penetrate.”
1/3 check their phones during the night. 7/10 use their phones within 30 minutes of going to bed.
2019-new-normal-parents-teens-screens-and-sleep-united-states-report.pdf (commonsensemedia.org)
Loneliness, Cyberbullying & Sexting
“Greater use of smartphones, social media and networking applications means online bullying can follow a child anywhere they go. Using new data from the crime survey we can see that around 1 in 5 children between the ages of 10 to 15 had experienced some form of online bullying in the previous 12 months”
Social media is vastly alluring; it emphasises our intrinsic need for relationships, affirmation and connection. However, rather than filling this need, it leaves impressionable adolescents disconnected and spending less time relating face to face with their peers and more time in isolation.
It is ebbing away at their free time (on average 26 hrs and 36 minutes a week), allowing them to spend hours staring at a screen rather than pursuing other interests, which could contribute to a rise in wellbeing. Cyberbullying means that victims take the unhappiness home with them 24/7, something driving young people to depression and sometimes, very sadly, to take their own lives.
1/5 children have been bullied on line. Of those being bullied 24% self harm and 22% change their appearance as a result of the bullying. Only 13% delete the app on which they are being bullied.
Free Research, Statistics & Reports | Youth & Bullying %%sep%% %%sitename%% (ditchthelabel.org)
-Around one in five children aged 10 to 15 years in England and Wales (19%) experienced at least one type of online bullying behaviour in the year ending March 2020.
-Around 7 out of 10 children were emotionally affected by the online bullying behaviours experienced.
- Nearly three out of four children (72%) who experienced an online bullying behaviour in the previous 12 months experienced at least some of it at school or during school time.
-.Children who said they were affected a lot were more likely to report their experiences with 9% not reporting these to anyone compared with 20% of children who were affected a little and 42% of children who were not affected at all.
Online bullying in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
At age 15, 17% have sent a naked photo of themselves. 12% have had an image shared without consent
Low self-esteem
Self-esteem is how an individual perceives themselves and their self-value; it encompasses both self-confidence and self-acceptance. It is the internal mirror with which we view ourselves. It goes up and down with the world around us and how we perceive our role in those events. The root of many mental health problems is low self-esteem - it’s hard to feel happy if you don’t like yourself. However, self-esteem in young people is being damaged by their need for peer validation on social media and the constant comparison with others.
People are comparing their realistic offline selves to the idealized online selves of others, which can be detrimental to well-being and self-evaluation.
Recent studies have found that frequent Facebook users believe that other users are happier and more successful, especially when they do not know them very well offline.
Adolescents are relying on Facebook likes and instagram followers to build their self-esteem and sense of self rather than through real connection with real people.
Anxiety & Depression
“Mental health and well-being is fast emerging as the single biggest public health issue affecting young people today, both here in the UK and globally.”
There is little conclusive research available in the UK to track mental health symptoms in adolescents and young adults. However, anecdotally it is clear that mental health problems are on the increase in the young and old. In 2016, one in nine children had a diagnosed mental health problem. This has risen quickly to one in six in 2021 (undoubtedly some of this because of the pandemic, but even prior to this it had risen sharply).
1/6 children have a probable mental health disorder.
NHS Digital annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
“According to NHS data more than 173,00
people under 18 took antidepressants last year including over 2,000 primary aged children.”
A recent large US study found those adolescents’ depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates increased between 2010 and 2015, especially among females. It showed that adolescents who spent more time on new media (including social media and electronic devices such as smartphones) were more likely to report mental health issues, and that adolescents who spent more time on non-screen activities (in-person social interaction, sports/exercise, homework, print media, and attending religious services) were less likely.