An Alternative to Silly Smart Phone & Mental Health Arguments
A skeptic’s guide to social media research
Enough of the extreme positions that overshadow commonsense. We have anti-smartphone so-called experts duking it out with their anti-anti-smartphone adversaries. There is another way and it is not the middle way.
If you have kids, are related to kids, or were once a kid, then you know the inescapable topic: What are smartphones doing to their mental health, social life, and psychological development?
Deferring Adulthood
The rise of smartphones has coincided with interesting trends such as a decline in adult activities by teenagers (study link).
In the past, teenagers would give up atheism and believe in multiple gods from Vishnu to Odin to Ganesh in hopes that at least one deity would help them get a drivers license and car, some alcohol, a romantic date, and an opportunity to make mad money. Today, teenagers show disinterest in all of the above and more:
“In a nationwide survey, 85% of U.S. adults said that premarital sex was wrong in 1967, which plummeted to 37% in 1979.” Notably, sexual inactivity is on the rise for adults 18 and over.
Courtesy of
from her book, Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future
If you want youth to be ill-prepared for adulthood, then this is the path - delay experimenting with who you are and what you like and dislike. Nobody benefits from psychologically underdeveloped adults. Just ask anyone who is working with twenty-somethings in the workplace.
Mental Health
What nearly every scientist can agree on is that the current rate of mental disorders is not just high, it is nearly abnormal to be psychologically healthy.
Since 1990, studies on the global burden of disease have continuously ranked mental disorders as some of the most impairing conditions worldwide. The Global Burden of Disease studies recently reported that in children and adolescents, mental disorders account for the most years lived with disability.
That said, you might want concrete numbers. Let’s start with adults.
The best estimate is that 24.8% of adults in the United States have experienced a mental illness in the past year, not counting substance use disorders!
One out of every four people that you pass in the grocery store is suffering, often invisible to others. A number that begs for us to dole out large amounts of grace, mercy, and kindness. Now if you thought that was a problem, consider younger adults.
For adolescents, the best estimate is 40.3% experienced a mental illness in the past year!
No need to debate whether these numbers are stable or rising. These prevalence rates highlight the mental health challenges faced by young people - and the adults who raise them, teach them, and serve as models of how to live (link).
For a comprehensive review of whether there is a link between smartphone use and mental health, and if so, how strong it might be, read this open-source document.
The Ultimate Conversation
These societal trends suggest something is going on that is worthy of clarifying and fixing. What you might not know is there is a huge debate among scientists. There are those who think smartphones are the primary cause of the problems listed above and those who think the data are not only unconvincing but suggest there is no link. To be precise, the argument hinges on whether there is a significant association between youth using social media and their psychosocial problems.
Now you might have read bestselling books on the topic, watched interviews on popular television shows or listened to highly ranked podcasts. What you missed is the greatest conversation on this topic - a small University of Virginia livestream. In the months since airing, less than 10,000 people viewed the conversation.
Why should you watch it? Dr. Jonathan Haidt, renowned social psychologist and author, and Dr. Candice Odgers, a leading researcher in adolescent mental health, engage in a candid and rigorous debate. Their productive conflict (see my 10 principles here) exemplifies how to approach topics with intellectual rigor and respect, making this discussion invaluable for anyone interested in technology's role in youth mental health.
Resist the tendency to lock yourself into a camp. Those who feel compelled to say smartphones and social media are apocalyptic plagues. That is, the anti-smartphone group. Or those who refuse to believe that smartphones and social media are any worse than eating a can of Pringles. That is, the anti-anti-smartphone group.
Anchoring your identity to a single belief stifles growth. Embrace intellectual humility and curiosity; stay open to evidence that challenges your views.
With that backdrop, watch their discussion here:
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Todd B. Kashdan is an author of several books including The Upside of Your Dark Side (Penguin) and The Art of Insubordination: How to Dissent and Defy Effectively (Avery/Penguin) and Professor of Psychology and Leader of The Well-Being Laboratory at George Mason University.
Read Past Issues Here Including:
Mind-Blowing Insights: My Top 10 Psychology Findings Nobody is Mentioning This Year
Ever waded through a sea of scientific articles, only to find most are as thrilling as watching paint dry? Despite my years in research since 1998, I still encounter studies that make me question their value.
Oh man... after reading Jonathan's book, The Anxious Generation, I'm in the anti-smartphone group BUT I am addicted to mine. I'm going to watch this conversation. Thanks for sharing Todd. Hope you're doing well.
I just popped over to this from your Linkedin post and YES, that Odgers-Haidt debate was the BEST! I shared this around with everyone I knew, too. I wish so badly that more people would engage deeply with this question around smartphone use and teen mental health because the reductive conversation is so problematic.