Arguably the most significant innovation of this century is the smartphone. Never has our world been more interconnected, more efficient, more capable of doing anything at the touch of a button than it is now. A smartphone is a portal to the world around us, providing access to new experiences, opportunities, and especially people. The smartphone has become such an integral aspect of modern life. It’s increasingly rare to even come across someone who doesn’t have a smartphone because at this point, we simply can’t imagine life without it.
Of all the benefits and convenience provided by this revolutionary piece of technology, there comes a price. A tool used to unite people near and far, establish connections and build social networks of hundreds of thousands to millions of users has instead resulted in the loneliest generation of teenagers.
A study published by the Journal of Adolescence concluded that the psychological well being of teenagers around the world has declined after 2012, “in conjunction with the rise of smartphone access and increased internet use.” 18 years of research in 37 countries, from 2000 through 2018, show adolescent’s becoming increasingly lonelier. Researchers identified greater rates of school loneliness with greater use of smartphones and the internet during the week. “As smartphones became more widespread, adolescent life shifted.”
These shifts in adolescent life are specified in the Journal of Adolescence’s study with references to other studies – smartphones prevent social interaction, and online interactions versus physical interactions, are now the norm. Increases in online interactions evidently did not suffice to fill the void of lost face-to-face experiences. Instead of pursuing social connections, teenagers now turn to their screens.
Younger generations are now the loneliest generations, and they know it. “Before I had a phone, my life was so easy, and I was a social butterfly,” said 17-year-old Brooklyn. Now, she says, she just watches movies until her eyes close. High schoolers feel isolated when their friends post pictures of their lives on social media; they spend hours wondering how many notifications they have, and because of so much screen time, they struggle with basic eye contact when physically interacting with someone and are even further exposed to cyberbullying.
Despite the Journal of Adolescence’s striking conclusion, it comes as no surprise to a world now saturated with smartphones and their inevitably addictive nature. These generations of teenagers are “lonely, dislocated,” as noted in a 2017 article from Jean Twenge, one of the researchers of the study as mentioned earlier. As a result, teens are more depressed, anxious and suicidal than ever before. Twenge describes the generation as being on the brink of the worst mental health crisis in decades.
Smartphone Teen by Pabak Sarkar
The study’s release comes at a time when the entire world experienced loneliness in unison as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results were compiled before the pandemic occurred, rendering the study’s conclusion even more striking. But one can only imagine – if teens were lonely before, how are they doing after a year of forced loneliness, quarantine and isolation?
A generation with pre-existing psychological vulnerabilities and an increasing tendency towards loneliness has only gotten lonelier, with the isolation of Covid-19 leaving children and adolescents even further vulnerable to depression and anxiety over the long term.
With the implementation and continuation of remote learning from March 2020 to the present day, remote learning has replaced the social interaction with teachers and peers, engagement in physical classrooms, social activities and more. “Students are struggling across the board,” says Jennifer Rothman of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, because of “the social isolation, the loneliness, the changes in their routines.”
Ann Murphy, a professor at Rutgers University, reiterates the mental health strains resulting from the pandemic’s isolation and loneliness. “Adolescents rely heavily on connections with their peers. Social isolation and loneliness are linked with poorer mental health.” Mentions of anxiety and depression remain the norm throughout studies of the pandemic and mental health, interviews with mental health professionals, and the experiences of teenagers themselves.
For a generation growing up with the world literally at their fingertips, teenagers around the world are left with the unprecedented experience of a life saturated with technology and the resulting impacts. Living their formative years not only under the spell of smartphones but also in a year-long pandemic has defined this generation’s wellbeing in every aspect.
The pandemic may soon be over, but the end of teenage loneliness, at least for now, has no end in sight.
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