Teens who are glued to their smartphones and other
devices are unhappier than those who spend less time
on digital media, new research finds. The study
can't prove cause-and-effect, so it's not clear if
teens are made unhappy by spending a long time on
their devices, or whether less happy teens are
simply drawn to using them more. But whatever the
relationship, the key to digital media use and
happiness is limited use. Aim to spend no more than
two hours a day on digital media, and try to
increase the amount of time spend seeing friends
face-to-face and exercising two activities reliably
linked to greater happiness. One psychologist agreed
that links between teen smartphone use and
unhappiness are getting stronger. Although the
findings from this study need to be replicated by
other researchers, it's concerning that teens in
recent years seem to be less well psychologically
adjusted, and that smartphones may in part be
responsible," said by lead researcher. In the new
research, top researcher surveyed more than a
million 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders across the
United States. The study asked kids how much time
they spent on their phones, tablets and computers;
the amount of time they spent in face-to-face
socializing; and their happiness levels. On average,
teens with higher levels of screen time were less
happy than those who spent more time doing
"non-screen" activities -- things such as sports,
face-to-face time with others, and reading
newspapers and magazines. Although this study can't
show causation, several other studies have shown
that more social media use leads to unhappiness, but
unhappiness does not lead to more social media use.
According to the research, the happiest teens in the
study spent a little less than an hour a day
scanning their smartphones, tablets or other
devices. After that, levels of unhappiness tended to
steadily increase with the amount of screen time.
The researchers also found that since the 1990s,
increasing availability of screen devices was
associated with an overall decline in U.S. teens'
happiness. Levels of life satisfaction, self-esteem
and happiness among young people plummeted after
2012, the year that the percentage of Americans who
owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent. By far the
largest change in teens' lives between 2012 and 2016
was the increase in the amount of time they spent on
digital media, and the subsequent decline in
in-person social activities and sleep. The advent of
the smartphone is the most plausible explanation for
the sudden decrease in teens' psychological
well-being. Parents should monitor and limit the
screen time and online communication of their
children, and encourage their children to socialize
directly with peers and stay active with sports and
exercise. Although this study does not prove
causation, it does further raise alarms about too
much screen time, and should serve as a reminder to
parents to limit their children's time in front of
technology, and encourage socialization and
exercise. |