"Panicking About Your Kids' Phones? New Research Says Don't" is the title of a recent article in The New York Times.
The writer says a growing number of academicians are challenging the true impact of social media and smartphones, questioning whether too much time on devices is actually the culprit for the recent dramatic increase in anxiety, depression and other mental health issues, especially in teens.
Before you jump on that bandwagon, believing the claims, you might want to hear what psychologist Jean Twenge has to say. Twenge is a professor of psychology at San Diego State and author of numerous books, including "Generation Me" and her most recent release, "iGen: Why Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood."
In a blog for the Institute for Family Studies, Twenge calls out the NYT writer on six facts that, she claims, he ignores. Twenge contends that the NYT article grossly misrepresents the research consensus on technology and mental health because the article makes it sound as if the majority of researchers have concluded that technology use isn't related to mental health. Twenge says that is not the case.
"The article also misrepresents findings from a recent review of screen time and mental health studies," writes Twenge. "The article does mention a recent review of studies on screen time and mental health by Amy Orben, who concluded that the average correlation between social-media use and depressive symptoms is between .11 and .17."
The article cites this study as evidence that the link is small, but Twenge argues these are not small effects. Data from the CDC's Youth Risk Survey of U.S. High School students indicates that twice as many heavy users of electronic devices (5+ hours a day) compared to light users (1 hour a day) have attempted suicide (12% vs. 6%).
Twenge states that the NYT article quotes experts who, without plausible evidence, dismiss the possibility that the rise of social media and smartphones might be behind the marked rise in teen depression, self-harm and suicide in recent years. The article quotes Jeff Hancock of the Stanford Social Media Lab as saying, "Why else might American kids be anxious other than telephones? How about climate change? How about income inequality? How about more student debt?"
"The problem with this argument is that none of these factors can explain the increase in teen mental health issues that began in 2012," Twenge writes. "First, they didn't happen at the same time. The largest increases in income inequality occurred between 1980 and 2000 Student loan debt has been stable since 2012. The number of Americans worried a fair amount or a great deal about climate change went from 73% in 2012 to 74% in 2019."
Twenge contrasts this with 2013, the first year the majority of Americans owned a smartphone. By 2018, 95% of teens had access to a smartphone, and 45% of them said they were online "almost constantly."
"The largest increase in self-harm, self-poisoning and suicide occurred among 10- to 14-year-old girls," Twenge writes. "Hancock would have us believe that 10- to 14-year-olds are harming themselves because they are upset over income inequality or possibly someday having to pay off student loans after college - not because they are bullied online, not because they feel constant pressure to look perfect on social media, not because they can access online sites instructing them in self-harm and not because electronic communication has replaced in-person interaction, a basic human need."
While Twenge does state that concern about climate change seems plausible, she asks, "How many 12-year-old-girls do you know who are cutting themselves because the planet is warming? It is much more likely they are concerned about self-image, social status, friendships and family relationships - all issues that have become fraught in the age of social media."
Twenge also notes that the rise in depression, self-harm and suicide has been considerably larger among girls than boys. She contends that all of the issues listed above should impact boys and girls equally. Thus, they do not explain why the rise would be larger for girls.
Technology use, however, does differ by gender. Girls spend more time on social media, which may be more toxic than gaming, which is more popular among boys.
Twenge calls out the author for combining two completely separate questions - whether technology use is related to depression among individuals and whether the increase in smartphone and social-media use is related to the generational increase in teen depression.
"Even teens who don't use technology have been affected by the shift in teen social life from in-person get-togethers to online interactions," Twenge says. "Consider a teen who doesn't use social media and would prefer to go out with her friend, but who will she go out with when everyone else is at home on Instagram?"
The NYT article also points to Europe as proof that smartphones are not behind the increase in teen depression, yet the evidence shows otherwise. The study used to make the case examines adults, not teens. The World Health Organization reports increases in suicide rates around the world, with the largest increases among youth.
The last point Twenge makes is that while the researchers claiming that technology use is unrelated to well-being said they had not taken any funding from the tech industry, one of them is currently employed and one was previously employed by the Oxford Internet Institute, which is funded by Facebook, Google and Microsoft.
"Parents can rest assured that their instincts to protect their kids from too much screen time are not wrong," Twenge writes. "If kids who ate five apples a day versus one were twice as likely to attempt suicide, parents would make extremely sure their kids didn't eat too many apples. Why should our response to technology time be any different?"
The moral of this story is: Don't believe everything you read. Check the facts for yourself. What you don't know can hurt you and the ones you love.
Julie BaumgardnerJulie Baumgardner is president and CEO of family advocacy nonprofit First Things First. Email her at julieb@firstthings.org.