Teens and Cell Phone Anxiety

This is an article written by husband for our church’s publication. I couldn’t help but share it with you, knowing that this is such a prevalent issue in today’s culture. Do you struggle with finding a balance of how much time to spend on your cell phone? This might make you think twice the next time you have the craving to scroll through your social media account…

Anxiety is a mental-health tsunami that has come out of nowhere and overtaken teens. In a Pew Research survey, they found that 70% of teens say anxiety and depression is a “major problem” among their peers. From 2011 to 2016, just five years, the number of students reporting “overwhelming anxiety” has risen 50% according to the National College Health Assessment.

The causes for the rise in anxiety are many, but research has focused in on two main causes. Students report that the main cause of their anxiety is academic pressure. Good grades have always been important, but now more than ever, the pressure to take Advanced Placement classes, and score well on SAT’s have started to boil over. The competition to get into the college of your choice has become intense, and the only way to insure that you get into the school of your choice is to build the best college resume you can. Though students say this is the main cause of their anxiety, research would suggest otherwise.

Around the time we saw the rise in teenage anxiety, we also saw the use of smartphones become mainstream. Teens are more connected than they have ever been before, yet they are actually spending more and more time alone than previous generations. Screen-to-screen interaction has overtaken face-to-face interaction. Studies show that the more time spent in genuine conversations in the presence of people, anxiety levels drop. Emotional intelligence is not developed well on a device. Digital social interaction does not carry the same nuances that a face-to-face conversation does. How many times have you misinterpreted an e-mail because you were not able to pick up on the social cues that you would in a face-to-face conversation? When the majority of your social interaction takes place via a screen at a young age, those social and emotional cues are not learned.

Research has also found that teens’ constant connection to social media interrupts much needed sleep. On average, teens need just over 9 hours of sleep. It is believed that 90% of teens sleep with their phone. As a result, they are always available to the lure of social media. “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out) is a real concern among teens. Since teens are always connected, friends expect them to respond immediately to their posts of social media and Snapchat messages. The glow from electronic screens has also been shown to suppress the production of melatonin, which aids in healthy deep sleep. Though teens may say that academic pressures are the number one cause of anxiety in life, I wonder if the lack of uninterrupted sleep caused by their phones is causing anxiety in school?

Getting a teen to give up their phone though is tantamount to amputating their right arm. Phones have become an appendage of the teenage body. Smart phone addiction is a real thing, and when compared to other types of addictions, like alcohol, drugs, and gambling, there are noticeable similarities. When the addiction is not satisfied, it can trigger panic and anxiety. Again, research shows that less than two hours a day on social media can diminish anxiety and depression levels in teens.

So, do we need to pull the plug entirely? I wouldn’t suggest that… However, setting up un-plugged times, or phone-free zones is not a bad idea. No phones allowed in bed, and no phones at the dinner table is a good place to start. You just might see conversations increasing.