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Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?
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In my Loneliness research, the conversation on how Social Media might be affecting a new generation keeps coming up. Here is a great yet scary article. Just because we like social media does not mean it is good for us. Love to hear peoples thoughts on this.
I’ve been researching generational differences for 25 years, starting when I was a 22-year-old doctoral student in psychology. Typically, the characteristics that come to define a generation appear gradually, and along a continuum. Beliefs and behaviors that were already rising simply continue to do so. Millennials, for instance, are a highly individualistic generation, but individualism had been increasing since the Baby Boomers turned on, tuned in, and dropped out. I had grown accustomed to line graphs of trends that looked like modest hills and valleys. Then I began studying Athena’s generation.
Around 2012, I noticed abrupt shifts in teen behaviors and emotional states. The gentle slopes of the line graphs became steep mountains and sheer cliffs, and many of the distinctive characteristics of the Millennial generation began to disappear. In all my analyses of generational data—some reaching back to the 1930s—I had never seen anything like it.
The experiences they have every day are radically different from those of the generation that came of age just a few years before them.
Psychologically, however, they are more vulnerable than Millennials were: Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011. It’s not an exaggeration to describe iGen as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones.
But the allure of independence, so powerful to previous generations, holds less sway over today’s teens, who are less likely to leave the house without their parents. The shift is stunning: 12th-graders in 2015 were going out less often than eighth-graders did as recently as 2009.
One line in the article stopped me.
So what are they doing with all that time? They are on their phone, in their room, alone and often distressed.
I agree 100%. Even as a millennial, I found that I was on my smartphone way too often. I tried to justify having one because I needed it for my line of work (youth pastor), but that wasn’t the case. I found that 90% of the time I was on my phone was for social media or apps/games. I just went back to a basic flip phone and the results were immediate. I wasn’t on my phone as much, I was spending much more time with my wife and doing things around the yard and house, and I didn’t feel like I was comparing myself to everyone else on social media anymore. Honestly, I would encourage everyone to consider making the switch. It was one of the easiest changes to make with drastic results! Thanks for posting Brett!
Great work. I am sure you will continue to inspire many.