USA TODAY International Edition
Depression and teens: Are devices to blame?
In a harsh, competitive world, tech may be part of problem
Teens and college-age adults face pressures that past generations never did.
Spiraling college tuition leaves crippling student loan debt. Active-shooter drills in schools warn students of a real and persistent threat. And political division, the culture wars and climate change remind young Americans of the fragility of the world they are inheriting.
But some experts are debating whether another phenomenon – smartphones, tablet computers and social media – is responsible for the rising rates of depression among children and young adults.
Major depression rates among teens and young adults are rising faster than among the overall population. The authors of a 2016 study in the journal Pediatrics found that rates of major depression among children aged 12 to 17 rose to 11.3 percent in 2014, up from 8.7 percent in 2005. Major depression among young adults also increased, but at a slower rate.
Ramin Mojtabai, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health professor who completed the study, says more research is needed on the causes of rising depression rates among teens and young adults.
“One can speculate that increased use of digital devices and social media are among the contributing factors,” Mojtabai said. “There is some evidence that cyber bullying puts children and adolescents at increased risk of depression.”
San Diego State University psychologist Jean Twenge sees a direct link between how much time teens spend on smartphones and troubling signs of mental health distress.
In her 2017 book “iGen,” she cited national health surveys and other statistics to argue that a generation of teens have turned to smartphones as their preferred social outlet, and teens who spend the most time on their screens are more likely to be unhappy.
“What you get is a fundamental shift in how teens spend their leisure time,” Twenge told USA TODAY. “They are
Rates of major depression among children aged 12 to 17 rose to 11.3 percent in 2014, up from 8.7 percent in 2005.
spending less time sleeping, less time with their friends face to face … It is not something that happened to their parents. It is not something that happens as a world event.”
Even tech pioneers such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have limited their children’s use of digital devices over concerns about the effects of technology on the developing brain.
But others are skeptical about blaming smartphone use for depression in adolescents and young adults.
“People are jumping to conclusions that there has been a cultural change with the use of social media,” says Anne Glowinski, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis. “There’s a laundry list of things that can be impacting young people.”
Sonia Livingstone, a social psychologist at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said there’s room for legitimate debate over potential harms and benefits of teens’ smartphone use.
But she said several other factors could be contributing to rising depression. Perhaps the biggest, she said, is that it’s more socially acceptable for kids to talk openly about mental health.
“What we have today is a greater degree of visibility,” Livingstone told USA TODAY. “It very easily looks like an epidemic in mental health problems, but 10, 15 years ago, these were shameful things that nobody mentioned.”
She said teens and young adults face more pressure to achieve in school and in extracurricular activities.
“It is becoming a more competitive world, and they have to play their part,” Livingstone said. “It brings competition much earlier. So it is kind of an undermining of childhood.”
Varun Soni, who oversees the office of wellness and crisis intervention at the University of Southern California, has noticed a marked difference in his conversations with college-age students. A decade ago, he said, students were more apt to chat about big-picture questions such as the meaning of life, purpose and how to live an extraordinary life. Students now talk about a lack of meaning, and despondency.
“At the root of it is a sense of disconnection,” Soni said. “These are students who are so connected online but disconnected offline. These are students that may have 1,000 friends online but struggle to make friends in real life.”
Soni also cited mounting student loan debt and the spate of mass shootings at schools and other community places. He said students are more likely to feel pressure to select a major that will lead to a more lucrative career.
“Students feel like they have to get it right,” Soni said. “It’s more what degree do I get to pay down the debt. That’s very stressful, especially when industries have been disrupted in amazing ways.”
“These are students who are so connected online but disconnected offline. These are students that may have 1,000 friends online but struggle to make friends in real life.” Varun Soni
Vice provost, University of Southern California