Generation Anxiety: smartphones have created a gen Z mental health crisis – but there are ways to fix it

Do you have a smartphone and if not, why not?

Does the absence isolate you?

Also, what is your relationship with your phone?

I keep mine at as good a distance emotionally and intellectually as I can manage, but having a rather obsessive personality, I find myself checking it more often than I would like.

However, I do turn off all notifications for peace of mind.

Being a millenial I don't know if this makes a difference but the friends I have are either online or moved out of walking distance for work or other commitments so having a phone particularly chat apps has been something which keeps me social when I can't see people physically irl.

I did notice a decline in mental health on social media sites though especially if I ever caught myself doom scrolling so my solution that is to just not bother with socisl media anymore. Sites like Twitter (or X as they call it now) and Facebook, IG/Threads, Tiktok etc, have always been more antisocial than social they way they are set up anyway. Haven't missed those sites at all.

I don't know if beeing that bit older is a saving factor, I suspect the fact that gen Z had all this practically from birth and thinks it's normal is one of the reasons it's so pervasive.

I had the same experience. I tried facebook for a month when it first came out. It was so lonely in there, more so than just being on my own. I felt unseen and unheard. I never had any other sociel media till I joined this NAS. I feel valued and seen here, at home with kin. 

I had the same experience. I tried facebook for a month when it first came out. It was so lonely in there, more so than just being on my own. I felt unseen and unheard. I never had any other sociel media till I joined this NAS. I feel valued and seen here, at home with kin.