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

I’m not Gen Z but I have a lifelong interest (and job) in technology so inevitably I use a smartphone heavily and have an Apple Watch to notify me if anything happens in those unusual moments when my phone isn’t nearby.

Smartphones are an example of science fiction predicting the future. For decades sci fi writers wrote stories in which the protagonists would pull out a pocket computer called a “slate” and I would dream of having such an amazing thing. And here we are today, almost everyone has one.

But I don’t think anyone predicted the corrosive nature of social media or the addictive gamification of every app to keep us compulsively reaching for the thing every few minutes.

If I were made world president I think I’d probably ban Twitter/X and impose significant restrictions on FaceBook. I’d also encourage phone and app makers to implement features to discourage frequent compulsive use.

I don’t know about you but I think smart phones have destroyed my attention span.

Amerantin (former member) said:

I don’t know about you but I think smart phones have destroyed my attention span.

What attention span?

Sorry, what were we talking about?

Sorry, what were we talking about?