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

I'm from Gen Z and I do have a smartphone. I got mine when I was about 11 or thereabouts. That article was an interesting read, I'm not sure I agree with all of it but I do agree it could affect some people's mental health depending on their age and what they do on their phone and how much screen time etc. I'm thinking mostly of teenagers here who are at a vulnerable age where they're impressionable. Social media like Facebook is where a lot of teenagers are and it's such a wild world on there - why I stopped using it! - and I know from experience how it can start to affect you negatively. It really isn't worth it, IMO.

But for the rest I think phones are pretty cool. Like a mini computer that you can carry round with you. 

Do I use mine frequently? Not really no. I imagine most women my age do but I prefer to be singing or listening to records or sitting with a good book.

As a teenager my phone time used to be about 15 hours a day. Yikes! But now it gets a lot less.

I use my PC a lot but that's for writing and for using my music software which connects to my microphone. The phones purpose really is for banking and also to keep in touch with people for my work. I try to stick with messaging when possible though because talking on them is distressing for me.

I like to use Google Maps as well if I need to go somewhere I haven't been before. And with this you can see the places you select as if you're really there. I find this extremely useful.

Easy access to the internet is really useful too.

I also like that they're fairly easy to use. My 82 year old nan is even able to use one and she's always struggled with tech so that's lovely to see.

She uses hers to remind her to take her medicine  

I'm from Gen Z and I do have a smartphone. I got mine when I was about 11 or thereabouts. That article was an interesting read, I'm not sure I agree with all of it but I do agree it could affect some people's mental health depending on their age and what they do on their phone and how much screen time etc. I'm thinking mostly of teenagers here who are at a vulnerable age where they're impressionable. Social media like Facebook is where a lot of teenagers are and it's such a wild world on there - why I stopped using it! - and I know from experience how it can start to affect you negatively. It really isn't worth it, IMO.

But for the rest I think phones are pretty cool. Like a mini computer that you can carry round with you. 

Do I use mine frequently? Not really no. I imagine most women my age do but I prefer to be singing or listening to records or sitting with a good book.

As a teenager my phone time used to be about 15 hours a day. Yikes! But now it gets a lot less.

I use my PC a lot but that's for writing and for using my music software which connects to my microphone. The phones purpose really is for banking and also to keep in touch with people for my work. I try to stick with messaging when possible though because talking on them is distressing for me.

I like to use Google Maps as well if I need to go somewhere I haven't been before. And with this you can see the places you select as if you're really there. I find this extremely useful.

Easy access to the internet is really useful too.

I also like that they're fairly easy to use. My 82 year old nan is even able to use one and she's always struggled with tech so that's lovely to see.

She uses hers to remind her to take her medicine