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

I' also getting a lot out of it. It seems everyone is getting exactly what they need! Cell phones can accommodate a lot of different people.

I like that you are here on this one account. I appreciate you being here.

My phone is my world. It's a place where I don't need to mask I can be myself and I can interact with others without being socially awkward and having to face people and make eye contact.

With my phone I like how I can do everything with it. I can watch tv and movies, listen to music, do writing, I have an app that allows me to make my own music, apps that make me look beautiful, play games, take pics and I'm able to talk to my therapist digitally on my phone if I can't face going out.

It's easy to call people and my phone has a feature that allows to record phone calls but I try not to make calls if I can help it. I've only ever had to make one emergency call which was the hardest thing I've ever done!

There's a calculator which makes maths homework way easier! And the internet is only a tap away making studying easier. My mum and dad both say a lot they wished it had been like that when they'd been at school. I have social media but I don't use it much as I get bullied for being autistic on that's.

Phones have always been a part of my life. I honestly don't think I'd know what to do if I didn't have a phone. Is that bad? It sounds it but I don't mean to come across like a bad person.

I'm pretty much on my phone all the time. It's natural for me, the norm and my sisters are the same. My parents have smart phones but don't use them much. My Gran frequently says about how things like this weren't around when she was little and I find it hard to picture that world. Smart phones are such a big thing it's hard to believe they weren't always here.

And it's the speed that technology has advanced which is unprecedented, who knows what effect it will have. It's only 5 minutes ago, anthropologically speaking, that we were sitting in our caves, clubbing potential mates (naming no names:)

Sorry, what were we talking about?

That's literally addiction. Those kids have the same biochemical reaction in their brain as a junkie going cold turkey. Unless their parents put them through some serious therapy, they are not going to enjoy much their life. I have seen many parents putting their kids in front of a smartphone/Ipad as soon as they could hold it. No play, no socialization, no activities, only phone. I wonder how they will develop.

I'm reading all of these replies.

Really interesting.

Thank you all.

It's good there are different generations on this forum so we can 'compare notes'.

Amerantin (former member) said:

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

What attention span?

I'm wary of clicking on links that I don't recognise and have never heard of, but took a gamble and clicked on that one.

I found the footage of the toddler in bed 'scrolling' a non-existent smartphone to be particularly disturbing. It's not often I find myself agreeing with your opinions, but on this occasion I think you may well be right about those children... or at least some of them.

Uhane said:

Do you remember "party line"s, Debbie?

I remember that they were a 'thing' but we never had one.

We didn't have a phone at home until the late 1970s - when I was a teenager and then I was hardly ever allowed to use it because of the cost of calls.

Yes, I remember waiting for, and writing letters.

I'm in my mid 20s. I noticed my phone usage rocketing as the pandemic happened. Before then, I wasn't scrolling the likes of Twitter or whatever to an unhealthy amount, although I did let some things on the internet (namely forums) get to me personally.

It's only since last May that I've been off it completely but it's only because I had to. God knows if I would have ever found the strength to step back otherwise.

I think if I was to go back, I'd have very clear parameters: one account on one platform, be really careful as to who I allow into my sphere and don't comment on everything or spend all day on there.

I am better at leaving my phone alone when I actually have something to do though. If I'm not busy, I fall back into the old habits.

I have, and enjoy, JOMO

I don't have a smart phone, I don't know how to use one, this is the only social media I use. The only time the absense of a smart effects me is when others often organisations want me to have one, like car parks, banks etc. I have a stupid phone that I use to call or text people when I want or need to. I rarely take it out with me as I hate people knowing where I am all the time and wanting me to be constantly available and all the resultant questions, like what time am I coming home, things I can do whilst I'm out, I go out to get away from others.

Amerantin (former member) said:

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

I worked briefly in a school before Covid. Interacting with a 16 years old is like talking with a senor citizen with advanced dementia, they have an attention span of 10 seconds. I heard many of them saying mid-sentence: "I have lost my train of thoughts". That's not normal.

Probably 85% of them would be diagnosed with ADHD if it was tested in schools.

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.

Do you have a smartphone

Yes

Does the absence isolate you?

I don't think so. I usually leave it at home during the week.

what is your relationship with your phone?

A convenient way to access the internet. A camera. A means to stay in touch if I need to. 

I turn off notifications too, can't be doing with constant interruptions!

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. 

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.

Watch this and weep. Those kids have a bright future in the psych ward. Not as doctors.

webm.red/.../krbB.webm

As my son was born in 1994, I found that article an interesting read.

Whilst he owns a smartphone and has done for a number of years, I am thankful that he feels no need to be welded to it.

Quite often, unless my son is expecting an important call, he will leave his smartphone at home if he needs to pop out. Admittedly, there have been occasions when this has caught me out, such as when he's gone grocery shopping and I've just remembered something I had forgotten to include on the shopping list.

More often than not, my son chooses to have his mobile phone on 'silent', and out of view.

Although he has a social media account, my son hardly ever uses it for anything other than occasional private messaging. To be honest, he's never really understood the appeal of social media, or why so many people cannot seem to live without it. FOMO (fear of missing out) certainly doesn't seem to be something that applies to my son.

I have cousins that are the same generation as my son, and I've observed that their 'relationships' with their smartphones are completely different. If they aren't holding their smartphones and constantly looking at them, then they will have their smartphones somewhere that is within easy reach.