Technology and Mental Health
May 29, 2024
Technology has become an integral part of our lives and yet many parents are unfamiliar with the technology landscape that their children are being raised with. Our children are using apps, websites, and games that are more social and more addictive than anything that we had growing up.
The pull of devices
A strange force pulls children (as well as adults) towards their smartphones or tablets during idle moments. Neurologists who study these things have concluded that screens interact with the pleasure and pain system in the brain in ways that are not dissimilar to sugar, caffeine, smoking, or other human cravings. Our phones can be our best friends. They rescue us from boredom and loneliness and provide stimulation and social interaction at the touch of a button. They offer enjoyable experiences and provide an escape from unpleasant ones. However, they can hold us captive for hours, and they have the same effect on our children.
The benefits of using technology
Memes, live streams, TikTok trends, discord servers, and selfie culture can be mysterious. It is our responsibility to understand screens' role in the lives of the young people we parent or mentor. And this begins with a full appreciation of technology's attractiveness and the genuine benefits children derive from using it.
To talk about the benefits of social media and video games is not to minimise the risks that they pose. It is simply to say that we must understand why apps and video games are attractive to our children.
If we hope to guide young people towards a healthy relationship with their devices, we must first admit that there is lots of compelling content on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Browsing Pinterest or Reddit for 20 minutes can be a way to wind down after a long day. Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Facebook are good ways to communicate with friends and family. Video games are not only fun, they also teach strategy, problem-solving, and hand-eye coordination. Online gaming can serve as a safe haven for children who have been bullied. Sometimes it cements ties between friends who don’t live in the same neighbourhood or in the same country.
Do British children go overboard on technology?
As a parent, teacher, guardian, or mentor of children with access to technology, you may be interested in the Ofcom Report of 2023. It is a complete set of statistics about the screen habits of British children and a measure of their ability to navigate the treacherous territory that is the internet and social media. The report is long and detailed, but informative. Some summary statistics are listed below. They can be found in section 7 of the report.
According to Ofcom, 60% of English 3-17-year-olds have their mobile phone
To go online:
- 69% use a mobile phone
- 64% use a tablet and 45% use a laptop
- 96% use video-sharing platforms
- 58% use live-streaming apps/sites
- 79% use messaging sites/apps
- 63% use social media
- 72% have their own social media profile
- 56% play games online
- 80% watch TV or films on any type of device other than a TV set (85% on a TV set)
- 41% watch live TV vs 78% who watch video on demand (such as Netflix)
- 29% have seen something worrying or nasty online
- 65% were able to correctly spot a fake profile
- 41% were able to correctly identify sponsored search results
- 76% were able to correctly identify sponsored content posted by an influencer
The statistics above are clear: social media apps, video-sharing services, and online gaming platforms are ubiquitous. What they don’t say is whether or not there is a problem, and if so, what to do about it. The Ofcom report is aggregated data. Our children are individuals. To help them stay clear of danger we must develop a more granular view of their behaviour and the effect of the technologies that they use.
What excessive screen use looks like
Children can be pulled to screen-based entertainment like sugary snacks. Like good nutrition, healthy screen habits are an acquired skill but many children don’t manage to learn them. Either that or we don’t teach them properly. The risks of unchecked technology use are now well-known but they are worth repeating.
Sedentarism
The advent of television and then computers coincided with a massive obesity problem in developed countries. Screens may not be entirely to blame but clearly, hours and hours spent in front of a screen is not helping.
Procrastination
We all know the “procrastination cycle” from our own youth. Putting off school work led to a backlog of overdue tasks and displeased adults. The short-term solution was to escape this unpleasant reality by dawdling and evading until the last minute. As the backlog grew so did our temptation to escape in an ever-growing cycle of delay and discomfort.
Millennials and Generation Z are confronted with the same dynamic, but the scale of the challenge has increased exponentially, mainly due to the stickiness of their devices. Fortnite and TikTok are entertaining. Children don’t want to switch them off, especially if what follows is dinnertime, homework, or taking out the rubbish. Some boys have been known to play video games without eating or sleeping for 24 hours straight!
Instant gratification
Screens, not unlike sugary snacks, provide instant gratification. When a person reaches for their smartphone or boots up their Xbox, the anticipation alone is sufficient to provoke a pleasure reaction in the brain. This is even before the device is turned on.
The problem with having our needs met so quickly is that we never learn how to be patient. Life often requires long-term commitment, dedication, and a tolerance for frustration. Young people are now so used to getting information and entertainment on-demand that we have to wonder whether they will be able to handle the frustrations of work interactions, friendships, and love relationships.
Research shows that there is an association between attention deficit and social media. The studies do not conclusively prove that apps and smartphones cause ADHD, but the link is there and it is a cause for concern.
Obsession & Exclusivity
Video games are designed to be addictive. Social media apps, news websites, content aggregators, e-commerce sites, and video platforms such as TikTok pay huge salaries to engineers and designers who create recommendation algorithms and sticky user experiences. The problem begins when children start doing something to the exclusion of other activities. And we know that under certain conditions, young people can become captives of the online world and lose interest in anything else. Like gamblers in casinos that are designed to keep people pulling on the slot machines until closing time.
Isolation
Many people complain that they find themselves increasingly lonely despite their active online social life. Getting likes on social media is not the same as interacting with another person no matter how big the audience. Chatting on Netflix while sharing a virtual movie is not the same as sharing snacks with friends on a sofa. And playing video games or chatting on Discord with friends on the other side of the world is not the same as having them by your side.
For many young people, online interactions are seemingly safer and easier than face-to-face interactions. Messaging, posting on a forum, and interacting in a multiplayer video game are less intimidating and require less effort than socialising in the traditional ways.
Unfortunately, internet forums, in-game chats, and social media are not a long-term solution to our fears of rejection. Everyone needs to feel accepted and socially successful, but resorting to online socialising, even as a response to rejection or exclusion, can lead to even more social isolation in the long run.
Talking action at home and outside the home
Part of being an effective parent is accepting the central role that technology plays in our children’s lives. But acceptance does not mean resignation when things get out of control. In the face of mounting evidence that screens are overused and social media apps are sometimes toxic and addictive, many education experts are now recommending a two-tiered approach. The first tier is better education at home. The next step is advocating for a certain level of government regulation.
Home education
Parents can help their children cultivate a healthy relationship to the internet, social media, and gaming by using the following talking points:
- Take care of your mental and physical health: Do not stop pursuing your off-screen hobbies and physical exercise.
- Cultivate healthy relationships online: Don’t participate in chat rooms or live gaming sessions with people who are not kind and courteous.
- Don’t always believe what the people online say: Be wise to influencers and peddlers of conspiracy theories and fake news. Before you buy into the views of people you see online, ask yourself how they benefit from converting you to their point of view.
- Keep a balance between your offline and online life: Online chatter with internet friends will never replace the depth of connections you have with family, school, and neighbourhood friends.
- Remember that social media presents an idealised version of life: People are rarely as pretty, happy, muscular, rich, and successful as they make themselves out to be in the selfies they post online.
- Be purposeful and don’t lose sight of why you went online: Check your phone or social media with a purpose not simply out of boredom.
- Monitor yourself: Impose some time limits on your devices and check the usage statistics on your phone or game console to track how many hours you spend online.
When education and prevention are not enough
Promoting digital literacy and critical thinking skills can help our children be more mindful and responsible. But it is becoming increasingly clear that children and tech companies are not doing enough to regulate themselves. Many parents and social observers are now calling for mandated age limits on social media accounts and enforceable legislation against smartphone use in school.
Jonathan Haidt, the author and social psychologist, is the latest public figure to call for such regulations. In his recent book, The Anxious Generation, he outlines four norms that should be put in place with the help of government regulations. They include no smartphones until secondary school, no phones at school, and no social media accounts for those under 16. Most of the measures he proposes are aimed at solving what he refers to as the collective action dilemma. If legal and social pressure is exerted on all parents and all children in such a way that you cannot open a media account before the age of 16, then it invalidates the common complaint: “But dad, all my friends are on it. I’ll be an outcast!”.
It is difficult to argue against the idea of restricting screen use to those who are not old enough to handle the risks involved. But even if we assume that age restrictions work, they will only ever be a partial solution. Screens are not items which children shouldn’t touch. For better or for worse, technology is a part of how modern humans live their lives. At a certain age, children will have phones with access to the web and to social media platforms. We have no choice but to teach them to be responsible with these things and to hope that the lesson eventually sinks in.
Mindsum has a team of dedicated mental health professionals who can support you with any challenges or concerns about your child's mental health.
Useful Resources
ChildLine
A service that supports children and teenagers under the age of 19 through various ways like 1:1 support, emailing or even by calling their helpline at 0800 1111.
NHS Central and Northwest London
This is a service for children over 13 years old who have difficulty controlling their gaming use. They provide assessment and CBT-based treatment.
Nightingale Hospital London
Provides more information on technology addiction and a free phone call consultation.
Mumsnet Forum
A safe space to talk about parental experiences and to learn from others.
Youngminds
Provides information on how to speak to your child effectively and information on treatment.