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Something has gone dangerously awry. In just the five years between 2010 and 2015, the number of U.S. teens who felt useless and joyless – classic symptoms of depression – surged 33 percent in large national surveys. Teen suicide attempts increased 23 percent. Even more troubling, the number of 13- to 18-year-olds who committed suicide jumped 31 percent.

A study published in Clinical Psychological Science,  shows that the increases in depression, suicide attempts and suicide appeared among teens from every background – more privileged and less privileged, across all races and ethnicities and in every region of the country. All told, the analysis found that the generation of teens I call techgen – those born after 1995 – is much more likely to experience mental health issues than their millennial predecessors.

What has occurred so that so many more teens, in such a short period of time, would feel depressed, attempt suicide and commit suicide? Psychologists are saying the advent of the smartphone.

Pointing at the screen

According to the Pew Research Center, smartphone ownership crossed the 50 percent threshold in late 2012 – right when teen depression and suicide began to increase. By 2015, 73 percent of teens had access to a smartphone.

Not only did smartphone use and depression increase in tandem, but time spent online was linked to mental health issues across two different data sets. It has been found that teens who spent five or more hours a day online were 71 percent more likely than those who spent less than an hour a day to have at least one suicide risk factor (depression, thinking about suicide, making a suicide plan or attempting suicide). Overall, suicide risk factors rose significantly after two or more hours a day of time online.

Two followed people over time, with both studies finding that spending more time on social media led to unhappiness, while unhappiness did not lead to more social media use.  A third randomly assigned participants to give up Facebook for a week versus continuing their usual use. Those who avoided Facebook reported feeling less depressed at the end of the week.

The argument that depression might cause people to spend more time online doesn't also explain why depression increased so suddenly after 2012. Under that scenario, more teens became depressed for an unknown reason and then started buying smartphones, which doesn't seem too logical.

What's lost when plugged in

Even if online time doesn't directly harm mental health, it could still adversely affect it in indirect ways, especially if time online crowds out time for other activities.

Teens now spend much less time interacting with their friends in person. Interacting with people face to face can be a huge source of support, without it, our moods start to suffer and depression often follows. Feeling socially isolated is also one of the major risk factors for suicide. Findings demonstrate that teens who spent more time than average online and less time than average with friends in person were the most likely to be depressed. Since 2012, that's what has occurred en masse: Teens have spent less time on activities known to benefit mental health (in-person social interaction) and more time on activities that may harm it (time online).

Teens are also sleeping less, and teens who spend more time on their phones are more likely to not be getting enough sleep. Not sleeping enough is a major risk factor for depression, so if smartphones are causing less sleep, that alone could explain why depression and suicide increased so suddenly.

Depression and suicide have many causes: Genetic predisposition, family environments, bullying and trauma can all play a role. Some teens would experience mental health problems no matter what era they lived in.

But some vulnerable teens who would otherwise not have had mental health issues may have slipped into depression due to too much screen time, not enough face-to-face social interaction, inadequate sleep or a combination of all three.  Not studied, but certainly something to think about is the unavailability of family members due to their own screen time commitments…clearly it is something to think about.

I don't even have children but I have noticed a big change in them during this interval and it is not for the better….If I did I would seriously curtail their use of smartphones...frankly, I am considering eliminating mine.  To Detox from EMF vibes try our YES solution!  Visit our store for hundreds of natural products, GREAT Prices and FREE shipping on each order!  

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