Smartphone use has dramatically altered social interactions

Smartphones and tablets have also had a tremendous impact on youths’ social interactions, which has significant ramifications for their psychological health.

For example, teens today are far less likely to want to get a driver’s license than previous generations, and a majority of their social life is carried out in the solitude of their bedroom, via their smartphones.

As of 2015, 12th-graders spent less time “hanging out” and socializing with friends than eighth-graders did in 2009. While this makes them physically safer than any previous generation, this kind of isolation does not bode well for mental health and the building of social skills required for work and personal relationships.

In fact, today’s teens are also far less prone to date than previous generations. In 2015, 56% of high school seniors dated, nearly 30% less than boomers and Gen Xers.

Not surprisingly, sexual activity has also declined — down by about 40% since 1991, resulting in a 67% drop in teen pregnancy rates.

Depression and suicide risk rises with increased screen time

Avoiding the drama of those early love experiences has not had a positive effect on emotional health, however.

Data from the annual Monitoring the Future survey reveals the more time teens spend online, the unhappier they are, and those who spend more time than average on in-person relations and activities that do not involve their smartphone are far more likely to report being “happy.”

Results such as these really should come as no surprise. Spending time outdoors has been scientifically shown to dramatically improve people’s moods and significantly reduce symptoms of depression.

Interestingly, it doesn’t matter what type of screen activity is involved. They’re all equally likely to cause psychological distress.

Between 2012 and 2015, depressive symptoms among boys rose by 21%. Among girls, the rise during that same time was a whopping 50% — a truly remarkable increase in just three years’ time.

Rates of teen depression, self-harm and suicide have also dramatically risen.

Emergency room visits for self-harming behavior such as cutting have tripled among girls ages 10 to 14, and data suggest spending three hours or more each day on electronic devices raises a teen’s suicide risk by 35%.

Between 2007 and 2015, the suicide rate for 12- to 14-year-old girls rose threefold — a gender trend that can in part be blamed on a rise in cyberbullying, which is more common among girls. The suicide rate among boys doubled in that same time frame.

The issue is not entirely black-and-white, however.

Recent polling by the Pew Research Center reveals 81% of teens say social media helps them feel more connected to their friends, 69% say it helps them interact with a more diverse group of people and 68% said they feel they have people online to whom they can turn for support during rough times.

On the other hand, 45% admit they feel overwhelmed by the drama on social media and 43% feel pressured to only post content that presents them in a good light.

Children ages 9 to 10 who use electronic devices for seven hours or more per day exhibit premature thinning of the brain cortex, the outer brain layer that processes information from the five physical senses.

As little as two hours of screen time per day may impact cognition, resulting in lower scores on thinking and language tests.

Most people today live in a sea of radio frequencies emitted from wireless technologies of all kinds, from routers to smartphones, tablets, baby monitors, TVs, appliances, smart meters and many more.

According to many experts, chronic, heavy exposure could have severe repercussions for our health, especially that of children, who are now exposed even before birth.

Research also suggests interaction with social media, games and apps online produces a number of effects, both physical and psychological.