How the smartphone erased childhood

Generation Z is the first to be hit. Anxiety, depression, and loneliness are on the rise. Friends, sports, and reading are decreasing.

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Smartphones and Generation Z

Much scientific research has focused on the problems of Generation Z, those born after 1996, and on the possible correlations with the use and abuse of smartphones and social media. It has been discovered, for example, that no previous generation suffers from anxiety , depression, and self-harm like Generation Z. A book with the highly significant title, The Anxious Generation , written by American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, has lifted the veil on the crisis affecting entire generations linked to the boom in smartphones and social media. Between 2010 and 2019, in the United States alone, the rate of depression and anxiety, stable in the previous decade, exploded by 50 percent; among adolescents aged 10 to 19, the suicide rate rose by 48 percent; for girls aged 10 to 14, the increase was 131 percent. Over the same period, academic performance, reading and math skills, and the ability to concentrate at the right time have all declined. And according to several social psychologists, it's no coincidence that the period during which these declines were observed for Generation Z coincided with the time when cell phones were replaced by smartphones.

How the child's brain evolves

The damage caused by smartphones risks being irreversible. Not only is there a problem of discomfort, more psychological than physical, and learning delays, but it also risks compromising the future, in terms of knowledge and human and social relationships. By the age of six, a child's brain has already reached 90 percent of the size it will have as an adult. And this path has had two fundamental turning points with the introduction of the iPhone (2007), the App Store (2008), and super-fast connections: from that moment on, it has become almost natural for adolescents to be constantly online, connected via their smartphones.

Teenagers with smartphones

If in 2011 only 23 percent of teenagers had a smartphone, in 2015 the percentage grew to 73 percent, and today, in many Western countries, it exceeds the 90 percent threshold. More than a quarter of teenagers explicitly declare that Time spent on social media hovers around five hours a day. These are frightening numbers, if you look closely, which confirm a radical change in childhood. More virtual and less real, more isolated and less social, more compulsive with electronic devices, and less healthy in general.

What decreases in adolescents

Related to smartphone and social media addiction, there's another trend affecting childhood: a deterioration in the quality of life. Adolescents, starting with Generation Z, are sleeping less and worse, partly because they use electronic devices before bed, or even while they're under the covers. Physical activity , the amount of time spent outdoors, reading, and human relationships have all decreased. Meanwhile, the average daily smartphone notification for a teenager has risen to 237.

Smartphones and time with friends

Before the widespread diffusion of smartphones, young people between the ages of 15 and 24 spent about two hours a day with friends , not including time spent at school. Now, that time has dropped to little more than an hour, and older people spend more time with their friends than their children and grandchildren. Social media connections are also increasing, but first and foremost, they are virtual rather than real (lacking the added value of physical contact). They are often disposable, have a collective dimension and are not based on face-to-face contact. They generate repulsive reactions (insults, swearing, threats, etc.) rather than a genuine desire for peaceful and constructive human relationships.

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