Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, is the first cohort to grow up as digital natives. With the pervasive adoption of smartphones, there is heightened concern over digital addiction and its impact on mental wellbeing, especially on those aged 18-24.
According to data from the Global Mind Project, which hosts the world’s largest database of comprehensive mental health profiles, there is a concerning correlation between the age at which individuals first own a smartphone and their adult mental wellbeing, defined here as the ability to effectively navigate life’s stresses and challenges.
The younger they obtain a smartphone, the more likely people are to have mental health struggles as young adults. These include suicidal thoughts, a sense of feeling detached from reality, feelings of aggression towards others, and addiction.
Those who received smartphones earlier in childhood are also more likely to be digitally addicted as young adults. Data collected as part of the Global Mind Project, which offers the first insights into the scale of this phenomenon in India, indicates that among the 18-24 set, 12.5% of people suffered from digital addiction this year, up from about 9.3% in 2021.
The more digitally addicted they are – based on a question about addictions rated along a 1-9 scale – the worse their mental wellbeing, as shown by their Mental Health Quotient (MHQ) scores.
The MHQ positions individuals on a spectrum from “distressed” to “thriving”, spanning a possible range of scores from -100 to +200, where negative scores indicate a mental-wellbeing status that has a significant negative impact on the ability to function.
The results show that about 40% of Indian youth who are not at all addicted are clinically mentally distressed/struggling, while the corresponding number for those that are extremely addicted is 90%, according to Global Mind data.
Extreme addiction is, therefore, associated with a near-surety of mental health struggle.
Digital addiction is also associated with suicidal thoughts or intentions among young people in India. About 55% who are not at all addicted have experienced suicidal thoughts or intentions, which is alarmingly high. The number jumps to 80% for those who are extremely addicted to digital technology.
Prior work has established that sleep is severely compromised among those with digital addiction – a fact corroborated by data. About 5% of young people who are not at all addicted to digital technology report that they hardly ever sleep, while over 14% who are extremely addicted to technology report they hardly ever sleep.
This is an almost three-fold increase and likely contributes to other mental health challenges, as sleep is fundamental for healthy brain functioning.
Curbing the menace
With the age of the first smartphone so strongly associated with addiction and other challenges, parents could aim to delay the age of smartphone ownership to as late as possible.
Since children feel tremendous peer pressure to have a smartphone or digital device, one way this might be handled is for schools to ban their use until as late as possible. Many countries are now actively considering bans on smartphones in schools, while many educational institutions, too, are also beginning to develop their own bans.
Crucially, public health education on the harmful effects of excessive use of digital technology as well as other types of interventions is needed.
We could learn from the approach to smoking: in India, massive anti-tobacco campaigns have been launched in schools, while cigarette taxes have been used to curb demand and, in turn, cigarette consumption.
Similarly, one study found that exercise may be used to reduce the incidence of digital addiction by regulating the neurobiology of the central and autonomic nervous systems.
Additionally, regulating addictive apps aimed at children, akin to China’s restrictions on video games until age 18, could be beneficial. Recently, US surgeon-general Vivek Murthy advocated for warning labels on social media platforms, akin to those on tobacco and alcohol products.
All in all, while digital addiction is at 12.5% today, it is growing. There is evidence that delaying the age of ownership of smartphones improves mental wellbeing while reducing suicidal thoughts and intentions.
Taken together, greater attention could be paid to understanding how one might curb addiction to digital technology through measures such as school policies, parental controls, public health messaging, and programmes and regulation.
This article was written by Shailender Swaminathan and Tara Thiagarajan of the Sapien Labs Centre for Human Brain and Mind at Krea University, India, for 360info.