IncreasedScreenTimeandWellbeingDeclineinYouth
A) Haveyoungpeopleneverhaditsogood? Ordotheyfacemorechallengesthananypreviousgeneration? OurcurrenteraintheWestisoneofhighwealth. Thismeansminorsenjoymaterialbenefitsandlegalprotectionsthatwouldhavebeentheenvyofthoselivinginthepast. ButThereisanincreasingsuspicionthatallisnotwellforouryouth. Andoneofthemostpopularexplanations, amongsomeexpertsandthepopularmedia, isthatexcessive "screentime" istoblame. (Thisreferstoalltheattentionyoungpeopledevotetotheirphones, tabletsandlaptops.) However, thisisacontentioustheoryandsuchclaimshavebeentreatedskepticallybysomescholarsbasedontheirreadingoftherelevantdata.
B) Nowanewstudyhasprovidedanothercontributiontothedebate, uncoveringstrongevidencethatadolescentwellbeingintheUnitedStatesreallyisexperiencingadeclineandarguingthatthemostlikelycauseistheelectronicricheswehavegiventhem. Thebackgroundtothisisthatfromthe 1960sintotheearly 2000s, measuresofaveragewellbeingwentupintheUS. Thiswasespeciallytrueforyoungerpeople. Itreflectedthefactthatthesedecadessawaclimbingeneralstandardsoflivingandavoidanceofmasssocietaltraumaslikefull-scalewaroreconomicdeprivation. However, the "screentime" hypothesis, advancedbyresearcherssuchasJeanTwenge, isthatelectronicdevicesandexcessivetimespentonlinemayhavereversedthesetrendsinrecentyears, causingproblemsforyoungpeople'spsychologicalhealth.
C) Toinvestigate, Twengeandhercolleaguesdivedintothe "MonitoringtheFuture" datasetbasedonannualsurveysofAmericanschoolstudentsfromgrades 8, 10, and 12 thatstartedin 1991. Intotal, 1.1 millionyoungpeopleansweredvariousquestionsrelatedtotheirwellbeing. Twenge'steam'sanalysisoftheanswersconfirmedtheearlier, well-establishedwellbeingclimb, withscoresrisingacrossthe 1990s, andintothelater 2000s，Thiswasfoundacrossmeasureslikeself-esteem, lifesatisfaction, happinessandsatisfactionwithindividualdomainslikejob, neighborhood, orfriends. Butaround 2012 thesemeasuresstartedtodecline. Thiscontinuedthrough 2016, themostrecentyearforwhichdataisavailable.
D) Twengeandhercolleagueswantedtounderstandwhythischangeinaveragewellbeingoccurred. However, itisveryhardtodemonstratecausesusingnon-experimentaldatasuchasthis. Infact, whenTwengepreviouslyusedthisdatatosuggestascreentimeeffect, somecommentatorswerequicktoraisethisproblem. Theyarguedthathercausal-soundingclaimsrestedoncorrelationaldata, andthatshehadnotadequatelyaccountedforotherpotentialcausalfactors. Thistimearound, Twengeandherteammakeapointofsayingthattheyarenottryingtoestablishcausesassuch, butthattheyareassessingtheplausibilityofpotentialcauses.
E) First, theyexplainthatifagivenvariableisplayingaroleinaffectingwellbeing, thenweshouldexpectanychangeinthatvariabletocorrelatewiththeobservedchangesinwellbeing. Ifnot, itisnotplausiblethatthevariableisacausalfactor. Sotheresearcherslookedattimespentinanumberofactivitiesthatcouldplausiblybedrivingthewellbeingdecline. Lesssport, andfewermeetingswithpeerscorrelatedwithlowerwellbeing, asdidlesstimereadingprintmedia (newspapers) and, surprisingly, lesstimedoinghomework. (Thislastfindingwouldappeartocontradictanotherpopularhypothesisthatitisourburdeningofstudentswithassignmentthatiscausingalltheproblems,) Inaddition, moreTVwatchingandmoreelectroniccommunicationbothcorrelatedwithlowerwellbeing. Alltheseeffectsheldtrueformeasuresofhappiness, lifesatisfactionandself-esteem, withtheeffectsstrongerinthe 8thandl0th-graders.
F) Next, Twenge'steamdugalittledeeperintothedataonscreentime. Theyfoundthatadolescentswhospentaverysmallamountoftimeondigitaldevices- acoupleofhoursaweek- hadthehighestwellbeing. Theirwellbeingwasevenhigherthanthosewhoneverusedsuchdevices. However, higherdosesofscreentimewereclearlyassociatedwithlowerhappiness. Thosespending 10-19 hoursperweekontheirdeviceswere 41 percentmorelikelytobeunhappythanlower-frequencyusers. Thosewhousedsuchdevices 40 hoursaweekormore (oneintenteenagers) weretwiceaslikelytobeunhappy. Thedatawasslightlycomplicatedbythefactthattherewasatendencyforkidswhoweresocialintherealworldtoalsousemoreonlinecommunication, butbybracketingoutdifferentcasesitbecameclearthatthereal-worldsocialitycomponentcorrelatedwithgreaterwellbeing, whereasgreatertimeonscreensoronlineonlycorrelatedwithpoorerwellbeing.
G) Sofar, soplausible. Butthenextquestionis, arethedropsinaveragewellbeinghappeningatthesametimeastrendstowardincreasedelectronicdeviceusage? Itlookslikeit- -afterall, 2012 wasthetippingpointwhenmorethanhalfofAmericansbeganowningsmartphones. Twengeandhercolleaguesalsofoundthatacrossthekeyyearsof 2013-16, wellbeingwasindeedlowestinyearswhereadolescentsspentmoretimeonline, onsocialmedia, andreadingnewsonline, andwhenmoreyouthintheUnitedStateshadsmartphones. Andinasecondanalysis, they, foundthatwheretechnologywent, dipsinwellbeingfollowed. Forinstance, yearswithalargerincreaseinonlineusagewerefollowedbyyearswithlowerwellbeing, ratherthantheotherwayaround. Thisdoesnotprovecausality, butisconsistentwithit. Meanwhile, TVusedidnotshowthistracking. TVmightmakeyoulesshappy, butthisisnotwhatseemstobedrivingtherecentdeclinesinyoungpeople'saveragehappiness.
H) Asimilarbutreversedpatternwasfoundfortheactivitiesassociatedwithgreaterwellbeing. Forexample, yearswhenpeoplespentmoretimewithfriendswerebetteryearsforwellbeing (andfollowedbybetteryears). Sadly, thedataalsoshowedface-to-facesocializingandsportsactivityhaddeclinedovertheperiodcoveredbythesurvey.
I) ThereisanotherexplanationthatTwengeandhercolleagueswantedtoaddress; theimpactofthegreatrecessionof 2007-2009, whichhitagreatnumberofAmericanfamiliesandmightbeaffectingadolescents. Thedatasettheyuseddidnotincludeeconomicdata, soinsteadtheresearcherslookedatwhetherthe 2013-16 wellbeingdeclinewastrackingeconomicindicators. 'Theyfoundsomeevidencethatsomecrudemeasures, likeincomeinequality, correlatedwithchangesinwellbeing, buteconomicmeasureswithamoredirectimpact, likefamilyincomeandunemploymentrates (whichputfamiliesintodifficulties), hadnorelationshipwithwellbeing. Theresearchersalsonotetherecessionhitsomeyearsbeforeweseethebeginningofthewellbeingdrop, andbeforethesteepestwellbeingdecline, whichoccurredin 2013.
J) Theresearchersconcludethatelectroniccommunicationwastheonlyadolescentactivitythatincreasedatthesametimepsychologicalwellbeingdeclined. Isuspectthatsomeexpertsinthefieldwillbekeentoaddressalterativeexplanations, suchasunassessedvariablesplayingaroleinthewellbeingdecline. Butthenewworkdoesgofurtherthanpreviousresearchandsuggeststhatscreentimeshouldstillbeconsideredapotentialbarriertoyoungpeople'sflourishing.
36.TheyearwhenmostAmericansbeganusingsmartphoneswasidentifiedasaturningpointinyoungAmericans'levelofhappiness.
37.ScoresinvariouswellbeingmeasuresbegantogodownwardamongyoungAmericansinrecentyears.
38.Unfortunately, activitiesinvolvingdirectcontactwithpeople, whichcontributedtobetterwellbeingwerefoundtobeonthedecline.
39.Inresponsetopastcritics, Twengeandherco-researchersstresstheyarenottryingtoprovethattheuseofdigitaldevicesreducesyoungpeople'swellbeing.
40.Inthelastfewdecadesofthe 20thcentury, livingstandardswentupandeconomicdepressionswerelargelyavertedintheUS.
41.Contrarytopopularbelief, doinghomeworkmightaddtostudents'wellbeing.
42.Theauthorbelievestheresearchers'newstudyhasgoneastepfurtherregardingtheimpactofscreentimeonwellbeing.
43.Theresearchersfoundthatextendedscreentimemakesyoungpeoplelesshappy.
44.Datarevealsthateconomicinequalityratherthanfamilyincomemightaffectpeople'swellbeing.
45.Toomuchscreentimeiswidelybelievedtobethecauseofunhappinessamongtoday'syoungpeople.