Smartphones blamed for teen angst
 

In my day it was television, later it was video games

A new study is blaming smartphones for teen loneliness.

According to the Journal of Adolescence, smartphone use is the most likely candidate for a sharp rise in teen angst in 36 out of 37 countries between 2012 and 2018.

Researchers used data from the Programme for International Student Assessment, a survey of over a million 15- and 16-year-old students. The survey included a six-item measure of loneliness at school in 2000, 2003, 2012, 2015 and 2018.

Before 2012, the trends had stayed relatively flat. But between 2012 and 2018, nearly twice as many teens displayed high elevated levels of "school loneliness," an established predictor of depression and mental health issues.

Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and the study's lead author. "If this trend is caused by smartphones or electronic communication, a worldwide increase is exactly what you'd expect to see."

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