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Smartphones are making teenagers more aggressive, detached from reality and causing them to hallucinate, according to new research.
Scientists concluded the younger a person starts using a phone, the more likely they would be crippled by a whole host of psychological ills after surveying 10,500 teens between 13 and 17 from both the US and India for the study, by Sapien Labs."People don't fully appreciate that hyper-real and hyper-immersive screen experiences can blur reality at key stages of development," addiction psychologist Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, who was not part of the team who did the study, told The Post.
"Their digital world can compromise their ability to distinguish between what's real and what's not. A hallucination by any other name."Screen time essentially acts as a toxin that stunts both brain development and social development," Kardaras explained. "The younger a kid is when given a device, the higher the likelihood of mental health issues later on."
The teens surveyed for "The Youth Mind: Rising Aggression and Anger" were significantly worse off than older Gen Zers in Sapien Labs' database and the youngest ages were more likely to suffer aggression, anger and hallucinations compared to their older counterparts.
A staggering 37% of 13-year-olds reported experiencing aggression, compared with 27% of 17-year-olds. Frighteningly, 20% of 13-year-olds say they suffer from hallucinations, compared to 12% of 17-year-olds.
"Whereas today's 17-year-olds typically got a phone at age 11 or 12, today's 13-year-olds got their phones at age 10," the report noted.Respondents also reported they could pose a harm to themselves. 42% of American girls and 27% of boys aged 13 to 17 admitted to
problems with suicidal thoughts.The majority of teens polled said they had feelings of hopelessness, guilt, anxiety, and unwanted strange thoughts. More than 40% reported a sense of detachment from reality, mood swings, withdrawal, and traumatic flashbacks.The researchers also warned phones are making kids withdraw from society."Once you have a phone, you spend a lot less time with in-person interaction, and the less you have in-person interaction, the less integrated you are into the real social fabric," Sapien Labs chief scientist Tara Thiagarajan told The Post."You're no longer connected in the way humans have been wired for hundreds of thousands of years."
Kardaras also wasn't surprised aggression was
associated with phone use.
He runs Omega Recovery tech addiction recovery center in Austin, where kids are often admitted after violently attacking their parents for taking their phones away.
Kids around the country have also been assaulting their teachers at school after having their devices confiscated, with one Tennessee teacher even pepper-sprayed by a female student after he took her cell phone.The CDC also warned in 2023 teen girls are
at risk of increased violence — often at the hands of one another. Sapien Labs also flagged the uptick in aggression is disproportionately taking place in females, according to their research.
"There's a fairly rapid rise now in kids experiencing actual violence in school, and kids are fearing for their safety," Thiagarajan said. "That is something that everyone should sit up and take note of."
She pointed to a December school shooting in Wisconsin was
anomalously carried out by a teen girl. It had been 45 years since a female juvenile
perpetrated a school shooting.
That shooter, Natalie "Samantha" Rupnow, 15, was known to have spent a great deal of her life online and had exhibited extremist views on the internet, but authorities are still looking for a motive for her shooting, after which she turned her gun on herself.Overall 65% of female respondents were deemed "distressed or struggling in a manner that substantially impairs their ability to function effectively in the world and would be of clinical concern," according to the report.There's no indication that this trend of continually worsening mental health will slow, according to the researchers, who point out kids continue to be given devices at younger and younger ages, and it's not uncommon today for toddlers to be given
access to iPads or their parents' iPhones.
Reader Comments
An extraordinary tool, a blessing that keeps bringing me so many more 👌.
Mismanaged
As are all those peeps who choose to live in fear. 🙈
So where will you find this group, a group consisting of probably one member, you won’t be able to find a control group, everyone and his/her dog has at least one mobile, my family didn’t get a land line until the early 60’s (that’s 1960 not 1860)
Further...Steve Jobs,
"How addicted are you to your cell phone? How much time do you spend in front of a screen? Would you let your children do the same? Steve Jobs thought it was not a good idea, so he did not let his children use iPads and iPhones, generally technology"
Yea they said the same thing about TV in the 90's.
Just my opinion but I would say the opinion of an average user from a well to do household as opposed to an underprivileged household is going to show a different take on life, I’ve experienced working with, and for some very poor people and also some of the richest and most privileged in Australia and unsurprisingly they do have different perspectives.
Adults are mostly loosers, bad role models on just about everything.
Lack of esteem of self, love is self is the driving foundation.
Happy🐍Year
May the shedding happen simply & swiftly all around.
I’ll start pouring some of my pocket money into a study for this phenomenon in the near future.
Or when they say phones take away from in-person experience and connection How is that even possible? It actually does the opposite. Phones increase your in-person experiences because it allows more of them which is what being social is. Phones expose people to a greater number of people in more societies than in past. Social connections are increasing due to phones not decreasing. People in the past struggled with social interactions because of there being a limited amount of available ways to do it.
It is also stupid to blame childrens changes in aggression, anger and hallucinations on phones. Science tells you first you must eliminate factors like their diet and calorie intake first, then genetics, and then their home environment which is where the causes of most mental problems originate from.
Kids actions are a direct result of learned behavior
Blows me away how only rare few openly acknowledge that, and how everyone believes they + all other parents are just peachy!!
Dellusional immature populace.
Your reparenting is examplary. Bravo
Why do people not copycat intelligence and only stupidity?!
NRN
(no response needed RC 's 😞 fav).
What is your 'reality'? Mine involves the natural world around us; trees, animals, water, rocks and the rhythm of nature. Warmth and cooking by a fire. Trudging up a mountain to see what is on the other side.
Very few places left for people to experience that. Most everywhere has a 'signal' available now and it kills me to see young people who set up a camp just out of town, only to spend their time with their smart devices. I almost want to put on a Sasquatch suit and scare them back to (my) reality! LOL!!