On the occasion of the European Congress of Psychiatry, which was held in early April in Madrid, a team of researchers presented the results of its study concerning the excessive use of the smartphone. Their goal was to better understand our dependence on this object today essential to our daily lives. They discovered that we are not all equal in the face of the mental disorders it can cause.
For Jonathan Haidt, author of Anxious generation (Les Arènes edition), The arrival of the smartphone on the market in 2007 is clearly not unrelated to the phenomenon. “” No other theory has been able to take the place of explanation for the wave of anxiety and depression that overwhelmed adolescents at the same time and according to the same methods in as many countries “, He writes. Various studies have indeed demonstrated that the use of smartphones and social media was a factor in increasing mental distress among young people. It appears today that both sexes are not impacted in the same way.
The smartphone causing “four fundamental damage”
The projections suggest that by 2029, more than six billion people worldwide will use a smartphone. These devices have completely revolutionized our way of communicating and interacting with the world. They are now omnipresent in our daily lives. Teenagers, in particular, spend a lot of time on their phone, especially on social networks.
This intensive use has raised concerns about the harmfulness of this constant connectivity on their mental health. Jonathan Haidt evokes in his work four fundamental damage caused by the smartphone on young people.
The first is social deprivation. Since the advent of the smartphone, adolescents spend much less time (physically) with their friends. And the rare moments when they rub shoulders are parasitized by the untimely notifications of their devices. Together, but everyone on their screen, the time shared is no longer really the same …
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The second is the lack of sleep. The sleep of adolescents has deteriorated both in terms of quantity and quality. The consequences are considerable: difficulties in concentration and memorization, reduction of reaction time, irritability, anxiety, etc. In the long term, certain physiological mechanisms can be disturbed, resulting in various health problems (overweight, immune deficit, etc.).
The third damage is the fragmentation of attention. Individuals of generation Z receive on average some 180 daily notifications. This continuous flow of interruptions alters their capacity for reflection.
Fourth damage: addiction. We know today that designers of popular social media applications have used advanced behavioral techniques to “capture” children and adolescents and make them intensive and dependent users. Like addictive substances, lack causes anxiety, irritability, insomnia and dysphoria.
According to Haidt, these four damage explains why the mental health of young people “raised to the smartphone” deteriorated so quickly.
“Significant differences” between the sexes
Are both sexes impacted in the same way? Until now, research on the subject has resulted in various results. Some have seen no difference. Others suggested that girls were more influenced by the content they watched all day long, causing significant anxiety in them.
To clarify the subject, a team of researchers undertook to study the problematic use of the smartphone, mental well-being, emotional regulation and social anxiety by distinguishing both sexes. Their goal was to better understand the process of dependence on smartphones.
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This study involved 400 young adults, including 104 male sex. The average age of participants was 25.9 years. The collected responses include demographic data (sex, age, smartphone use habits) and psychological measures. These come from the dependence scale to smartphone applications (SABAS), the mental health scale, an emotional evaluation scale (AES) and a questionnaire on the fear of negative perception.
The team was able to observe “significant differences” between the sexes concerning the mediator factors which affect the problematic use of the smartphone (psychological or behavioral dependence). Sex is particularly significantly linked to the time spent on smartphones, with greater use in young women.
The fear of being judged negatively
It also appears that young girls tend to experience greater social anxiety than boys. This predisposes them to excessive use of the smartphone. They are more afraid than other people online judge them negatively. “” Gender is a significant indirect determinant of the problematic use of the smartphone “Summarize the researchers.
These results highlight the major role of sex in our report to the smartphone. Young women are much more likely to suffer from mental disorders due to their use of smartphone. They therefore need additional attention and advice on this use and possible consequences.
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“” Notre study also reveals the influence of social interactivity, a low emotional understanding and variations in perceived social support, which could be caused by a problematic use of the smartphone “Adds Dr Csibi Sándor, from the University of Medicine George Emil Palade, in Romania, and the principal of the study.
More in -depth research is necessary to better understand these differences in sexual behavior. It is also a question of identifying the means to best support young smartphone users.
“Impossible standards, imposed by others”
In Anxious generationJonathan Haidt claims that the link between intensive use of social networks and mental illness in girls is “clear, systematic and important”. Networks harm girls more than boys for several reasons. To start, they are more prone to perfectionism and visual social comparison. Moreover, they generally prefer platforms like Instagram and Tiktok, particularly dangerous in terms of social comparison, rather than textual platforms like Reddit.
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These platforms encourage them to “Develop a form of “”Socially prescribed perfectionism“”which pushes them to want to correspond to standards impossible to meet, imposed by others or by the company “Explains the scientist.
He also evokes the aggressiveness of girls, who is often expressed by attempts to harm the reputation of other girls. However, social networks provide them with infinite means to do so. They also constitute prey easily accessible for malicious male individuals. All these reasons make girls more prone to anxiety, depression, eating disorders and suicidal ideas.
As a reminder, eleven French families have already assigned Tiktok to court for having exposed their children to content promoting suicide, self -control and eating disorders. Among the teenage girls concerned, two committed suicide when they were only 15 years old. Others have tried to end their days or developed mental anorexia. A parliamentary commission of inquiry currently examines the psychological effects of this application on minors.
With an unwavering passion for local news, Christopher leads our editorial team with integrity and dedication. With over 20 years’ experience, he is the backbone of Wouldsayso, ensuring that we stay true to our mission to inform.
