Understanding the Complex Rise of Mental Health Issues in Young People Beyond Social Media

Thanks to authors like Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge, awareness of mental health issues among younger people in Western countries has grown. They emphasize how social media affects these problems. This is evident in recent school policies in Europe that ban smartphones.

While it’s important to highlight rising rates of depression and anxiety, focusing solely on factors like “screen time” may oversimplify the issue. In my book, Why We Worry: A Sociological Explanation, I seek to expand this conversation.

Haidt and Twenge often show trend lines for psychological distress, indicating a rise after 2012, which Haidt calls the start of the “great rewiring.” Critics argue that this method may overstate correlations without establishing clear causality. Moreover, the short timeframe they analyze is also a concern.

For example, most of the graphs in Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation, cover 2002 to 2018. This 16-year span makes it difficult to draw clear conclusions. It misses earlier trends in mental health issues. When Haidt notes a rise in distress in Nordic countries starting in 2010, we lack insight into the data before 2002. This risks suggesting that there were no changes before smartphones became common.

In contrast, Sweden’s Public Health Agency has tracked young people‘s mental wellbeing since 1986. Reports show a steady increase in low mood since the 1980s. Alongside this, girls reported more sleep issues before smartphones became prevalent.

We also see early signs of mental health problems in countries like Norway and the UK. In England, the prevalence of long-standing mental health conditions among youth increased sixfold from 1995 to 2014. In Scotland, it more than doubled between 2003 and 2014.

The US also reflects a long-term rise in mental health issues. Twenge noted that children in the 1980s reported more anxiety than those in the 1950s, showing that these problems predate smartphones. In 2011, she highlighted that anxiety and depression have risen significantly among Western youth since the early 20th century.

Further investigation reveals differences in mental health issues across countries and time periods. The World Mental Health surveys, coordinated by the World Health Organization, show that mental health problems are less common in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries, even though smartphone use is not significantly different.

This variation suggests that other factors contribute to mental health. Scholars have suggested reasons such as increased uncertainty, risk aversion, and rising inequality. However, social science still lacks definitive answers.

It’s likely that various social problems influence mental health. Focusing solely on isolated variables, like banning smartphones, simplifies a larger issue. Such an approach risks excluding society’s role in mental health discussions. If structural discrimination, economic difficulties, or violence are ignored, there is less incentive to address these critical concerns.