Children who owned and used smartphones were less likely to experience depression and anxiety than those who did not. But this effect was only seen in those who were not active users of social media, meaning they did not post anything on them. This contradicts the established view that smartphones are generally bad for children's mental health, and could lead to better advice on how to use them. About the study Told me New Scientist.
Scientists surveyed over 1500 children aged 11-13 as part of the study Life in Media Survey, which aims to track the mental health of these children over the next 25 years. As it turned out, by the age of 11, 70 percent of children already had their own smartphones, and the average age of getting one was eight and a half. Children of wealthy parents were less likely to have a phone than their peers from less wealthy families, which may be due to both parental awareness of the harms of smartphones and the ban on phones in private schools.
Among children who had phones, symptoms of depression and anxiety occurred in 21 percent, while among children without phones - in more than a quarter. This is attributed to the fact that children with smartphones were more likely to see their friends offline. But using social media increased the likelihood of worsening mental health. So, compared with those who rarely or never posted on social media, those who did so regularly were more likely to experience moderate to severe symptoms of depression (54 percent vs. 25 percent) and anxiety (50 percent vs. 24 percent), as well as poor sleep.
Another negative aspect of phone use was cyberbullying, i.e. insults or harassment on social media. More than half of the children surveyed had encountered some form of cyberbullying in the past three months, and these children were more likely to suffer from depression, have anger management problems and be addicted to technology. Therefore, scientists call for not banning children from using smartphones, but instead teaching them to use their phones for good.
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