Teen addictions on the rise due to overuse of electronic devices

Posted April 18, 2022

By Emilia Gutu and Katie Liang

Cub Investigative Reporters

Over the years, electronic devices and technology overconsumption have begun causing addictions among young adults, with several studies proving the negative impact it has on a user's overall well being.

Smartphones have many satisfactory features that make it hard to put down: easily accessible messaging apps, GPS, high resolution cameras, unlimited data, social media, games, etc. All it takes to access any of these features is just a tap. Such convenience can easily become addictive. Asurion.com states Americans check their phones 96 times per day—approximately once every 10 minutes, which was a 20% increase in a similar survey they conducted two years ago.

"The people designing these apps are very sophisticated," stated New York University psychology professor Adam Alter. "There's a lot of them, and they're doing everything they can to keep us engaged."

It isn't just young children who fall into the trap. Teenagers are also avid screen users. DDHS freshman Katelyn Vo specifies her screen management, which depends on the situation.

"If I'm going out, then I could spend almost a whole day without my phone," said Vo. "But my phone keeps me entertained so I would be bored easily without it."

A social media algorithm is constructed to maintain the user’s attention and entertain them based on their interests to keep them scrolling for hours on end, with their eyes glued to the screen. According to Pew Research Center, study showed that 46% of smartphone users depend so much on their phones that they believe they can’t live without it. The usage of technology is critical to mental health. It is linked to constant stress, bad sleeping habits, mood swings, unpredictable behavior, and can ultimately lead to depression.

NYU Langone Health department of child and adult psychiatry clinical assistant professor Rebecca Rialon Berry explains how the digital world full of intensive sounds, colors, and rapid movement are much more enticing to the youth than the real world, making it a lot tougher to disengage from. Kids are greatly satisfied by the interactivity between tapping a screen and making something happen.

"Kids will 'keep doing it,'" stated Seattle Children's Research Institute director Dr. Dimitri Christakis to The New York Times in 2020. "It is intensely gratifying."

How does just staring at a screen lead to unhealthy mental health and a screen addiction? It all has to do with the brain. When the brain is addicted, just like with alcohol and drugs, its gray and white matter fibers shrink. The brain changing results in behavioral and emotional change. As the addiction continues, so do the negative changes on the brain. As stated by Premiere Health, the effects of screen time are similar to those of cocaine, both impacting the brain's frontal cortex. Comparable to drugs, screen time creates a pleasure cycle which is difficult to stop.

Researchers at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, performed an MRS exam on patients that are smartphone addicts before behavioral therapy and after. Turns out that a neurotransmitter in the brain that slows the brain's signals down, gamma aminobutyric acid, GABA, and glutamate glutamine, causes neurons to be more “electrically excited,” are the ones causing it. The ratio of GABA to glutamate glutamine is too high. Having GABA too high can cause problems like anxiety and drowsiness. That’s where the behavioral and emotional change comes in and completely declines. That leads young adults to hide behind screens where they feel “safe” and away.

“The increased GABA levels and disrupted balance between GABA and glutamate in the anterior cingulate cortex may contribute to our understanding the pathophysiology of and treatment for addictions,” stated professor of neuroradiology, Dr. Seo to Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in 2017.

With that being said, the treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy, does seem to get good outcomes. The levels of GABA decrease immensely and they can even be normalized. Therefore, smartphone addicts can improve or potentially be “cured."

In addition to mental health, electronics also affect the physical body. When watching a screen, phone, computer, whatever it may be, people tend to tilt their head down, and being in that position for long periods of time leads to muscle fatigue. A lot of that leads to musculoskeletal disorders. Bad posture is often associated with the mass usage of electronic devices. More common complications are back pain, neck pain, wrist pain, and finger muscle aches. At King Khalid University Hospital in Saudi Arabia, a study showed the correlation between carpal tunnel syndrome, CTS, and the use of smartphones. Individuals who spend more than four hours a day are more likely to have CTS occur. Along with that, those who hold their phones with one hand are more at risk for carpal tunnel than those who hold their phones with two hands.

Technology advancement is inevitable. For the past few decades, each generation has grown up around different forms of technology. From TVs, flip phones, gaming consoles, and now cell phones, it is obvious each generation resorts to screens for each need. It is not exclusively a teenager's fault for their screen addiction, their environment is a major factor. Parents are raising their young, impressionable children with devices, causing them to be concerningly attached to them. Children play outside significantly less compared to when their parents or grandparents were kids. There is a stronger worry about safety from parents to their children, especially for things like kidnappers, bullies, unsafe drivers, and strangers. Activeforlife.com states parents are worrying about strangers, bullies, teenagers, and traffic, which provide the biggest barriers to independent active free time. Looking at past generations, these concerns have elevated over time. It's not the same anymore. COVID-19 forced whole countries to work from home, teach students online, and made people resort to devices only for communication. Pen and paper are replaced by computers and printers, and letters by emails. The invention of the internet was a monumental occasion. It is practically a cure for boredom and also a way for people to express themselves. Social media has an unspoken competition between everyone. Whoever seems the happiest wins. Likes, comments, and followers are ego boosters. Mentalhelp.net states this creates a vicious cycle of using the Internet to achieve that "'hit' of dopamine," similar to drugs but without the consequences. Nowadays, things on social media slowly create increasingly unrealistic expectations for people, especially teenagers, to look and be a certain way. The age at which kids start engaging with social media and creating social media accounts is concerningly young. According to The New York Times, kids as young as eight are beginning to use social media more than ever. Most of the current generation of teenagers started in middle school.

"I don't think phones should be accessible so early, middle schoolers should be experiencing new things instead of on their phones," said DDHS sophomore Kayla Nguyen.

At David Douglas High School, there has been an increase in phone usage both during and between classes. Despite the no phones policy that is enforced by teachers, many students are frequently seen using a cell phone or with headphones on. A survey conducted at the high school revealed that the average time students spent on their phones everyday was six hours. This is during weekdays, where seven hours of the day are spent at school. At school, each student has their own Chromebook they use for assignments. Classes are 87 minutes long and some teachers require students to use their Chromebooks for the whole duration of class. It is clear children and teens are becoming increasingly dependent on screens and devices.