Interesting, long read about #GenZ, #smartPhones and adolescent #MentalHealth.
"They spent far less time playing with, talking to, touching, or even making eye contact with their friends and families, thereby reducing their participation in social behaviour that is essential for successful human #development.
"The members of gen Z are, therefore, the test subjects for a radical new way of growing up, far from the real‐world interactions of small communities in which humans evolved. Call it the Great #Rewiring of Childhood. It’s as if they became the first generation to grow up on Mars. And it has turned them into the #Anxious #Generation.
"There was little sign of an impending mental illness crisis among adolescents in the 2000s. Then, quite suddenly, in the early 2010s, things changed. In just five years between 2010 and 2015, across the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and beyond, the number of young people with anxiety, #depression and even suicidal tendencies started to rise sharply... The increases were similar for both sexes and happened across all races and social classes. And among a variety of mental health diagnoses, #anxiety rates rose diagnoses, anxiety rates rose the most."