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Freakonomics Radio

602. Is Screen Time as Poisonous as We Think?

Young people have been reporting a sharp rise in anxiety and depression. This maps neatly onto the global rise of the smartphone. Some researchers are convinced that one is causing the other. But how strong is the evidence?
Duration
49m
Broadcast on
11 Sep 2024
Audio Format
other

Young people have been reporting a sharp rise in anxiety and depression. This maps neatly onto the global rise of the smartphone. Some researchers are convinced that one is causing the other. But how strong is the evidence?

 

 

 


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Free economics radio is sponsored by PNC Bank, boring, great word, bad rep. Yet time and time again, here at Free economics we find that when something culture changing happens, boring things like calculations and careful planning are usually behind it. Which begs the question, why not apply it to other aspects of life? Like banking, for example. Well PNC Bank did, since its inception, proving time and again that the best banking strategy isn't the exciting type but the steady, reliable, definitely not YOLO type. PNC Bank, brilliantly boring, since 1865, brilliantly boring since 1865 is a registered mark of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC Bank National Association, member FDIC. Free economics radio is sponsored by Hotels.com. Hotels.com helps you find and book the right stay for work faster. With business preferences, save your travel must-haves like gym access or breakfast, just once then get tailored results whenever you search for work travel. Plus with a free membership you can save up to 20% on hotels and earn rewards on every stay for future travel. Book now at Hotels.com, visit Hotels.com for details. Free economics radio is sponsored by Amica. You know what they say, if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. So go with Amica and get coverage from a mutual insurer that's built for their customers, one that looks after what's important to you together. Auto, home, life and more coverage that fits your unique needs. Amica helps you protect what matters most. Visit amica.com and get a quote today. Free economics radio is sponsored by Mint Mobile. With Mint Mobile's summer sale, all of Mint's plans are $15 per month, even unlimited. Free yourself from big wireless and switch to Mint for high-speed data and coverage on the T-Mobile 5G network. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com/freak. That's mintmobile.com/freak. Front payment $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for 12 months. Plan required $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy, includes up to 20 gigabytes hotspot. Capable device required availability, speed and coverage varies. Seamintmobile.com. I am going to say a dirty word. Screen time. That simple and suddenly terrifying word includes all the hours that you spend streaming movies, playing video games, especially the hours you spend caught in the vortex of social media and news and communication that gushes from your phone. Everyone seems to have something to say about screen time, from the American Academy of Pediatrics to religious and educational leaders to the New York Times opinion section, especially the New York Times opinion section. Our own devices scold us with reminders to get off Instagram to hold the phone further away to avoid eye strain. If you have an iPhone, you know that it tracks the hours you spend on it every day and then makes a point to tell you that number, that always surprisingly large number. The people we are most worried about when it comes to screen time are children and teenagers. Parents around the world are in a full-on panic about the relationship between screen time and mental health, in part because there is new scientific evidence on this relationship. What we've observed from around 2014 was high school kids. We were seeing a rise in their use of internet and smartphones and so on, and a big rise in their anxiety levels, depression levels, all kinds of things. That sounds terrible, but is the case against screen time really that clear cut? Today on Freakadamics Radio, we will hear the evidence and some challenges to the evidence. It's very easy to fool yourself as an analyst. We'll also discuss the incentives at play. That's how op-eds work. Like, people are desperate for one weird trick to save your life. Still, you'd have to be a cold-hearted person to think that nothing should change. The question

Transcription truncated.

Young people have been reporting a sharp rise in anxiety and depression. This maps neatly onto the global rise of the smartphone. Some researchers are convinced that one is causing the other. But how strong is the evidence?