Photo by Annette Riedl/picture alliance via Getty Images
Young people are unhappy, and many observers think they know what is to blame: technology. The most influential argument in this direction comes from the psychologist Jonathan Haidt. In his 2024 book The Anxious Generation, Haidt argued that giving young people smartphones in the early 2010s “rewired” childhood, which led to large upticks in anxiety, depression, and related ailments. Haidt’s argument has begun to influence policymakers in many locales, informing efforts to limit phone use in schools and to restrict youth access to social media platforms.
It is understandable why this story has proven attractive. The diffusion of mobile internet technology was a big change, and it’s easy to imagine that being constantly connected makes us feel anxious, self-conscious, and dissatisfied. However, there are problems with this account. For one thing, what do we make of the fact that English-speaking countries are significantly sadder than other countries where youth smartphone access is just as widespread? If it were just the phone, wouldn’t teens in other parts of the world be just as unhappy? It would be one thing if Anglophone youth reported greater use of digital technology than their counterparts elsewhere, but they don’t.
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Compact
______________________
Dario Marino is an Economic Policy Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where he focuses on innovation, productivity, technology policy, and regulatory reform.