Smartphones are fueling youth mental health crisis: US lawmakers

Washington: Widespread smartphone and social media use among children is driving a sharp rise in depression, anxiety and suicide, top American lawmakers and experts have said calling it a public health crisis that demands urgent government action.

Parents are increasingly alarmed by the amount of time children spend on screens and the nature of the content they consume, said Senator Ted Cruz, during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing titled “Plugged Out: Examining the Impact of Technology on America’s Youth.”

Cruz said children aged 8 to 12 now spend an average of 5.5 hours a day on screens, while teenagers spend more than 8.5 hours a day. “More than half of a teenager’s waking hours are spent staring at a screen,” he said, calling the trend deeply troubling for parents and educators.

Psychologist Jean Twenge told lawmakers that the youth mental health crisis accelerated sharply after 2012, when smartphones became widespread and social media use shifted from optional to nearly mandatory for adolescents.

“Clinical-level depression doubled among adolescents and young adults between 2011 and 2019,” Twenge said. She added that emergency room visits for self-harm doubled among girls aged 15 to 19 and quadrupled among girls aged 10 to 14 over the same period, while suicide rates in those age groups also doubled.

Twenge said the timing of the mental health decline did not align with economic factors but closely tracked the rise of smartphones and social media. “This was the first time the majority of Americans owned smartphones,” she said, describing it as a pivotal moment for adolescent behavior.

Noting that social media platforms are deliberately designed to capture attention, using algorithms that keep young users scrolling, Ranking Member Maria Cantwell cited research showing that teenagers spend more than an hour a day on smartphones during school hours alone, often on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

Cantwell said studies have linked heavy social media use to higher rates of anxiety, depression and isolation among youth. She also cited findings showing that roughly 40 percent of teens exhibit concerning patterns of media addiction, which she said doubles the risk of suicidal behavior.

Pediatrician Jenny Radesky said many digital products used by children were never designed with youth development in mind. “Most digital products used by youth were designed by adults for adults and retrofitted for children after harms were recognized,” she said.

Radesky warned that engagement-driven designs often conflict with basic needs such as sleep, homework and family interaction. She said frequent notifications, algorithmic feeds and compulsive design features make it difficult for children to disengage, contributing to stress and emotional dysregulation.

Several senators expressed concern that schools are compounding the problem by issuing internet-connected devices to students with limited safeguards. Cruz said many parents find it harder to manage screen time when children are required to use laptops or tablets for schoolwork.

“There are not many parents who think it has become easier to help their kids when schools send them home with a tablet,” he said, adding that technology in classrooms should be evaluated for whether it improves learning or causes harm.

Experts also warned that sleep deprivation and reduced face-to-face interaction are worsening the crisis. Twenge said teens now spend significantly less time with friends in person and are sleeping less than previous generations, both factors strongly linked to poor mental health outcomes.

Lawmakers from both parties said the problem is likely to intensify as artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in platforms used by children, increasing exposure to addictive and emotionally manipulative content.

IANS