More and more young adults and teens are feeling unhappy, depressed, and downright sad; This is the alarming trend that surveys conducted among young people in recent years have shown.
According to the latest figures, there has been a dramatic increase in mood disorders and psychological distress in today’s teens and young adults.
We dove into these alarming statistics and wondered if there is a way to help young people (spoiler alert, we can).
JM Twenge of the San Diego State University Department of Psychology, a psychologist active in young adult and adolescent issues, along with her colleagues, carefully studied and analyzed the data from the National Drug and Health Survey and found terrifying figures:
- There was a 52% increase in mood disorders, predominant depressive thoughts, and consequently suicide-oriented outcomes among adolescents (12-17 years);
- and a 63% increase among young adults (ages 18-25).
Fortunately, people over the age of 26 do not identify with these numbers.
Who To Blame?
JM Twenge and her colleagues claim that there are 2 modern factors to blame for this:
- The growth of electronic communication
- A decrease in the duration of sleep.
Social media, various messengers, and other attributes of the digital world affect a growing person much more than we think.
Actual communication seems to have reached a minimum, children spend all their free time talking with friends online or watching videos on YouTube, the content of which can also be the reason for their mood disorders and feelings of unhappiness.
Since the time spent online flies by very quickly, it becomes more difficult to put devices aside and sleep on time.
As a result, teens began to reduce their sleep regimen so as not to miss something important online.
However, it is a well-known fact that getting a good night’s sleep helps the body recharge, gives it the power to perform intellectual tasks better, and to feel better overall.
How Can We Get Out of This Situation?
Today, the ability to communicate with your child at any time seems to be extremely important.
Therefore, parents can find it difficult to reduce their children’s online time or, even more so, try to keep them away from devices while they are at school.
Using a smartwatch can be a good option – you can always see where the children are and make sure they are not surfing the internet.
Monitoring our children’s web activities and the time they spend online can help keep parents’ mental health in order, as well as their children’s.
Fortunately, most smartphones have special options that allow parents to limit their children’s screen time, monitor the content their children watch, and control the general access to online activities.
Also, there are a bunch of applications that can help parents with this too.
Additionally, parents should always find time to question their children’s lives and show support, understanding, and empathy when necessary.
Could it be that kids try to fulfill a lack of attention from their parents by staying online around the clock?
Perhaps it is best for us as parents to start limiting our time online first to make the new generation happier.
Do you think that the modern digital age has more advantages or disadvantages? We will be happy to hear from you in the comments!
Preview photo credit Zendaya / Instagram
