Smartphones are creating a mentally fragile generation of millennials that are less likely to work, have a driver’s licence and go on dates

People born in 1995 or later are unhappy, mentally fragile and leading more sheltered lives than previous generations, according to a leading psychologist.

This group of young people are the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smartphone, according to Daily Mail.

A psychology professor has dubbed this latest demographic as the ‘iGen’ – young people raised on smartphones and social media.

According to Professor Jean Twenge from San Diego State University young people are probably the safest generation ever but are maturing at a slower rate than in decades past.

Professor Twenge says this generation are less likely to have a driver’s licence, to work in a paying job, to go out on dates, to go out without their parents compared to past teens.

However, the lack of fulfilment felt by young people as a result of their screen-time has led to a spike in depression, self-harm and suicide among young people, she claims.

Professor Twenge says smartphones and social media are raising an unhappy, compliant ‘iGen’.

Professor Twenge and her colleague Professor Keith Campbell, studied more than 40,000 children aged between two and  17 for a nationwide health survey in 2016.   

Professor Twenge said: ‘They have the sense that they are missing out on something. They realise that being on the phone all the time is probably not the best way to live.

‘They don’t like it when they’re talking to a friend and their friend is looking at their phone.

‘Many of them have a recognition of the downsides of that type of living as well.’

Professor Twenge said that since 2011 she has witnessed a sudden change in teen behaviour and mental health, with more people feeling lonely or left out, or that they could not do anything right, that their life was not useful.

These, she says, are all telltale symptoms of depression.

‘Depressive symptoms have climbed 60 per cent in just five years, with rates of self-harm like cutting (themselves) that have doubled or even tripled in girls,’ Professor Twenge revealed.

‘Teen suicide has doubled in a few years. Right at the time when smartphones became common, those mental health issues started to show up.

‘That change in how teens spend their time is so fundamental for mental health.’

In order to help young people weather the storm that comes from social media, Professor Twenge advises parents and children alike to proactively take control of their leisure time.

Previous research has suggested limiting digital media use to about two hours a day or less for the mental wellbeing of 13 to 18-year-olds. 

Jean Twenge is an author whose works include ‘iGen’ and ‘Generation Me.’

N.H.Kh