Protecting the Developing Mind in a Digital Age: A Global Policy Imperative

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19452829.2025.2518313?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8i9s0pvluqjTGHegc314hcQwfmwBrEVtYCULEj_hMtwW7bq3ke1rL4BEr6qetdk3lyo1q2C-8SBd_QqeT_c80EVW143A&_hsmi=372144235&utm_content=372144235&utm_source=hs_email A new study on teens, phones, & mental health For young adults, owning a smartphone before age 13 is associated with worse mental health, according to a study of 100,000 people ages 18 to 24 published today in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. Suicidal thoughts, aggression, feeling detached from reality, and hallucinations saw the strongest link. The data come from the Global Mind Project, which includes mental health assessment scores for more than 2 million people around the world. Of course, correlation doesn’t equal causation. The association was also affected by factors like early social media access, cyberbullying, and IRL complications like disrupted sleep and poor family relationships. Still, “the explanatory power of technology is tantalizing,” as Molly Fischer wrote in the New Yorker a few weeks ago, reviewing journalist Matt Richtel’s latest book, “How We Grow Up.” Richtel positions phones as a legitimate concern, but not the singular explanation for the teen mental health crisis, Fischer writes. Richtel has even come up with a name for today’s teens: “Generation Rumination.” Journal of Human Development and Capabilities https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cjhd20