Are new digital technologies and social media causing the spike in anxiety and depression in young people?

Abstract

The increasing rates of anxiety, depression and self-harm reported by young people in developed countries over the last decade has led to speculation about the associations between this evidence of deteriorating mental health and wellbeing and the rapid spread and use of new digital technologies, social media and personal messaging platforms (Orben and Przybylski, 2019; Nesi, 2020). It has become commonplace to assert that these rapid technological changes, and their associated adverse impacts on social group function and interpersonal behaviour, are the cause of these fundamental epidemiological shifts.