Teens who spend less time in front of screens are happier — up to a point, new research shows

[Alvin]

In recent months, Silicon Valley executives have been speaking out about the purposefully addictive designs of smartphones and social media, which make them hard to put down for anyone, but particularly teenagers. Now, a new report puts numbers to the warnings by tying a sudden and large drop in adolescents’ happiness with the proliferation of smartphones and finding that the more hours a day teens spend in front of screens, the less satisfied they are.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...are-happier-up-to-a-point-new-research-shows/

 

[MEMarge]

Just glanced thro' this and several points spring to mind.

• Pressures from school are increasing yearly in UK. Especially hard for non academic kids. Can't blame the schools as their performance is judged on the results at GCSE and A level. Hopefully the pressure at A level has decreased a little, since the funding changes have meant that most students will only do 3 A-levels, rather than starting with 4. Then only being able to drop them at the end of year 12 after AS level exams, or earlier if they do v badly in the January mocks.
• The social media aspect of "screens" from pictures on Facebook/Snapchat/Instagram and probably countless others, is a huge part of the problem. Teens and a large number of adults are only going to post good/exciting news and photos. Some of these will be photoshopped etc. Their posts are rarely an accurate view of them or their lives.

 

[sb4]

Blue light would have to be the main reason.