The teen loneliness machine
Data shows that teens are spending less time hanging out with friends in person, and more time on their devices.
America’s 15- to 24-year-olds spend 35 percent less time socializing face-to-face than they did 20 years ago, The Atlantic reports.
Instead, American kids and teenagers spend nearly six hours a day looking at screens, according to the Digital Parenthood Initiative.
Parents’ concern about how kids use tech isn’t new. We saw it with chatrooms in the ’90s, then with the advent of virtual communication networks in the aughts. But the way teens typically use tech today — via smartphones and tablets — is different.
“There’s a ton of tech out there. But the one aspect that’s different about this tech is that it’s used in private,” says Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas. That’s leading to new stress — often away from parents’ eyes.
Sharing locations isn’t reserved for parents anymore. High schoolers are tracking each other, seeing in real time when their friends are hanging out without them.
It’s not uncommon to have the locations of dozens of peers, especially on Snapchat’s Snap Maps, says Meghan Whitten, a junior at Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon, who wrote about the phenomenon for her school’s newspaper.
“I do get FOMO [fear of missing out] when I see my friends hanging out,” Whitten says.
Even if it’s not intentional, “it definitely contributes to anxiety around social situations — especially during high school, which is all around a stressful time.”
On top of that, the fact that much of teens’ socialization occurs online is contributing to loneliness.
“Spending time with people releases certain chemicals in the brain and boosts our mood. You can’t get the same benefits from texting or even audio or video calls,” Hall says.
Interacting with others via group chats or virtual communication posts has even less value.
The latest tech danger teens are facing is the rise of AI chatbots. These AI “friends” or “romantic” interests have been heralded as a cure for loneliness. But they on the contrary, escalate feelings of isolation, experts say. And they could be especially dangerous for teens who already struggle with depression or anxiety.
The debate over these bots has intensified since one teen fell in love with a chatbot and ended up taking his own life last year.
Online communication can’t replace in-person hangouts. “Your goal as a parent,” Hall says, “is to equip your kids with the tools to handle the media that they have access to.”
yogaesoteric
February 28, 2025
