What’s wrong with the iGeneration?

In Morality in the 21st Century, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks suggests that people used to fall in love with people, now they also fall in love with phones.

Social media was supposed to broaden and deepen the connections between people. But several studies have shown that smartphones do the opposite, making us more isolated and depressed, the longer we spend using them.

This is having an impact not just on the iGeneration (those born after 1995) but on wider society. What do we know, and what needs to change?

1. How have i-Gen behaviours changed?

Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University says that iGen teens are not spending as much time hanging with their friends, face-to-face, in or out of the house. Although this process began before smartphones, they are growing up more slowly; they are missing milestones of adolescence, including having a driver’s licence, dating, drinking alcohol, having sex or a paid job. It’s as if childhood has extended into adolescence – smartphones have accelerated the process.

Especially for teen girls, comparing yourself with others – which social media and smartphones facilitates – has a big negative effect. They can’t process the fact that social media is curated and that users feature only the best of what they want to show – they are seeing people’s “highlight reels”. Healthcare professionals say they are picking up the pieces of a mental illness epidemic among children, fuelled by social media. App developers are starting to recognise that they have to address the smartphone addiction they have created, and are starting to put tools to combat the addiction into users’ hands.

Ours may be the age of the selfie, but we can still hear the call of the selfless.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

i-Genners counter that smartphones and tablets "offer a fantastic window into learning".

3. It can't be all bad?

Mostly… yes it is: it’s true that social media can be used to organise group actions, from charitable activities to protests. But overall, such teen group interactions – other than entertainment and keeping up with friends – are less pronounced than 20 years ago. Also, although i-Genners continued the trend of Millennials towards more equality, the latter’s manifestations of optimism, narcissism, high self-esteem and high life expectations plummeted after 2012.

In relationships, i-Genners are growing up an individualistic time in which it’s cool to say you don’t need anybody, that you’re an independent actor and not “thirsty”, ie needy in terms of relationships. At university level, participants in “hook-up” culture (defined as some kind of sexual activity without commitment) talk about “catching feeling”, as if that were a disease.

Prof Twenge says iGenners are the most physically safe but also the most mentally fragile generation: they are “terrified”. Suicide rates, self-harm and depression are on the rise. Their moral compass is defined by individualism – if you don’t hurt anyone else, you can do what you want.

i-Genners suggest that a moral compass can be defined by parents and school, but the shared experience of social media also allows a moral framework to evolve among peers.

Yes. Jean Twenge says i-Gen’s strong work ethic, practicality and concern for safety (as long as it doesn’t keep them from taking necessary risks) will serve them well in the future. This generation looks at things like school shootings and says, how can this possibly still happen, and wants to take action to prevent it. Forged in the crucible of the great recession, in general they have a more practical view of the world and know they will have to work hard to succeed in it.

While not having digital access can cause unhappiness, for the connected generation, limiting screen time is known to have the strongest effect on happiness. We can’t help the genes we are born with, or the negative things that happen to us, but we can control how we spend our leisure time.

If we see our friends in person, sleep well, get exercise, watch a sunset, try to be present in the moment, use our technology for what it’s good for (then put it down)... we’ll be happy.

Download Morality in the 21st Century: The Selfie Generation.