screen teen
RATES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION ARE AT NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN LEVELS AMONG TEENAGERS. TO SOME, SCREENS ARE THE CULPRIT, BUT IS IT REALLY THAT SIMPLE?
No new technology in the history of humanity has been adopted as rapidly as the smartphone. The first iPhone was sold on 29 June 2007. Twelve years later and there are an estimated 2.5 billion people with a smartphone—essentially one-third of the world’s population. In countries like Australia, the penetration is close to universal. A Deloitte study in 2018 put our rate of smartphone ownership at close to 90 per cent, making us the most enthusiastic adopters in the world. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne revealed that 94 per cent of teenagers, two-thirds of primary school children and one-third of pre-schoolers own their own smartphone or tablet.
Most parents will not need to be told that screens are an increasingly omnipresent part of domestic life. The Royal Children’s Hospital survey
