Screen Time and Mental Health: How Technology Is Affecting Your Anxiety, Depression, and Loneliness

May 15

Technology allows us to be more available, more “connected”, and gives us all the information we could need at our fingertips. While we are still learning about the long-term effects of increased technology usage, we can analyze trends that point to a probable link between increased anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and loneliness that comes with technology use.

What causes the impact?

The average person in the United States spends over 7 hours on screens per day, with almost 2.5 hours of social media-specific screen time. Have you ever gotten on your phone or laptop for a specific task and suddenly an hour passes? How do you notice your mood shift? Do your shoulders tense up?

Social media has proven to be extremely addictive, activating the reward center in our brains and releasing dopamine, making it hard to detach from. Additionally, media that uses filters and editing can affect our self-perception, leading to increased feelings of self-consciousness. Being flooded with information, news, and fear wreaks havoc on our nervous system.

When we focus on what others are posting, we can often suffer from the fear of missing out on what others are highlighting. Furthermore, we increase our likelihood of cyberbullying and harassment online, with 44% of people reporting they have experienced this aspect of the internet. The internet has gotten even more addictive and “smarter,” learning our preferences and deliberately becoming more addictive to keep us engaged for longer.

How can we combat this?

There are plenty of positives to screens, social media, and the digital age. We don’t want to get rid of it entirely.

Try setting time limits on social media and screen time,

Set certain hours you can and cannot use screens or social media.

Be mindful of the content you consume.

Overall, try to prioritize your mental health. Engage more with in-person connections and activities. Try getting outside and diving into your hobbies. Be mindful of how you feel when you engage with technology vs when you do not. Consider talking to a professional to address the negative thought patterns and their impact on your mental health if you feel that you could benefit from support.

Columbia University Department of Psychiatry. (2024). Smartphones, Social Media, and Their Impact on Mental Health. https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/research/research-areas/child-and-adolescent-psychiatry/sultan-lab-mental-health-informatics/research-areas/smartphones-social-media-and-their-impact-mental-health

MagnetABA. (2025). Average Screen Time Statistics. https://www.magnetaba.com/blog/average-screen-time-statistics

UCDavisHealth. (2024). Social media’s impact on our mental health and tips to use it safely. https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/social-medias-impact-our-mental-health-and-tips-to-use-it-safely/2024/05