Smartphone-based social media is the principal cause of the rise in adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-harm seen across the U.S., U.K.
type: CreativeWork
type: ScholarlyArticle
type: Claim
type: RA
abstract: Smartphone-based social media is the principal cause of the rise in adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-harm seen across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and the Nordic countries since roughly 2012.
text: Smartphone-based social media is the principal cause of the rise in adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-harm seen across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and the Nordic countries since roughly 2012.
date created: 2026-04-30T03:37:08.150Z
date published: 2026-04-30T03:37:08.150Z
date modified: 2026-05-01T21:42:44.886Z
author: Person
publisher: Isonomia
is part of: Showcase: Smartphones, social media, and adolescent mental health
has conclusion: https://www.isonomia.app/c/48bb643e0ad00414b792f9953f3c3bb8d3030b8791514d3df3648e9355051e75
has premise: https://www.isonomia.app/c/0a4dfc2c16292da987cf2cafb9c95681197ec85a491471dea2b018fb0430b69f
has premise: https://www.isonomia.app/c/867ef7d723d4c8bf3f548cd201be6d50f1310f2f0ef4cfd84957990d07033f97
has premise: https://www.isonomia.app/c/5c976804965f7783bcb292fa931e4b77f8caaddfa62f4e3414e8d647aaac0954
uses scheme: Cause to Effect
applies scheme key: cause_to_effect
citation: The Anxious Generation (Haidt 2024)
citation: Haidt — Evidence collaboration
citation: U.S. Surgeon General Advisory: Social Media and Youth Mental Health (2023)
dialectical status: PropertyValue
  incoming attacks: 0
  incoming attack edges: 3
  incoming supports: 2
  critical questions required: 5
  critical questions answered: 4
  critical questions open: 1
  standing score: 0.65
  is tested: true
attestation: PropertyValue
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  retrieved at: 2026-08-30T19:18:37.473Z

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Showcase: Smartphones, social media, and adolescent mental health
type: CreativeWork

https://www.isonomia.app/c/48bb643e0ad00414b792f9953f3c3bb8d3030b8791514d3df3648e9355051e75
type: Claim
type: InformationNode
text: Smartphone-based social media is the principal cause of the rise in adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-harm seen across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and the Nordic countries since roughly 2012.

https://www.isonomia.app/c/0a4dfc2c16292da987cf2cafb9c95681197ec85a491471dea2b018fb0430b69f
type: Claim
type: InformationNode
text: Beginning around 2012, adolescent rates of major depressive episodes, emergency-department visits for self-harm, and completed suicides rose sharply and roughly contemporaneously across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and the Nordic countries — the same set of countries in which a majority of teens acquired smartphones, and in which image-based social platforms became dominant, during the 2010–2013 window.

https://www.isonomia.app/c/867ef7d723d4c8bf3f548cd201be6d50f1310f2f0ef4cfd84957990d07033f97
type: Claim
type: InformationNode
text: Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at NYU Stern whose 2024 book *The Anxious Generation* synthesizes the empirical literature on adolescent screen exposure and mental health and concludes that smartphone-based social media is the principal driver of the post-2012 decline.

https://www.isonomia.app/c/5c976804965f7783bcb292fa931e4b77f8caaddfa62f4e3414e8d647aaac0954
type: Claim
type: InformationNode
text: Multiple longitudinal and cross-sectional studies report a dose-response gradient in which adolescent girls who use social media heavily report higher rates of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and lower well-being than light users, with the gradient steepening above roughly two to three hours of daily use.

Cause to Effect
type: DefinedTerm
type: Scheme
term code: cause_to_effect

The Anxious Generation (Haidt 2024)
type: WebPage
description: A great rewiring of childhood produced an epidemic of mental illness.
archived at: WebPage
  date created: 2026-05-01T20:09:27.454Z
archived at: WebPage
  date created: 2026-05-01T21:19:11.309Z
archived at: WebPage
  date created: 2026-05-01T21:23:37.360Z
archived at: WebPage
  date created: 2026-05-01T21:26:27.844Z
archived at: WebPage
  date created: 2026-05-01T21:31:33.920Z
archived at: WebPage
  date created: 2026-05-01T21:32:38.843Z
archived at: WebPage
  date created: 2026-05-01T21:42:56.415Z

Haidt — Evidence collaboration
type: WebPage
name: Haidt — Evidence collaboration (Substack)

U.S. Surgeon General Advisory: Social Media and Youth Mental Health (2023)
type: WebPage

review
type: ClaimReview
date published: 2026-05-01T21:42:44.886Z
author: Isonomia
claim reviewed: Smartphone-based social media is the principal cause of the rise in adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-harm seen across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and the Nordic countries since roughly 2012.
item reviewed: Claim
  text: Smartphone-based social media is the principal cause of the rise in adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-harm seen across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and the Nordic countries since roughly 2012.
review rating: Rating
  rating: 0.65
  best rating: 1
  worst rating: 0
  rating explanation: Standing score derived from 4 of 5 critical questions answered, 0 inbound attacks, 2 inbound supports.