Smartphones and Emotions: The Connection for Young People

Co-authored by Angela Patterson, Ph.D., and Alanna Rivera.

It’s hard to imagine a young person’s life without a smartphone. It’s hard to imagine my own without it.

And I’m probably not alone in that. Ninety-five percent of teens ages 13 to 17 have access to a smartphone, according to recent Pew research. Other surveys highlight that 91 percent of teens say they use their phones just to pass the time and that at least 44 percent of teens say they feel anxiety without them.

Some young people say they want to feel more in control of their smartphone use, not wanting to “waste their lives away because of it.” In considering my own smartphone use and the stories my friends tell, I know young people don’t always intend to engage in dependent phone use habits—and it’s not as easy as it seems to break them.

Harvard researchers Emily Weinstein and Carrie James surveyed more than 3,500 teens about social media use and observed that smartphones are crafted to capture and maintain an individual’s attention via endless scrolling, notification alerts, visualizations, etc. When these factors collide with a young person’s developing brain, the rushes of dopamine released to pleasure centers can lead to much stronger and more sensitive reactions.

This neurological susceptibility and the smartphone’s ubiquity can build habits such as dependence and distraction—from people, tasks, and emotions. Tristan Harris, a technology design ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, argues that new generations are conditioned to use phones as “digital pacifiers… which is atrophying our own ability to deal with [discomfort, loneliness, uncertainty, or fear].” Since teens are still developing self-regulation and impulse control, it is possible that when teens use smartphones to pacify emotions, such abilities could be hindered.

Feeling Triggered

Emotions like anxiety, dysphoria, or boredom could trigger a young person to resort to their phone to distract them from facing those feelings. Proposing a set of defined criteria for phone addiction, researcher Joël Billieux and team argue that “uncontrolled use” includes an inability to stop use in response to certain situations, cues, or emotional states. In turn, using the phone to self-soothe in response to negative emotions is described as a “reassurance strategy,” which works to strengthen the dependence relationship by removing the current negative feelings.

This pattern can become problematic when considering that young people are still developing their ability to regulate emotions. If a young person constantly resorts to their phone to pacify and distract them from their negative emotions, are they still able to strengthen the self-regulation skills that would help them face stressors?

Psychoanalyst Dustin Kahoud claims that, in this day and age, “Human beings are increasingly seeking nurturance through their smartphones rather than other human beings.” The smartphone is constantly competing with other people for the youth’s attention, Kahoud argues—he thinks the phone is winning.

Ultimately, this could normalize the phone as the primary source of gratification for most, if not all, of young people’s needs, including their emotional ones. While Kahoud’s claims might be extreme, they do signal the need for young people to have various coping and regulation skills at their disposal to reduce their dependence on the digital.

Gaining Control

For some young people, their smartphones might be the only way that they can soothe certain emotions at times. This can have real benefits, so I don’t want to entirely discount this method when used intentionally and in moderation. Yet, for those whose smartphones are becoming a crutch during emotional moments, research does show some solutions.

Researchers Kaeun Kim and team suggest practicing mindfulness, or “the conscious and non-judgmental acceptance of one’s feelings in the present moment,” to combat the risk of overdependence. This can help youth make more intentional decisions about how they use their time and phone.

Some techniques include proactively planning how to spend the day and taking the time to reflect on phone use by asking questions like, “What thought, feeling, or impulse led me to pick up my device?” or “What kind of emotions come up?” Additionally, a digital detox, voluntarily taking significant time away from a phone and social media, can lead to lower smartphone addictive behaviors and increases in positive feelings. Solutions may look different for each person, but recognizing the behaviors that underlie the relationship between youth and their smartphones can be the first step to gaining control.

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There is no denying that young people have successfully adapted to the increasingly technological world they have been born into. There are both potential benefits and consequences that form a complex relationship between youth and their smartphones. However complex, it is important to acknowledge and provide resources for youth to maintain the separation between self and phone.

Alanna Rivera is a Springtide Research Institute intern and senior at Yale University.