It’s a worry

Social media and excessive screen time cannot solely be blamed for a rise in anxiety disorders in young people, according to a new book by a leading sociologist.

In Why We Worry, sociologist Roland Paulsen argues that it is too simplistic for psychologists to say screens have created new forms of addiction that isolate young people from the world. He warns that this oversimplification can get in the way of meaningful mental health interventions.

The author says steep increases in anxiety and depression among teenagers began long before children had exposure to social media. Using evidence-based research and real patient case studies, he suggests that many other factors are at play such as obsession with work status, too much choice and excessive focus on long-term planning.

Cases of anxiety disorders have risen because modern society has developed a learned inability to live with uncertainty, says Paulsen.

Paulsen, Associate Professor of Sociology at Lund University in Sweden, says: “Many argue that social media and screen time is the main factor behind the past decade’s rising levels of ill health among the young.

“However, it is difficult to draw such simplistic, ‘x leads to y’ connections when it comes to human well-being. For one thing, the sharp rise in mental health issues started well before the advent of smartphones.

“Screen time may well have an effect but there are a lot of things that have an effect on how we are feeling. Humanity has, on a collective level, developed an inability to live with uncertainty. What if questions are our mind’s way of dealing with uncertainty.”

Paulsen provides a comprehensive overview of how and why people experience unwanted thoughts and negative voices. He presents real-life cases involving obsessive compulsive thinking alongside philosophical, sociological and psychological theories. The book questions what it calls the now widespread medicalisation of ‘feelings’ that were once considered normal.

Paulsen also challenges the belief that ‘what if?’ thinking has always existed. The sociologist says that our ‘inner critics and eternal self-suspicions’ are a relatively young phenomena from a historical perspective. Ancient man had to live in the present because there were no crops to tend.

Now, the future has been stretched to ‘incomprehensibility’ such as thousand-year plans for radioactive waste. We obsess about the future because our ‘time horizon’ lies way beyond concrete experience, says Paulsen.

Choice and the mass production of culture and technology has also infiltrated people’s lives. The consequence is affluent people face over 200 daily choices relating to eating habits alone, and this creates anxiety about making the wrong decision.

Material wealth has enriched our lives in every aspect except one – mental well-being. The book uses data that shows the wealthier the country, the greater the risk of anxiety disorders and other mental health problems.

On the theme of social media and loneliness, the author counters the notion that technology is programmed to discourage people from meeting others face-to-face.

Paulsen says: “People who are already lonely typically go online looking for distractions and a sense of context. Once they become hooked, they make less of an effort to see others, which simply makes them even more lonely.”

The book cites data suggesting paid work does not improve health. Society has created a ‘division between winners and losers’ where the worry of what others think about job status is a real issue, not the risk in affluent countries of being able to survive without work.

Further information

Why We Worry: A Sociological Explanation by Roland Paulsen.
ISBN: Paperback: 9781032847771 | Hardback: 9781032847795 | eBook 9781003514930
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003514930