The modern devil is cheap dopamine. —Naval Ravikant

Everything in moderation, including moderation. —Oscar Wilde

It’s said that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes.

With the Cambrian explosion of content brought on by the Information Age, I fear another, equally-pernicious third certainty has emerged: an increase in screentime.

At face level, one might react with a sigh, shrug, or so what. Unfortunately, what we do know about the relationship between increased screentime and young, growing brains is troubling (and seemingly the tip of the iceberg).

But first, the statistics (all sources hyperlinked):

Couple that growth with its penetration amongst young people:

And skyrocketing screentime amongst children as young as five…

The worst part? The above data is from 2023.

The latest available data from 2024 points an even more grim picture:

This equates to 43% of a teen’s waking hours.

Emerging research has drawn some frightening conclusions from this phenomenon. In age order (emphasis mine):

• Early Screen-Time Exposure and Its Association With Risk of Developing Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

  • “Electronic devices are a double-edged sword. Despite their benefits, they have many potential hazards to children’s neurological development. Previous studies have investigated the effects of unsupervised screen time and its impact on white matter development during the early years of life of children…We found that the longer the period of screen exposure, the higher the risk that the child may develop Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Further, the earlier the child is exposed to screens, the higher the risk of developing ASD in children compared to children exposed later.”

• Screen Time, Sociodemographic Factors, and Psychological Well-Being Among Young Children

  • “In a nationally representative sample of 48,775 young US children, children who had 2 or more hours a day of screen time had lower levels of psychological well-being indicators, compared to children who had 1 hour a day of screen time.”

• Screen time and early adolescent mental health, academic, and social outcomes in 9- and 10- year old children: Utilizing the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development ℠ (ABCD) Study

  • “The high rate of electronic media use among children and adolescents begs the question: is screen time harming our youth? The current study draws from a nationwide sample of 11,875 participants in the United States, aged 9 to 10 years, from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study®). We investigate relationships between screen time and mental health, behavioral problems, academic performance, sleep habits, and peer relationships by conducting a series of correlation and regression analyses, controlling for SES and race/ethnicity. We find that more screen time is moderately associated with worse mental health, increased behavioral problems, decreased academic performance, and poorer sleep.”

As if this wasn’t bad enough, how are things for those on the precipice of adulthood? Those who, as Freya India beautifully recounted in A Time We Never Knew:

…were given phones and tablets so early that we barely remember life before them. Most of us never knew falling in love without swiping and subscription models. We never knew having a first kiss without having watched PornHub first. We never knew flirting and romance before it became sending DMs or reacting to Snapchat stories with flame emojis. We never knew friendship before it became keeping up a Snapstreak or using each other like props to look popular on Instagram. And the freedom—we never felt the freedom to grow up clumsily; to be young and dumb and make stupid mistakes without fear of it being posted online. Or the freedom to be unavailable, to disconnect for a while without the pressure of Read Receipts and Last Active statuses. We never knew a childhood spent chasing experiences and risks and independence instead of chasing stupid likes on a screen. Never knew life without documenting and marketing and obsessively analyzing it as we went.

It doesn’t look good; researchers at Northwestern and the University of Oregon recently sought ought evidence of the Flynn Effect, the idea that the IQ of a population generally appears to increase each generation.

As the study authors noted: IQ scores have “substantially increased since 1932 and through the 20th century, with differences ranging from 3.0 to 5.0 IQ points.”

Disconcertingly, they found the exact opposite: IQ points had declined over the study period. Declines were seen widely across the board regardless of age and gender, but the steepest slump was found among people with lower levels of education and younger participants aged 18 to 22.

This is the first time this has happened this century.

Though correlation is not causation and I do words, not data science, where there is smoke there is usually fire. That is, I have to think the increase in screentime is at least partially to blame.

Where do we go from here?

Well, screens are sticky because they stimulate the neurotransmitter dopamine, which acts on areas of the brain to give you feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation.

Naval Ravikant said it well: “The modern devil is cheap dopamine.”

We ought to go back to the basics and cultivate good, hard-won dopamine:

Work out.

Hug a lover.

Touch grass.

Read a book.

Catch up with an old friend.

After all, you’re going to die one day.

And, as far as I know, no one has ever wished for more screentime on their deathbed.

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