The smartphone: Friend or foe, or both?

THERE is an urgent need for public attention to focus on a silent crisis affecting our youth, which is the complex, two-way relationship between loneliness and problematic media use (PMU). PMU refers to excessive engagement with social media, gaming, and smartphones – behaviours that are increasingly shaping how young people relate to the world and to themselves.

Our recently published meta-analysis of longitudinal studies across the globe confirms a troubling pattern: loneliness can lead to excessive digital depen-dency, and in turn, this depen-dency deepens loneliness over time. It is a destructive feedback loop – a psychological trap in which the very tools designed for connection end up isolating us.