EVANSTON — Last month, Gov. Mark Gordon and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder sent a letter to all district superintendents, school board members, building administrators and teachers in Wyoming. The letter spoke of the growing evidence that excessive, unregulated use of cellphones during school hours can lead to declines in academic performance, increase classroom disruptions and can contribute to the rise in mental health issues among teens.

Gordon and Degenfelder expressed concern that, in too many schools, unchecked student cellphone usage during instruction time poses a significant threat to both the educational experience and the mental well-being of students. They urged a review of cellphone policies and asked districts to “enforce these policies rigorously” to ensure the safety and well-being of students. If a district does not already have a cellphone policy, they “strongly recommend” they do so.

Mental health issues among teens have been rising for more than a decade, and some experts question how much social media is to blame. Concerns are the amount of time adolescents spend on platforms, the type of content they consume and the degree to which their online interactions disrupt activities essential for health, such as sleep and exercise.

Social media can affect users in different ways, depending on their strengths and vulnerabilities as individuals, as well as their cultural, historical and socio-economic backgrounds. The brain is going through a highly sensitive period between the ages of 10 and 19, when identities and feelings of self-worth are forming.

Preliminary data from an Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study found that increased screen time, including time spent on cellphones, is not just bad for the brain but can affect a child’s psychology, thinking patterns, sleep cycles and behavior, shortening their attention span and potentially encouraging violent or aggressive behavior.

Local family health nurse practioner Sunny Kaste has 24 years of pediatric experience. Before moving to Evanston, she worked in the Cheyenne Children’s Clinic and is currently employed at Uinta Medical Group. Kaste agrees with the studies regarding cellphone use and the impact on brain development. She said research is showing that overuse of smartphones can promote impulsive behavior due to serotonin constantly activated by constant stimulation from games and other apps.

During a child’s health wellness check, she encourages parents to limit their child’s screen and cellphone time. Babies and young children need face-to-face interaction with humans to develop properly; that is how humans were meant to develop, Kaste said.

“Children should not be given a smartphone until they are in high school, and they should be monitored to protect them from what is too easy to find on social media,” Kaste said. “At that age they are already more prone to anxiety and depression; what Pandora box have we opened with smartphones that impacts our children’s health and even our own? By giving young children a cellphone, we are setting them up to view things they shouldn’t be watching.”

Kaste said sleep deprivation is an issue with children today, and she believes that screen time should be avoided at least two hours before bedtime, and the cellphone removed and stored outside the bedroom. She said this is a good practice for adults as well as for children. The biggest issue with smartphones, Kaste said, is lack of monitoring and they can go everywhere with a child.

In the spring of 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released an advisory called Social Media and Youth Mental Health, in which he says there is growing evidence that social media is causing harm to young people’s mental health. Subsequently, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued its own health advisory. A year later, in June 2024, Dr. Murthy called for a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, which would require an act of Congress to implement.

Dr. Murthy’s report does point out the potential benefits of social media use by teens. A 2022 survey of American teenagers and their parents done by the Pew Research Center showed a majority of respondents felt that teenagrs who used social media felt more accepted (58%), had people who can support them through tough times (67%), have a place to show their creative side (71%) and are more connected to what’s going on in their friends’ lives (80%).

In spite of the benefits, studies show that  Americans ages 12-15 who used social media over three hours per day faced twice the risk of having negative mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety symptoms.

A review of 50 studies across 17 countries between 2016 and 2021 published in PLOS Global Public Health suggested that relentless online exposure to largely unattainable physical ideals may trigger a distorted sense of self and eating disorders. This is considered to be a particular problem for girls.

In addition, people who target adolescents, especially young girls — for instance adults seeking to sexually exploit teens or financially extort them through the threat or actual distribution of intimate images — may use social media platforms for these types of predatory behaviors.

Correlational studies show that heavy users of social media have higher rates of depression and anxiety, and the correlation is higher for girls than for boys. Girls use social media more than boys, and they use more visually oriented sources, which are worse for social comparison. Girls tend to compare themselves to computer perfect images on the screen and begin to feel less satisfied with their own looks, which may lead to eating disorders and depression.

Cyberbullying is a major issue for teens and it has surged among girls. Bullying between girls is more relational in nature and can include damaging the other’s relationships or reputations. Sadly, smartphones can accompany adolescents to school, to the bathroom, to their beds; therefore so, too, can their bullies.

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt saw from his findings in research that in the early 2010s, boys also saw a rise in depression and anxiety issues. However, unlike girls, boys experienced a slow decline since the 1970s in achievement and engagement in school, work and family life. Boys began to retreat from the physical world and retreated to the rapidly growing virtual world.

Boys are at greater risk than girls for “failure to launch.” They are more likely to become young adults who don’t pursue education, employment or any type of training and they withdraw from society. Like girls, once they got smartphones and they were online more, their mental health began to decline.

Boys became easy targets for online producers of free easy access pornography and the possibility of addiction. Addiction can lead to more isolation which can lead to despair and suicide.

Social media use among children and teens is nearly universal now, based on surveys from the Pew Research Center. In 2022, up to 95% of teenagers surveyed (ages 13 to 17) reported using social media and more than a third of them use it “almost constantly.”

The second article in this series will focus on other research findings regarding the harmful effects on boys and girls from an overuse of cellphones. The third in the series will focus on what can be done to reduce the harmful effects of cellphones among children.