Lounging in your comfy bed at home, bored out of your mind, what do you do? Not go on a run and enjoy the fresh air, or do the puzzle that’s been sitting on the shelf, instead you pull out your phone for easy entertainment, the screen’s light illuminating your face. 

In a survey conducted by TIDIO, who has done many surveys, 63% of Gen Z phone users feel the need to fill any momentary boredom with the act of using a phone, whether it’s a few seconds or a few hours. This behavior has been proven to cause internet addiction disorders, depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders.

“I feel social media definitely contributes negatively to mental health,” Counselor Coleen Pribyl said. “All of us doom scroll at times, which can affect our moods and emotions.”

Many people fall into habits, such as doom scrolling, that can be detrimental to their mental wellbeing. This could mean getting sucked into something unproductive such as social media, and becoming unaware of passing time.

“A lot of mean things are being exchanged on social media platforms that spill over into real life,” Freshman counselor and Hope Squad leader Sarah Strawn said. “It creates anxiety and drama that would otherwise not exist if it wasn’t for social media.”

Counselors throughout schools, including Bellevue East, work to help students with various situations including their mental health. Many times they find that the negative effects of technology filter into people’s social lives, causing issues with people around them.

“Teenage brains are still being developed, so I think the impact is even more detrimental to young people,” Pribyl said. “I also think teenagers tend to stay on their phones later into the night, which means their brains are not given a break before they try to go to sleep.”

Not only does social media and electronics affect teenagers, but they affect younger ages too. The amount of content people are exposed to in such short periods of time can cause anxiety and increased ADHD symptoms.

“I do think technology affects mental health, especially with the younger generations being so invested and influenced by technology and social media as a whole from a very very young age,” senior and hope squad member Charli O’Quinn said.

Many people recognize how screens and devices impact children and teens, but they don’t see many of the lasting effects of them. Although people recognize that technology can bring anxiety and depression, people often don’t realize the increased rates of digital dementia or the lack of emotional responses to tragic events as a result of the media.

“I do know there is a lot of research showing the negative impacts of screen time for not only toddlers and children, but teenagers and adults,” Strawn said.

Mental health is being seen by many experts, such as the American Sociological Association, as an increasing issue due to technology more and more, and social media has been a major contributor to this. Seeing the negative impacts, some families use screen time limits and other methods of limiting technology use to combat this.

“For my younger family members they don’t have a phone, and if they have an iPad they have a certain amount of the day to play on it,” O’Quinn said. “And when that timer is up they have to give the iPad to their parents and have to play outside or with their toys for the rest of the day.”