"In my Contemporary Issues senior seminar course this semester, my students and I have been reading The Anxious Generation, a book by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, that explores how smartphones and social media have rewired childhood and contributed to rising rates of children and youth's mental health, specifically anxiety and depression (Haidt, 2024). As psychologists study identity formation, digital culture, and emotional vulnerability, one theme seems to continuously surface: the reality of digital distress today often runs deeper than what we typically label " stress.""
"A 2025 study from researchers, Korkmaz et al., in the journal of Brain and Behavior helps illuminate part of this reality. The team examined adolescent girls who had experienced cyberbullying to determine whether resilience could protect them against negative mental health outcomes. Their findings were hopeful and sobering. They found that higher resilience was associated with lower stress, but it did not significantlyreduce anxiety or depression."
Smartphones and social media have reshaped childhood and contributed to rising rates of anxiety and depression among children and youth. Research on adolescent girls who experienced cyberbullying found higher resilience associated with lower stress but not with significant reductions in anxiety or depression. Stress reflects emotional and physiological overload, while anxiety and depression indicate threats to identity, belonging, and meaning. Resilience can help manage immediate stress but may not protect against deeper relational harm occurring in digital spaces. Supporting mental health requires helping individuals cope with stress and make sense of who they are or are becoming; spiritual strain can leave people emotionally unsettled.
Read at Psychology Today
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