New study reveals the extent of teenage smartphone use

‘They literally wake up and before they go to the bathroom, they’re on their phone.’ As he explains, whereas a lot of adults might mute notifications or switch off their devices altogether to focus, teens tend to keep them on.

‘An impulse pulls them toward looking at every single notification and encourages regular pickups,’ Steyer continues. ‘As a result, their attention is scattered.’

Highlighting what we were already well aware of – that phones are an inherently disruptive force in our lives – the findings make abundantly clear that young people are struggling to manage their screen time, which is taking a serious toll on their overall mental health.

That their phones are making them anxious and anti-social, they apparently know, with Common Sense Media’s additional data revealing that 58 per cent often avoid connecting with people IRL to spend more time scrolling, that 39 per cent recognise that they sometimes use their phones to escape reality, and that 30 per cent avoid their feelings by jumping tirelessly from app to app.

To combat this, Steyer believes that adults could do a great deal more to help adolescents develop healthier habits.

‘Young people need more support from family members and educators, as well as clear guardrails from the technologists who are intentionally designing these devices to be addictive, at the expense of kids’ well-being,’ he says, referring to the hits of feel-good chemicals that arrive with each individual buzz.

‘Use this as a way to reflect, exchange experiences, or experiment with changes in phone use to consider how it changes your mood, concentration, and sleep.’