[https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/03/06/digimeter-2023/](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/03/06/digimeter-2023/)

# 6 out of 10 young people think they are too dependent on smartphones: “Technology is like a wild animal in the house, you have to tame it”

More than 6 out of 10 Flemish young people between 18 and 24 years old feel that they have become too dependent on their smartphone. This is evident from the Digimeter, the annual survey of Flemish media use. That concern explains why almost everyone now imposes rules on themselves to limit that dependency.

No, the Flemings are not necessarily negative about technology. 7 out of 10 people are still convinced that technology makes our lives easier and more comfortable. But after corona, that optimism has cooled somewhat, according to the annual Digimeter survey conducted by the technological research center Imec among more than 2,300 people. For example, about half of them say that technological changes follow one another too quickly. And more than half (56 percent) also consider themselves too dependent on technology.

The latter certainly applies to our relationship with the smartphone. Already 4 out of 10 Flemish people surveyed say they are too dependent on their smartphone, an increase of 7 percentage points compared to a year ago. This concern is even greater among young people between the ages of 18 and 24: more than 6 out of 10 young people consider themselves too dependent.

[Studies](https://theorion.com/89932/opinion/social-media-algorithm-designed-to-be-toxic/) have shown that social media use is associated with increased rates of anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders. The constant feeling of being compared to others, the pressure of needing to present a perfect image, and the fear of missing out can lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. Moreover, the addictive nature of social media means that people often spend hours scrolling through their feeds, leading to a lack of productivity and further exacerbating mental health issues.

15 comments

  1. I am too dependent, yes, but most of that is sms, mail, messenger, facebook, … because I need people to be able to reach me and me to be able to reach them

  5. >Studies have shown that social media use is associated with increased rates of
    anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders. The constant
    feeling of being compared to others, the pressure of needing to present a
    perfect image, and the fear of missing out can lead to feelings of
    inadequacy and low self-esteem.

    Maybe the studies account for that, but I find that it goes the other way around. Being on my phone or browsing social media doesn’t cause or worsens my depression in any real way. It’s more that when I’m at the depths of my depression mindlessly browsing twitter or instagram is the only thing I can manage. It’s not impossible that the addictive design of those apps just creates that little dopamine drip that helps my brain focus on them, but it’s not like I would be doing anything more productive when I’m on the floor crying for an extended period of time.

    Not saying the studies are useless or anything (haven’t read them), just that they don’t represent my own experience.

  8. I was just talking to my wife about this topic this week. The consensus was that we actually could live without smartphone. Except for the fact that our banking app is on there, the app to log on to government websites, 2FA apps,…

    So are we “dependant” on it? I guess we are because we need those apps just to run our daily lives.

  9. My daughter is currently doing a social media app detox, cause yeah she felt the same.

  10. I have a phone mostly for reddit.

    Call me i don’t awser in most cases exept family member.

    Call me if i’m away, i don’t have my phone with me.

    I got the s21 ultra because my s8 was broken and photo tool was interesting in the end i took 3 pictures with it, my dog, the full moon and modem wifi password.

  12. The Facebook algorithm (and other social media too, no doubt) is so incredibly good to keep you scrolling, sometimes I just browse for an hour and I don’t even notice it. It also fucked with my attention span when watching a movie or tv series. It’s goddamn poison.

  14. >The constant feeling of being compared to others, the pressure of needing to present a perfect image, and the fear of missing out can lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem.

    I’m still old enough to remember school without smartphones and back then they just used bullying to accomplish this. what do we have now, cyberbullying, the easiest kind to ignore.

  15. Same. I’m 34 years old and I’m in IT.

    I realized yesterday the ungodly amount of screen time I’m used to.

    Taking steps to reduce it, but 8 hours at my job, then gaming, TV and smartphone in bed is how I spend many days.

    That has to change. I started reading a book xD

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