Our latest paper, published today in Royal Society Open Science, found that being alone heightens 'threat alert' in teenagers—even when they're connected on social media. 🧠📲 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240101
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🌎 Loneliness is a global public health crisis, especially among adolescents. We conducted an experiment with 40 teens aged 16-19 to see how isolation affects them—with and without their smartphones.
Our findings? Average self-reported loneliness more than doubled after isolation where participants could interact virtually and nearly tripled after complete isolation. 😟
Importantly, both types of isolation—even when teens could interact online—led to increased threat responses ❗⚡ (heightened sensing of potential dangers—typical in anxiety disorders).
💬💻📱 While virtual interactions made teens feel less lonely than complete isolation, their heightened threat response remained. This suggests that online socializing might not fully meet teenagers’ social needs. 👥
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Ah how cool! Thanks for sharing I would have had no idea! ✨
Hope you’re super well!
I remember talking about this! Thanks am well and hope you are too 🏆