Were you happier before owning a smartphone?

For the past year I (28M) have been nostalgic for the time before smartphones. Part of me wonders if this nostalgia is based on the fact I didn’t get my first smartphone until I was 18 in 2014, so of course I’m going to be nostalgic of my teenage years, or if in fact smartphones have had a negative influence on my and the world’s mental health. I’ve been reading books about this topic and can’t help but feel it’s not just teenage nostalgia, but smartphones really have taken a toll on our ability to concentrate, live in the moment and find happiness.

I hold my IPhone 14 and I want to love it for the amazing device it is, a phone, map, music player, camera, etc all in one, but when I hold it I feel empty. As opposed to when I hold my old slide phone and IPod, I am reminded of how much joy those simpler devices brought to my life.

Growing up I was also a sad and lonely kid, but I felt optimistic about the future. I noticed when I first got a smartphone was also the time in my life when I began to feel more depressed and hopeless. This was also when I entered college which were some of the loneliest and depressing years of my life. This was also the time smartphones took over and by my senior year, it felt impossible to even watch a movie with friends without most most people distracted by their phones. It wasn’t until this year when I realized how much my phone was sucking my time, deleted social media apps and regained a sense of hope in my life and felt the weight of depression begin to lift.

I know the world prior to smartphones was far from a utopia, especially as the preceding years had Columbine, 9/11, Iraq War and 08 financial crisis, etc. I know people get defensive of smartphones saying the world has always been messed up, but for me the big difference is we weren’t carrying around 24/7 negative feedback loops in our pockets. It was easier to feel and process emotions of loneliness when we weren’t carrying something in our pockets where we could open up social media and feel even more lonely.

I believe social media initially added something positive to our society, as it was more focused on keeping in contact with people you actually knew. Then with smartphones, social media was everywhere we went and inescapable. There was something special about waiting until you got home to go on social media and using it as a social tool as opposed to being in public and mindlessly scrolling. Then came the algorithms and influencers, these platforms become more focused on sucking in your attention. Instead of being platforms to share your life, they became about distracting you from your life.

I know it’s not just me, at least once a week I have a conversation with a friend or co-worker who span multiple generations about how smartphones are negatively impacting our mental health and missing life before smartphones.