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WE’RE ONLY STARTING to see the effects of overusing technology — on our young people, and on ourselves.
Across my career in media, tech and research, I’ve thought a lot about how our lives have changed because of technology. How do we help people build meaningful relationships and communities? How is technology a friend or a foe in reaching this goal?
It’s been one year since Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation was published — a book that showcased the growing library of data that explains the impact of a “phone-based,” not a “play-based” childhood. Books like these shine a light on a turning point — particularly between 2010 and 2015 — when the internet began to reshape how we live, think and connect. Tech leaders and governments didn’t seem especially interested in how people’s behaviour was shifting. And now, in 2025, we’re seeing the consequences: a flood of information, political instability and growing personal struggles.
Dopamine Nation, another powerful book in this space, explores how addictive our behaviours can become — not just with drugs or gambling, but with tech. It talks about the balance between pain and pleasure in our lives, and how honesty — real honesty — about our habits is the only way forward.
Closer to home, we’re seeing all of this play out in stark ways. Every day in the news, we come across stories regularly where perpetrators harass, torment and assault victims with the help of technology — sharing videos of their crimes, harassing people online and coordinating campaigns. These aren’t just “youth issues.” These are adult and society-wide issues.
Meanwhile, we’re hearing suggestions that Adolescence — a Netflix series dealing with online culture and teenage life — should be shown in schools. While that might spark discussion, we also need to ask whether streaming content can or should fill the role of structured education and regulation.
One of the most impressive data collections available to us in Ireland is Growing Up in Ireland. It’s a national longitudinal study that follows the same children as they grow older, tracking their views on school, health, media and social life.
Researchers analysed some of this data, which was published in The Journal of Adolescence and examined “the patterns and effects of digital use on child socioemotional well-being across two cohorts of children grown up ten years apart during the ‘digital age’: the 1998 cohort (interviewed in 2007/08) and the 2008 cohort (interviewed in 2017/18).”
The data suggested that spending a lot of time using digital screens (3+ hours daily) is linked to lower overall well-being in adolescents. This means that teenagers who use screens heavily might feel less happy and have more difficulties with their emotions and social lives.
The research also found that high screen time is associated with increased externalising difficulties. These are behaviours like conduct problems and hyperactivity, suggesting that adolescents glued to their devices may exhibit more disruptive or restless behaviour.
Furthermore, the study indicates that high digital screen use is linked to decreased prosocial functioning. This means that adolescents who spend a lot of time on screens might be less likely to engage in helpful and kind behaviours towards others. In simple terms, too much screen time may negatively impact how well teenagers get along with others and their general emotional health.
But the research also showed that when young people used digital learning tools, in moderation, they were more likely to perform better in maths and English, and to show stronger social skills. In other words, it’s not just about screen time — it’s about screen quality. What we do online matters just as much as how often we do it.
Of course, this isn’t just about teenagers. As adults, parents and mentors, we’re living through the same culture. We’re trying to balance our real-world responsibilities with an always-on digital life. That pressure is taking its toll.
In a report we published with Core Research in January, 1 in 2 people said they intended to switch off digital screens more often. The same number of people would like to meet people or attend group events with a common purpose.
They’re looking for belonging, for connection, for something that feels real and shared, a place to be seen. Digital platforms have promised that, but more often than not, they’ve delivered isolation and division.
This disconnect can push people into dark corners of the internet. For parents of teenagers and young adults, Adolescence revealed this, particularly around incel culture.
However, misogyny isn’t new, but the internet has made it easier than ever to find communities that embrace the ideology.
So, how do we help people rebuild meaningful relationships, especially in a world that seems to be pulling us away from one another?
In the past couple of years, I’ve been curious about how AI fits into all of this. Like every new technology, I try to figure out what they’re good for and what they’re not.
But even here, the research gives us pause. A recent collaborative study by OpenAI and MIT Media Lab looked at how people use AI tools and how they affect their social lives.
They found that moderate use — under 30 minutes a day — didn’t have a huge impact. But when people started using AI chatbots for longer periods of time, things changed.
Heavy users reported feeling lonelier. They were socialising less with friends and family. Some were relying on AI bots for emotional support or connection.
The result? A kind of digital dependence that might actually be making our real-life relationships weaker. Already, apps such as Therabot are finding that people can develop a therapeutic alliance with AI or how people are “falling in love” with ChatGPT.
We’ve convinced ourselves that likes, swipes and messages are enough. But they’re not. Two years ago, in a Core Research report called Relationships & Influences 23, we found that a significant number of people in Ireland (68%) said that “it is becoming more difficult to meet new people”— and 61% said “sometimes I feel lonely.”
The report revealed the average person is spending 6.5 hours of time with best friends every week, a fraction of what some studies say is necessary to maintain friendships, and a lot less than what we are spending scrolling and swiping.
Poet and performer Kae Tempest summed it up in their song People’s Faces: “We got our heads down and our hackles up / Our backs against the wall,” but goes on to suggest “There is so much peace to be found in people’s faces.” That’s how it feels for many of us right now.
We’ve spent almost two decades giving more and more of ourselves to technology. Maybe now is the time to take some of it back. Not by ditching it completely — but by being radically honest about how we use it, and what we’ve lost along the way.
Because ultimately, it’s not about being anti-tech. It’s about being pro-human.
Finian Murphy is a Researcher and Strategist focused on public sentiment, culture and communities.
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