Issue 183: If It’s Good Enough for a 15 Year-Old, It’s Good Enough for Me

Meta just put a curfew on teenagers. As part of a settlement with a coalition of US states worth up to US$18 billion, Instagram and Facebook are getting a default two-hour daily limit for under-18s, combined across both apps. Hit two hours and you’re locked out, unless a parent says otherwise.

On top of that, the apps go dark between midnight and 6am, notifications are muted during school hours, and there are nudges every 15 minutes reminding kids they’ve been scrolling a while. Meta has said the rules could get even stricter if TikTok and YouTube sign up to matching limits. Meta hasn’t admitted any wrongdoing, but when the world’s biggest social media company agrees to ration its own product, that tells you something about what endless scrolling is doing to teenage sleep, mood and attention.

And it’s not just teenagers. Here are 4 ways the phone glued to our hands affects all of us.

Sleep. Screen light and a buzzing brain before bed delay melatonin and cut into deep sleep, the stage where your body does its real repair work: tissue recovery, memory consolidation, hormone regulation. It’s the difference between waking up and waking up rested.

Stress load. Every notification is a small jolt to your stress system. One is nothing. Seventy a day is a nervous system that never gets to switch off. Chronic low-grade stress is linked to higher blood pressure, weight that’s harder to shift around the middle, and an immune system running on the smell of an oily rag.

Attention and mood. Doomscrolling doesn’t just waste time; it trains your brain to expect a hit of dopamine every few seconds. Comparison, outrage and bad news, all carried in your hand. It’s the same mechanism that keeps teenagers hooked, and turning 45 doesn’t make you immune. A fully grown-up brain has better self-control, but it isn’t a force field.

Movement. This one’s simple. Time on the couch scrolling is time not spent doing anything that uses a muscle. It sounds obvious, but it’s the single biggest lever most of us have.

A 2023 study of Australian adults found excessive smartphone use was linked to higher depression, anxiety and stress, and worse sleep quality. The same pattern researchers were seeing in teenagers, just measured in grown-ups with mortgages and school pickups.

In 2025, researchers at the University of Alberta, Georgetown and UBC ran a randomised trial with 467 adults. They blocked all mobile internet on their phones for two weeks (calls and texts still worked), and researchers measured their attention, mental health and wellbeing before and after, comparing them with a group who carried on as usual.

The results, published in PNAS Nexus, are some of the strongest causal evidence we have. Two weeks off mobile internet improved depression and anxiety symptoms by more than the average effect of antidepressants, and by about the same as a course of cognitive behavioural therapy.

Sustained attention improved by roughly what you’d expect from being ten years younger. Average daily screen time dropped from over five hours to under three. And when the researchers dug into why, the biggest driver wasn’t willpower; it was what people did with the time they got back: more in-person socialising, more exercise, more time outdoors, better sleep and a stronger sense of self-control.

A broader 2025 review in Frontiers in Psychiatry pulled together the physical impact too: neck and thumb strain, headaches, and a circadian rhythm thrown off by screen light suppressing melatonin, all compounding the mental health picture.

If, like me, you’ve picked up phone habits you’d like to lose, try these 5 things!

I gave myself a curfew. Phone out of arm’s reach an hour before I want to sleep. I read, stretch and listen to a sleep meditation instead.

I killed dozens of notifications. I kept messages and calls, but I decide when I check the rest, not the algorithm. ️

I ask the question. Every time I catch myself scrolling (browsing, shopping!), I ask what I actually came here for.

I move first, scroll second. I stand up every hour and move before I pick up the phone. It completely changes what the next hour looks like.

I build in the pause. I love yoga, the breathing and the still, quiet end of the practice. I love the shower because I have my best ideas there. It’s not the shower, it’s the space!

I couldn’t imagine living without my phone My goal isn’t zero. It’s noticing that what constant, attention-grabbing connection does to my body is the same at any age.

In a funny way, Meta has done us all a huge favour.

Here’s to taking back control and living healthier, longer, happier, better lives, whether we’re 15 or 55!

See you at Be Well again soon.