Is AI & social media toxic for our teens (and us)?
Are smartphones, social media and AI helping us connect, or steadily reshaping our attention, relationships and ability to cope with discomfort?
Recorded at the Integrated Mental Health Conference in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, mentl founder Scott Armstrong speaks with Justin Thomas of Sync, the global digital well-being programme from the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Ithra – and two time finalist (winner 2024, highly commended 2023) in the mentl awards.
Justin examines the evidence linking problematic technology use with anxiety, depression, loneliness and disruption to work, study and relationships. Drawing on research across 35 countries and seven world regions, he makes an essential distinction: the concern is problematic technology use, not technology use in general.
As Justin puts it, “correlation isn’t causation, but it is cause for concern.”
The conversation explores:
• Why anxiety cannot be blamed on smartphones alone
• How doomscrolling can amplify fear and perceived threats
• Why the attention economy rewards louder and more manipulative content
• How technology can become a way of avoiding difficult emotions
• Whether addictive design should be regulated
• The risks of artificial intimacy with AI chatbots
• Why children and vulnerable users may be especially exposed
• Whether social media bans will protect young people or push them elsewhere
• How families, platforms, governments and individuals all share responsibility
• What a healthier relationship with technology could look like
The debate has moved rapidly. The UK has announced plans to prohibit under-16s from using certain social media platforms, with implementation expected from spring 2027. The UAE has introduced Cabinet Resolution No. 106 of 2026, prohibiting children under 15 from holding personal social media accounts and requiring enhanced safeguards for users aged 15 to under 16.
This is not an argument against technology. It is a discussion about benefit, harm, human vulnerability and whether regulation and research can keep pace with innovation.
Watch the full episode of The mentl space for a wide-ranging conversation about the anxious generation, digital wellbeing, AI companionship, social health and the fight for human attention.
Chapter list
00:00 Introduction and the youth anxiety question
02:34 What research across 35 countries reveals
05:59 The three threats facing the anxious generation
09:06 Doomscrolling and emotional avoidance
11:34 The attention economy and addictive design
14:14 Social media bans: protection or unintended harm?
18:05 AI chatbots, loneliness and artificial intimacy
25:50 Regulation, responsibility and safer technology
32:11 Reclaiming control, digital wellbeing and AI slop
39:27 The mentl awards and mental health progress in the UAE
