Technology and mental health: A complex relationship
Insights from Mental Health America’s 2025 report
Technology is essential — and complicated
Technology now shapes how we work, learn, connect, and access care. It holds real promise for growth and well-being — but also brings new challenges related to our cognition, emotions, and how we cope with distress. This report moves beyond simple “screen time” solutions and explores the mixed effects of technology: It can connect or isolate, empower or overwhelm, open doors or exclude.
While social media use has been called out as a concern, especially for its impact on young people’s mental health, technology in general affects how much mental and emotional energy we have, even as it helps us learn, improve in school, or feel productive in work.
Mental Health America surveyed 2,600 individuals to reflect on their use of “non-social media” technology. The report findings help us negotiate how to understand our personal and family relationship with technology and a framework for systems like governments and schools to encourage a person centered approach to how we use, interact with, and limit our technology use.
Key findings from over 2,600 survey respondents
1. Tech use is high — even when it's not needed
- 95% of people have regular access; 88% use it for essential tasks.
- Over 75% of people surveyed said they feel heavily reliant on technology.
- 44% report they “don’t do anything to minimize the negative impact of technology”
- Youth are particularly likely to be dependent on technology, and less likely to limit use.
- 81% of people aged 18-24 shared that they are reliant on technology, especially for entertainment.
Feel reliant on technology
Do not feel reliant on technology
Technology reliance is strongly correlated with age, decreasing as age increases.
Youth under 25 years old are more likely (73.02%) to report using technology significantly more for entertainment as compared to those over 45 (44.41%). Inversely, as age increases, using technology for information increases.
“Quick access to information. Democratizing access to information is undoubtedly one of the greatest advantages of technology.”
Supporting responsible use among youth – Policy and program opportunities
Survey respondents under 25 are more likely to use technology for entertainment, less likely to self-limit their use, and more concerned than any other age group about the harmful brain changes associated with their use. As of 2022, research showed that around 70% of teens in the United States had personal use of a smartphone, computer and gaming console at home. The average age of first smart phone access was 12.2 years old, and 33% reported that necessity was the primary reason they started using it. Experts recommend delaying access to social media and setting limits on screen time for youth and adolescents. However, research and evidence on screen time limitations outside of social media use is inconclusive.
The following recommendations highlight opportunities to increase self-awareness and self-limitation:
- Increase investment in research to better understand the relationship between non-social media technology use and its impact on cognition, memory, attention, addiction, and misuse.
- Encourage research and development of best practices for break-time prompts based on how people use their devices and optimal screen break intervals. While some tools offer break-time prompts, usage is inconsistent and many products lack this feature.
- Update digital hygiene guidelines to include nuances specific to non-social media technology, artificial intelligence, and learnings from communities with disabilities.
- Create systems to track mental health effects and community concerns, and use that data to inform action.
- Identify and disseminate best practices and resources for youth-parent check-ins. Example strategies include:
- How parents can explore how their children feel after using technology. Are you agitated? Did we get into a fight after you got off your tech? Do you feel differently now compared to how you felt an hour before using tech?
- Provide guidance for caregivers to track screen time and how to identify the best amount of time for each child.
- Highlight best practices currently known based on developmental needs, age, and how parents can adjust based on individual needs of the child.
“I spend hours upon hours every single day doing schoolwork on my computer...I am losing my youth just doing homework all the time, and it's beyond draining.”
2. Mental health shapes tech experience
- 79% of people with poor mental health report feeling reliant on technology, compared to 62% of those with good mental health.
- Those with better mental health are more likely to feel connected, informed, and productive through tech, whereas those with poor mental health feel more worthless, addicted, and anxious.
“[Technology] allows me to connect with others with similar challenges so I can feel understood.”
Significant differences emerge between good and poor mental health groups regarding how technology makes them feel. Those reporting current poor mental health are more likely to:
- Feel distracted (44.54% vs. 34.19%), addicted (28.68% vs. 17.80%), overwhelmed/anxious (26.78% vs. 16.16%), frustrated (23.58% vs. 15.93%), and worthless (15.14% vs. 3.51%).
- In contrast, those with current good mental health are more likely to associate technology use with feeling informed (45.20% vs. 28.09%), connected (40.52% vs. 26.64%), and productive (26.23% vs. 13.83%).
3. Disability impacts digital access
- People with physical and mental disabilities — especially those with chronic pain, hearing loss, or learning challenges — struggle more with tech.
- Many still see potential for technology to improve health and quality of life.
“Telehealth allows access to doctors more easily since it's harder for me to go to physical appointments.”
Building technology for control and mental health – Policy and program opportunities
Most survey respondents were young (54% under age 25) and currently struggling with mental health concerns (61% report poor mental health). These demographics are consistent with individuals most likely to come to take a mental health screen at MHA Screening, where the survey was posted. This help-seeking population provides an opportunity to understand how technology impacts high-risk populations and focuses on which changes have the highest chance for impact among youth with mental health concerns.
In 2024, MHA launched a new experimental behavioral addiction screener. Among the 2,500 individuals who took this screener (October-December 2024), 41% reported addiction to pornography and sex, 19% reported concerns about internet addiction, and 8% reported concerns about gaming addiction. Consideration for the design of features to empower users to self-monitor and self-regulate use of technology can mitigate risks associated with technology dependence.
Recommendations to support healthy use for people with mental health and addiction concerns:
- Re-evaluate features like infinite scroll and autoplay that encourage endless, passive consumption.
- Have an opt-in option for features that are known to encourage risk for addiction,rather than provide by default
- Explore, develop, and research how greater parental controls beyond automatic log-out or timer restrictions can support healthier use for young children.
- Ensure screen limiting features are prominently displayed and easily accessible, not buried in settings menus. Features could include methods for how parents and children use and access controls across users within a single platform.
- Regularly promote these tools, especially after patterns of concerning engagement behaviors, and educate users on their potential benefits.
“I think that this is a personal choice. People need to understand and take it upon themselves to do something.”
4. Mixed feelings about the future
- People are most hopeful about technology’s potential to simplify life (32%), facilitate learning (31%), and boost productivity (30%).
- But they are more fearful about loss of privacy (46%), decline of human skills (43%), and addiction or attention issues (31%).
“The more we rely on technology to do our thinking for us, the less we learn to think for ourselves.”
5. Responsibility is shared — But uneven
- Most believe mental health protection is a personal responsibility.
- But many also want tech companies and governments to step up with safer, more accountable design.
Responsibility for protections | Count | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Me | 1027 | 63.28% |
| Parents/Guardians | 840 | 51.76% |
| Product makers/Technology companies | 676 | 41.65% |
| Companies using software (healthcare, schools, employer) | 658 | 40.54% |
| Government | 607 | 37.40% |
| Teachers | 286 | 17.62% |
| Other | 124 | 7.64% |
| Total | 4218 |
Technology safeguards and education – Policy and program opportunities
Sixty-three percent of respondents report that individuals should own the primary responsibility for implementing protections for technology use. Many recommendations focus on design features that help users recognize unhealthy patterns and can prompt users for behavior change. Younger children may be at higher risk for mental health impact due to unrestricted use of technology.
Options for government, tech companies, and child-serving systems to add protections to help increase safety for high-risk children.
- Increase investments in research to clarify which types of non-social media technology impact cognition, memory, attention, and risk for addiction. Findings can help tech companies identify which features pose the greatest potential harm and which support engagement, growth, and learning.
- Exclude features known to promote addiction, especially those that are developed for children younger than 13. The same consideration should be made for those technologies that are not designed for children, but where high utilization by younger children is known.
- Identify and share evidence-based best practices for techy use in schools, updating guidance as new research emerges. Strategies include:
- Recommending appropriate types of technology by grade level.
- Evaluating in-school tech use based on evidence balancing the benefits of technology and its impact on brain development, cognition, attention, emotions, and learning.
- Highlighting technologies that may require stricter limitations, such as cell phone use, which varies widely by school
- Providing training for teachers to help students build self-awareness and practice mindful, intentional use of technology.
What needs to change?
We can’t treat technology as the sole problem — or solution.
Mental well-being is shaped by a larger system of health access, education, and social supports.
To move forward, we need:
- Intentional, inclusive tech design
- Digital self-awareness and literacy
- Stronger protections and shared accountability
- More research and adaptive interventions