Dr Jane Halsall, a chartered counselling psychologist at Cornerstone Clinic Dubai, shares her perspective on how a social media ban alone cannot overcome the emotional overload that has accumulated over the years, especially during adolescence.
To read the full article, visit THE NATIONAL, article written by Nick Webster
The dual pressures of constant online availability and academic stress are increasingly linked to declining mental health among young people worldwide. The rapid rise of smartphones and social media fundamentally reshaped adolescence. Platforms became a 24/7 arena for comparison, validation, and identity formation. Research has shown how young women, already socially conditioned to be attuned to appearance and belonging, found themselves under a constant digital gaze. From a psychological perspective, this activated powerful mechanisms: social comparison, issues around identity and fear of exclusion.
We know this has contributed to an increase in anxiety, perfectionism, and emotional fatigue. Rising distress among young women is linked to academic pressure, economic uncertainty, identity development, and a constant stream of global crises, all of which are amplified by digital exposure. These are multilayered, interacting factors, not the product of a single cultural shift.
