Work

Digital technologies and evolutionary mismatch: Harming, but also healing mental health.

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: . Although aspects of CMC may indeed represent such evolutionary mismatches, this relationship may, however, be complicated by (a) a failure to contextualize the negative mental health effects of CMC against broader societal factors (e.g., family nuclearization) which are plausible preexisting evolutionary mismatches themselves; and (b) ignoring the positive effects of CMC in mitigating these mismatches. In this article, we propose a perspective that addresses these limitations, suggesting that this serves as an antidote to the overpathologization of novel behaviors facilitated by CMC. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Source: Psychological Review

DOI: 10.1037/rev0000593

Authors: Tanay Katiyar, Adam Hunt, Amy Orben, Nikhil Chaudhary, Adrian V. Jaeggi

Institutions: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, University of Zurich

Language: English

Topic: Impact of Technology on Adolescents

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: UK Research and Innovation, Leverhulme Trust, Universität Zürich, Fondation Pierre Mercier