Doom scrolling into the early hours in their bedrooms is turning young people off work as smartphones ‘rewire’ them into an ‘anxious generation’, claims government worklessness tsar Alan Milburn.
He found nearly a million young adults were not working because of a ‘rising tide of mental ill-health, anxiety, depression and neurodiversity’ triggered by hours spent online.
In a new government review, he blames the record numbers of young adults not working on the fact they have grown up in a digital age, suffering heightened distress and anxiety, going on to choose benefits over work.
But he says British businesses must understand their plight and offer them greater 'pastoral care' to entice them to work.
The former health secretary said: ‘This is a bedroom generation. They are sort of living in their bedrooms. They are on (social media) all the time, they’re never off.
‘[Social media] is leading to some evidence of functional impairment, changing their sleep patterns, concentration levels. That is having an impact on their ability to work.’
The review’s interim findings, to be released next week, say many young people mindlessly look at social media until the early hours – so called doom scrolling – leading to poorer sleep and mental distress – with some spending ‘not just months but years at home, online, and losing hope’.
‘Every one of a group of ten 12 and 13-year-olds told us they went to bed between midnight and 3am because they were scrolling on their phone,’ the research, based on conversations with more than 400 young people across the UK, states.
The government worklessness tsar Alan Milburn (pictured last year) blames the record numbers of young adults not working on the fact they have grown up in a digital age, suffering heightened distress and anxiety, going on to choose benefits over work
A child doom scrolling in bed (file image). Mr Milburn found nearly a million young adults were not working because of a ‘rising tide of mental ill-health, anxiety, depression and neurodiversity’ triggered by hours spent online
Mr Milburn warned this led to young people going on to claim benefits for mental health issues which could trap them into ‘worklessness’ for life by benefits.
He is expected to recommend that having a diagnosis of anxiety, depression, ADHD or autism should not automatically mean young people cannot or should not work.
‘Just because you have a diagnosis it doesn’t mean you can’t get a job,’ he said.
But he is insistent young people are not to blame and must not be written off as ‘snowflakes or fakes’ but instead helped to adjust by British businesses ‘offering a high level of pastoral care for this cohort of young people living with mental distress’.
‘They are not snowflakes. People say it’s a soft generation. My view unequivocally is that it isn’t. It is an anxious generation,’ he told The Times.
In a reference to skilled labour shortages which Labour blame on Brexit, Mr Milburn said employers who had been on ‘easy street with imported ‘migrant labour, oven ready’ now needed to dig into this ‘potential pool of labour’.
Mr Milburn was appointed by the Prime Minister to look at why 946,000 16 to 24-year-olds were now NEETS – those not in education, employment or training.
‘The system is trapping people in worklessness rather than enabling them into work. We’re at a risk of just writing a whole generation off,’ he stressed.
His review says: ‘[Young people] are different, not worse, not lazier, not less intelligent.
‘They have grown up in a digital world that has rewired how they communicate, form relationships and manage stress. They have fewer experiences of workplaces and they present with higher levels of anxiety and depression.’
Mr Milburn told the Daily Mail that the lack of first jobs and entry level jobs as well as a lack of preparation at school for a future career have also turned youngsters off of work
The research found some young people enjoyed the ‘dopamine hit of a new job but then get bored very quickly and want to move on’.
It also found ‘the promotion of online success leads to a quitting culture if things take time’ and warned school has become a ‘NEET pipeline’, with exam pressure ‘consuming most of secondary school’ and a lack of further or higher education opportunities beyond university study.
The report’s stark findings also warn we are facing a ‘generational, societal and economic catastrophe’ leaving a generation ‘stuck on benefits for life’ if the welfare state which he said was ‘built for a different era’ does not change now to encourage them to work.
Despite continual pressure to reform the welfare system, the Labour Party has failed to back any attempts to bring the vast and escalating welfare bill which is set to top £333 billion, a shocking fifth of total government expenditure, into hand.
Opponents warn the welfare bill and the attractions of a system which provides huge handouts to many - and has been accused of allowing young people with certain diagnoses such as ADHD not to work - is crippling the UK.
Shockingly, nearly half of NEETS have never worked and of the quarter signed off with long-term sickness or disability, over four in ten of those, up from 24 per cent in 2011, now cite mental health.
In the same period, those citing physical health problems has halved from 74 per cent to 32 per cent.
Mr Milburn told the Daily Mail that the lack of first jobs and entry level jobs as well as a lack of preparation at school for a future career were also to blame.
'Britain's bosses cannot stand back. If you want work ready young people, you must help create them and support and invest in them,' he said.
'Classroom confidence only becomes workplace confidence when young people are given somewhere to practice it. Work experience. Supported internships. Apprenticeships. The chance to get on the first rung of the jobs ladder.'
Figures released on Thursday found youth unemployment has reached an 11 year high in the UK at a rate of 16.2 per cent.
The report’s final recommendations, including on the benefits system, will be published in the autumn.