Is too much information a bad thing? When it comes to anxiety, the flood of information that we can now get from technology is problematic. In fact, one study found a significant increase in anxiety disorders when comparing anxiety prevalence rates during the period of 2007-2009 to that of 2019-2022 (Gkitakou et al., 2025).
Although there are many factors that could contribute to this increase in anxiety disorders, keep in mind that the iPhone was released in 2007, and it took a couple of years for smartphones to become ubiquitous.
Some of the more obvious reasons for an increase in anxiety include the often upsetting news alerts that pop up on our phones when we least expect them, and the way social media has been detrimental to our health, especially that of teenage girls.
Technology and Intolerance of Uncertainty
Another angle that I see as particularly problematic and directly relating to our increases in anxiety is that technology has eroded our ability to tolerate uncertainty. Intolerance of uncertainty is often seen as a hallmark characteristic of most, if not all, of the anxiety disorders.
Here are some examples of people who struggle with uncertainty and how they rely on technology:
- Michael, a middle-aged man with generalized anxiety disorder, constantly worries about his finances and checks his bank accounts multiple times a day to give himself reassurance that everything is OK.
- Kaia, a new mother with OCD symptoms, finds that she is not sleeping much because she is glued to her video baby monitor to make sure her baby is still breathing.
- Tysen, a law student who lost his father at a young age to a heart attack, finds that he is now having panic attacks, thinking he too is dying of a heart attack. To try to quell his anxiety, he frequently uses the heart rate function on his watch.
- Chris, a self-proclaimed hypochondriac, has graduated from Google to AI and asks it about every unusual body symptom they experience.
- McKenzie knows where her college student daughters are at all times, thanks to Life360 (even though they are both out of state). Of note, her daughters text her throughout the day, frequently seeking her advice or emotional support.
Back in the Old Days
Before we had this level of access, thanks to technology, we often would have to sit with our anxious feelings when something uncertain arose. People would still feel anxious and maybe would engage in other unhelpful behaviors to reduce this uncertainty. However, it wasn’t as easy as it is today.
