Ancient Threads, Digital Webs: Navigating Psyche and Smartphone Use in Young People

Abstract

The proliferation of mobile digital technology means that individuals from successive generations are introduced to these devices at increasingly early ages, integrating smartphones into their daily routines. The smartphone functions as a technological tool and a psychological vessel, revealing identity, relationships, and unconscious processes in unprecedented ways. Its deep integration into daily life raises critical questions about its role as a digital extension of the human psyche. This dissertation employs a hermeneutic approach to reinterpret qualitative case study data through a depth psychological lens, examining how smartphone use amplifies unconscious narratives, archetypal patterns, and symbolic expressions among young people. Grounded in Jungian concepts such as the collective unconscious, individuation, and the shadow, this work offers a nuanced perspective on young people’s evolving relationship with technology. Challenging pathologizing narratives around problematic smartphone use (PSU), this study advocates for a more soulful and imaginative approach to understanding young people’s digital lives. Reframing smartphone use as a site of psychological exploration rather than dysfunction highlights the need for stigma-free environments and interventions that honor the complexity of the emerging digital psyche.