Jun 18, 2025 06:46 PM
Study finds addictive screen use, not total screen time, linked to youth suicide risk
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1087939
Addictive use of social media, not total time, associated with youth mental health
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1087953
PRESS RELEASE: Addictive use of social media, video games, or mobile phones—but not total screen time—is associated with worse mental health among preteens, a new study by researchers at Columbia and Cornell universities has found.
The study, published June 18 in JAMA, examined the social media use of nearly 4,300 children, starting at age 8, and how use changed over the next four years.
Addictive use of screens—excessive use that interfered with schoolwork, home responsibilities, or other activities—was common, and use patterns varied by screen type and over time. For mobile phones, about half of the children reported high addictive use from the start of the study that remained high through early adolescence, and about 25% developed increasingly addictive use as they aged. For social media, approximately 40% of children had high or increasingly addictive use. Unlike social media and mobile phones, video game use followed only two trajectories—high and low—without a distinct “increasing” group over time.
Both high and increasingly addictive screen use were associated with worse mental health (e.g. anxiety, depression, or aggression) and suicidal behaviors and thoughts.
“These kids experience a craving for such use that they find it hard to curtail. Parents who notice these problems should have their kids evaluated for this addictive use and then seek professional help for kids with an addiction,” says psychiatrist J. John Mann, the Paul Janssen Professor of Translational Neuroscience in Psychiatry and Radiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute and one of the study’s senior leaders.
“While national surveys and previous studies have documented rising screen use, our study is the first to map longitudinal trajectories of addictive use specifically, offering new insights into when and for whom risks emerge. Policy efforts should move away from generic limits on screen time and instead focus on identifying and addressing addictive patterns of screen use,” says Yunyu Xiao, PhD, the first and lead author, assistant professor of population health science and psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Children entering adolescence also should be assessed repeatedly for addictive use. “If you do not follow kids over time, you would miss this substantial group that shifts from low risk to higher risk,” Mann says... (MORE - details, no ads)
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1087939
Addictive use of social media, not total time, associated with youth mental health
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1087953
PRESS RELEASE: Addictive use of social media, video games, or mobile phones—but not total screen time—is associated with worse mental health among preteens, a new study by researchers at Columbia and Cornell universities has found.
The study, published June 18 in JAMA, examined the social media use of nearly 4,300 children, starting at age 8, and how use changed over the next four years.
Addictive use of screens—excessive use that interfered with schoolwork, home responsibilities, or other activities—was common, and use patterns varied by screen type and over time. For mobile phones, about half of the children reported high addictive use from the start of the study that remained high through early adolescence, and about 25% developed increasingly addictive use as they aged. For social media, approximately 40% of children had high or increasingly addictive use. Unlike social media and mobile phones, video game use followed only two trajectories—high and low—without a distinct “increasing” group over time.
Both high and increasingly addictive screen use were associated with worse mental health (e.g. anxiety, depression, or aggression) and suicidal behaviors and thoughts.
“These kids experience a craving for such use that they find it hard to curtail. Parents who notice these problems should have their kids evaluated for this addictive use and then seek professional help for kids with an addiction,” says psychiatrist J. John Mann, the Paul Janssen Professor of Translational Neuroscience in Psychiatry and Radiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute and one of the study’s senior leaders.
“While national surveys and previous studies have documented rising screen use, our study is the first to map longitudinal trajectories of addictive use specifically, offering new insights into when and for whom risks emerge. Policy efforts should move away from generic limits on screen time and instead focus on identifying and addressing addictive patterns of screen use,” says Yunyu Xiao, PhD, the first and lead author, assistant professor of population health science and psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Children entering adolescence also should be assessed repeatedly for addictive use. “If you do not follow kids over time, you would miss this substantial group that shifts from low risk to higher risk,” Mann says... (MORE - details, no ads)