Time limits may not spare teenagers from screen-related mental illness

By HPN Staff

Parents who enforce screen time limits may not be protecting their children from mental illness as much as they think, according to new research on adolescents and their use of cell phones, video games and social media.

The main takeaway: Parents with badly screen-addicted kids should consider professional help rather than just taking their devices away.

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley are painting a more complicated picture of screen addiction, in which the total time of usage is less important than a child’s state-of-mind during that usage.

Their study — published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) — found that the total time young people spent on electronic devices was not linked to future mental health or suicide-related issues.

Instead, the degree of addiction or compulsion behind their screen use — and how much distress they experience when away from their screens — are stronger drivers of “suicidal behaviors, suicidal ideation and worse mental health in youths.” 

Why it matters

The findings of the study may increase calls for treating screen addiction like other addictive behaviors, including drug use, which usually require outside support services.

For example, cognitive behavioral therapy and support groups like Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous can treat the underlying psychological and emotional causes of screen addiction, rather than just the symptoms.

“Parents may want to pay more attention to how their kids are using their digital devices and consider having them evaluated for signs of addictive use,” said Dr. Yuan Meng, a postdoctoral associate in population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine and a co-author of the study.

“If an addiction is identified, limiting use of mobile phones and social media for part of the day may potentially reinforce addictive behaviors, so seeking professional advice is essential.”

The bigger picture

More than half the nation’s teenagers spend four hours or more on screens, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Teenagers with higher daily screen time were more likely to experience both anxiety and depression symptoms,” the CDC has warned. “As technology and screens continue to develop, their influence on the lives of children changes, making it increasingly important to expand our understanding of the patterns of screen time use overall and among selected subgroups.”

More detail

The JAMA study on adolescent screen use tracked the device habits and mental health outcomes of almost 4,300 children, from ages 9 through 14.

“Total screen time at baseline was not associated with outcomes,” the study found.

Instead, researchers found disturbing mental health outcomes for a subset of children who displayed a “high addictive-use trajectory” while using screens. 

Almost a third of the children had a high addictive-use trajectory for social media. For cell phones, around one quarter of the children studied were highly addicted and for video games, it was more than 40%. 

The highly addicted children were “significantly more likely to report suicidal thoughts or behaviors, as well as symptoms of anxiety, depression, aggression or rule-breaking,” the researchers found.