Addiction-like use of smartphones, social media and other digital media is consistently linked to poorer mental health, worse sleep and less physical activity among children, teenagers and young adults, according to a three-paper series published Oct. 4 in the medical journal The Lancet.
The series’ 13 authors say the evidence, while not conclusive, is strong enough for governments to step in, and they argue that the job of protecting young people should shift from families to technology companies and policymakers. They also caution that the links they found are modest and cannot show that digital media use directly causes harm.
What the research found
At the center of the series is an umbrella review, a study that combines the findings of earlier reviews. It drew on 121 reviews covering about 9 million people under 25, Medical Xpress reported; according to The Canadian Press, those reviews spanned 2,790 studies.
The authors did not measure problematic use by hours spent online. Instead, they defined it as addiction-like patterns of use. Co-author Jay Shaw of the University of Toronto told The Canadian Press that such patterns can include being unable to stop scrolling even after it stops feeling good.
The associations differed by age, CBC News reported. Shorter sleep and effects on cognitive, emotional and social development showed up among children 10 and younger. For people ages 10 to 24, studies also tied heavy use to mental health problems, less physical activity, substance use, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
Some findings pointed the other way. Moderate use was associated with higher well-being, and active video games were associated with both higher well-being and healthier lifestyles, according to Medical Xpress. Young people who already have mental health vulnerabilities, less support offline or weaker digital literacy face a greater risk of harm, CNN reported.
The authors also offered rough global projections. By their estimate, spending over two hours a day on screens may be tied to roughly 2.8 million years of healthy life lost to depression worldwide every year, plus about 240,000 years lost to obesity. Co-author Falk Müller-Riemenschneider, a researcher at the National University of Singapore, cautioned that the numbers are meant to show the possible scale of the problem, not to measure it precisely, the Irish Examiner reported.
Calls for regulation
Ilona Kickbusch, who chairs the series and works with the Digital Transformations for Health Lab, a global consortium based in Geneva, said governments have allowed technology companies to set their own rules. The evidence, she said, “although not conclusive, justifies coordinated, global action,” according to the Irish Examiner.
The series argues that no single step, such as an age limit, will be enough by itself. Its recommendations, aimed at governments and international bodies, include:
- Requiring technology companies to check new products and features for health risks before release.
- Requiring companies to share information with vetted independent researchers about how their products affect users’ health.
- Creating an international body dedicated to monitoring how artificial intelligence affects children and young people.
- A World Health Organization treaty setting minimum global standards, so that weak rules in one country do not undercut stronger rules elsewhere.
Louise Holly, the lab’s policy and research coordinator and lead author of the research on young people and digital media, told CNN that these problems should not be left to parents alone. She also said the most useful information on how platforms affect users stays inside technology companies, which limits outside scrutiny, the Irish Examiner reported.
Shaw told The Canadian Press that the problem is not simply a matter of individual choices, pointing to design features such as infinite scroll that make it harder to end a session. “I think we’re in a moment globally right now, where the harms associated with digital media use, especially for young people, have become quite clear,” he told CBC News.
What to watch
The recommendations now go to national governments and international health bodies, and it is not yet clear how they will respond. Shaw told CBC that without access to platforms’ own user data, it will remain hard to measure how much time young people spend on devices and how serious the effects are. In Canada, a proposed law would require platforms to give accredited researchers access to online safety data.
