In a study of 4,285 U.S. children and adolescents, 31.3% showed increasing addictive behaviour in the use of social media, and 24.6% showed similar behaviours related to small screens when tracked over four years. These elevated behaviours were linked to increases in suicidal thinking and behaviour, and worsening mental health.
The study used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD) involving children and adolescents, following them from age 10 to 14. This is the longest-running study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the U.S.
Participants were 47.9% female, 9.9% black, 19.4% Hispanic, and 58.7% white. Nearly one-third of participants showed increased addictive use of social media or mobile phones beginning at age 11. Participants who used social media regularly were 2.39 times more likely to think about suicide or exhibit suicidal behaviours. High video game users also showed increased incidents of mental stress.
Summary data of addictive use over time indicated:
- 49% of children and adolescents showed addictive phone use patterns, with 25% showing increasing levels of addictive use over time.
- 10% showed addictive social media use patterns, with 31% showing increasing levels of addictive use over time.
- 41% showed addictive video game use patterns.
- 5.1% of children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14 exhibited suicidal behaviours.
- 17.9% of those aged between 10 and 14 thought about suicide.
- Almost 1 in 2 youth displayed highly addictive behaviours related to the use of mobile phones, and a 2 to 3 times greater risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours for those with higher use numbers.
Jacqueline Nesi and Cara Goodwin write an online newsletter called Techno Sapiens, which appears in Substack and can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play. In their interpretation of the study results, they define the five criteria for what is defined as “addictive screen use.”
These are:
- Difficulty stopping or limiting screens: “I’ve tried to use my social media apps less, but I can’t” or “I have been unable to reduce my phone use.”
- Distress, irritability, anxiety, or depression when not using screens: “I’ve become stressed or upset if I am not allowed to play video games.”
- Using screens to regulate emotions: “I use social media apps so I can forget about my problems.”
- Thinking about using screens frequently: “I often think about my phone when I am not using it.”
- Screen use causing problems in other activities like work, school, relationships, or sleep: “I play video games so much that it has had a bad effect on my school work,” or “Arguments have arisen with others because of my phone use.”
Nesi and Goodwin ask the question: “Is screen addiction a real diagnosis?”
There is no doubt that excess screen use is problematic and that it interferes with young lives in many ways, including causing stress and even worsening mental health issues. It also notes that the design of screen apps plays on continuing engagement, which feeds into these behaviours.
It is not like alcohol or drug addiction, which requires very different types of treatment. There is no screen addiction equivalent to Alcoholics Anonymous. Treating “screen addiction,” however, may require parents to reach out to trained psychologists for counselling. In the interim, what parents can do is:
- Set limits on screen use for yourself and share those limits with your child so that they do not feel they are being discriminated against. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
- Be aware of red flags such as a child lying about screen use or emotionally overreacting when screen time use is taken away. Be prepared to involve a professional.
- Encourage your child to consider why they use screens, and ask them how they feel afterwards. Before turning on a small screen, ask your child to stop and think about what other activities he or she can be doing to inhibit the craving.
- Substitute screen time with other activities that encourage interest in personal growth or that involve family activities where screens are not in the picture.
- Change the environment in the house, such as screen-free rooms and zones, or screen-free family times.
