From screens to social, with compulsive use teenage psyches at risk

From mobile phones to social media and video games: problematic use (when one cannot control the time spent online and this causes stress, conflict or problems at school or at home) - with the connotations of addiction - in the very young is associated with an increased risk of mental health problems, sleep disorders and suicidal behaviour that tends to manifest itself only a year later: this is the alarming result of a study conducted on 11-12 year old adolescents and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Conducted by paediatricians from the University of California at San Francisco, the work reveals that the links between problematic screen use and mental health are stronger than previously reported and underlines the risks of compulsive use.

An estimated 49.5 per cent of adolescents in the United States suffer from mental disorders. The researchers analysed over 8,000 11-12 year olds, monitoring their use of devices, not only the time of use but other parameters indicating a compelling need. They then re-examined the entire sample one year after the first survey. The study found that problematic use of mobile phones and social media was associated with an increased risk of suffering the following year from depressive problems, physical problems, attention disorders, sleep disorders, engaging in oppositional defiant behaviour; worse still suicidal behaviour and initiation of substance use. "It is not so much the time spent in front of a screen that is important, but a compulsive use pattern with the connotations of device addiction," the experts conclude.