Kids, teens and screens
By Shernay Williams, Equity in Health Fellow
Whether researchers have accumulated enough data to prove screens negatively affect children — and to what extent — has been the subject of a polarized debate among lawmakers, schools and parents alike.
“There’s so much nuance to this,” said Rebecca Ruiz, senior reporter at Mashable and moderator during a discussion at Health Journalism 2025 about how technology influences the mental health of young people.
Jason Nagata from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), began the conversation by defining screens as phones, laptops, Ipads and televisions. Many researchers differentiate between recreational screen time where a child might scroll YouTube shorts, for example, versus school screen time, where they take virtual classes. Even among recreational screen time, there is nuance.
“You may be FaceTiming with Grandma across the country,” which Nagata called positive compared to doomscrolling on social media, for example. There’s no formal diagnosis for screen addiction, he added, but researchers have noticed signs of withdrawal and distress in children when screens are removed.
Nagata’s team at UCSF is leading one of the largest studies examining whether social media is a risk factor for depression. Between the ages of 9-13, social media use skyrockets, and early findings indicate that increased social media use may predict future depressive symptoms.
“I don’t want people to think that every child who uses social media will have depression,” Nagata countered, adding that other circumstances can contribute to these outcomes. However, “social media is one component that they can take action on themselves.”
In the summer of 2025, researchers will release findings from another study exploring how screen use before bedtime affects children’s sleep. So far, social media use has been associated with less and poorer sleep quality.
The panelists also discussed how monitoring screen time is helpful but doesn’t fully capture context. “Consider what’s going on in a young person’s life that impacts how they are showing up to technology,” added Weinstein, a developmental psychologist. She said because each child is unique, their response to what they watch will be unique as well. For example, Nagata said LGBTQ+ preteens spend an average of four more hours on screens compared to their heterosexual counterparts. That extended usage may not be all negative because trans youth may seek out supportive connections online.
The HJ25 conversation spanned various topics, including school technology bans, the need to focus on digital literacy and not just device elimination, social media’s role on body image, use of adult dating sites among pre-teens and how program design features prey on young people’s developmental sensitives, such as their desire for validation and social connection.
The top predictor of adolescents’ screen usage is their parents’ screen usage. “They mimic their parent’s behaviors whether they want to admit to it or not,” joked Weinstein.
She also stressed the importance of incorporating the youth perspective when telling stories about teens and screens. “We need a teen-centric approach,” she said, citing resources such as the Center for Digital Thriving to help better understand the youth voice.
Shernay Williams is a freelance multimedia journalist based in Baltimore, Md.
