Children, screens and school

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1. 1

   Screen time and its association with psychological wellbeing and sleep quality: overview of the Fujian Adolescent Mental Wellness Study (FAMWeS).

   Frontiers in psychology (Lin et al.)Published Sep 11, 2026Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “Primary outcomes included overall screen media use, emotional state (assessed by the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale for Youth, DASS-Y), and sleep quality (assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI).ResultsAnalysis of 48,432 complete responses revealed that 36.5% of participants reported a daily screen time of 30 min to 1 h, while 11.3% reported more than 4 h per day. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) indicated that screen time was positively associated with PSQI global score (β = 0.116, p p p = 0.075, p p p p p p ConclusionThe study identified significant associations between higher screen time, poorer sleep quality, and elevated depression and stress levels, highlighting the importance of promoting healthy screen-use behaviors and supporting adolescents' sleep quality and psychological well-being.”

2. 2

   The Impact of Smartphone Use on Brain Function in Adolescence: A Scoping Review.

   Pediatric reports (Marks et al.)Published Mar 17, 2026Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “Analysis of results revealed five key themes: Psychological Disturbances (n = 52), Sleep (n = 43), Socioemotional Function (n = 23), Executive Function (n = 14), and Sensory Processing (n = 1). Results suggest that smartphones have a variety of effects on adolescent brain function that are primarily negative. The results of this study can inform the general population about the ways in which smartphone usage affects adolescent brain functioning. Further research is warranted to determine a causal relationship between smartphone use and adolescent brain functioning.”

3. 3

   Digital distraction and adolescent development: a narrative review of smartphone use, cognitive effects, and policy interventions.

   Frontiers in psychology (Colakoglu & van)Published Sep 8, 2026Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “Research across observational studies, experimental work, and systematic reviews suggests that excessive smartphone use is associated with modest but consistent relationships with sleep disruption, reduced attentional capacity, and increased internalizing symptoms among some adolescents. However, these effects are heterogeneous and appear to be moderated by factors including type of digital activity, timing of use, and individual vulnerability. Evidence examining the effects of school-based smartphone bans indicates improvements in classroom attention and engagement, although broader impacts on mental health and long-term digital habits remain unclear. Furthermore, adolescent views on smart phone bans are mixed, with students recognizing that there are positive and negative effects of both smartphones and bans. Together, these findings suggest that smartphone use represents a complex developmental exposure rather than a uniformly harmful or beneficial influence. Future research should examine how structured phone-free environments, including school and extracurricular settings, influence adolescents' social interaction, digital behavior, and well-being over time.”

4. 4

   Designing Social Media Health Warnings for Teenagers and Young Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

   JAMA health forum (Grummon et al.)Published Sep 4, 2026Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “Participants perceived all health warnings as well as the screen time break warning as more effective than the control message (range of ADEs, 0.32 [95% CI, 0.24 to 0.41] to 0.62 [95% CI, 0.53 to 0.71]). Participants perceived all health warnings as more effective than the screen time break warning (range of ADEs, 0.16 [95% CI, 0.08 to 0.24] to 0.30 [95% CI, 0.22 to 0.37]), except for the health warning about addiction (ADE, 0.07 [95% CI, -0.004 to 0.14]). Similarly, participants perceived all warnings as increasing their awareness of the harms of social media more than the control message (range of ADEs, 0.19 [95% CI, 0.10 to 0.28] to 0.63 [95% CI, 0.54 to 0.72]) and all health warnings as increasing their awareness more than the screen time break warning (range of ADEs, 0.21 [95% CI, 0.13 to 0.28] to 0.44 [95% CI, 0.36 to 0.52]).Conclusions and relevanceThese findings of this randomized clinical trial suggest that requiring warnings on social media platforms could increase awareness of the harms of social media and discourage teenagers and young adults from wanting to use social media.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT07199660.”

5. 5

   Improving health through research: The ABCD Study(R) perspective.

   Developmental cognitive neuroscience (Nickel et al.)Published Aug 20, 2026Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “As the largest long-term study of brain development and child and adolescent health in the United States, the Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM (ABCD) Study can offer empirical insights relevant for governments, influential think tanks, and other key stakeholders worldwide in establishing guidelines and informing decisions with potential long-term relevance for adolescent health. This review delves into some of the ABCD Study research cited to date by these organizations on important public health topics such as depression and suicidality; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; digital technology, sleep patterns, and physical activity; and prenatal cannabis exposure. Furthermore, it underscores the untapped potential for ABCD Study findings to inform real-world efforts to improve the health and well-being of children and adolescents.”

6. 6

   Screen time (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaPublished Sep 29, 2026Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “Screen time is the amount of hours spent using an electronic device with a display screen emitting blue light, such as a smartphone, computer, television, video game console, or tablet. The concept is under significant research with related concepts in digital media use and mental health. Screen time is correlated with mental and physical harm in child development. The positive or negative health effects of screen time on a particular individual are influenced by levels and content of exposure. Screen time is known to increase dopamine and mess with the circadian rhythm. To prevent harmful excesses of screen time, some governments have placed regulations on usage.”

7. 7

   Associations of smartphone use duration and loneliness with depressive symptoms among Korean adolescents: a nationally representative cross-sectional study.

   Frontiers in public health (Liu & Lee)Published May 5, 2026Checked Oct 4, 2026

   “Weekday and weekend smartphone use (h/day) were modeled as continuous variables. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted adjusting for sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, perceived stress, and anxiety symptoms. Nagelkerke pseudo-R 2 was used to assess incremental explanatory value.ResultsWeekday smartphone use showed a small positive association with depressive symptoms (OR = 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.03). In contrast, perceived loneliness demonstrated a strong graded association: moderate loneliness (OR = 2.54, 95% CI 2.40-2.68) and high loneliness (OR = 4.74, 95% CI 4.43-5.07) were associated with substantially higher odds of depressive symptoms. The inclusion of loneliness increased the model's explanatory power (ΔNagelkerke R 2 = 0.163). Weekend smartphone use showed a marginal inverse association (OR = 0.99, 95% CI 0.98-1.00).ConclusionsPerceived loneliness showed a substantially stronger association with depressive symptoms than smartphone use duration. These findings highlight the importance of addressing social isolation in adolescent mental health interventions, alongside promoting balanced and context-sensitive smartphone use.”

8. 8

   The association between parental phubbing and pathological digital use among children and adolescents: a meta-analysis of Chinese samples.

   Frontiers in psychology (Feng & Li)Published Sep 4, 2026Checked Oct 4, 2026

   “Grounded in parental acceptance-rejection theory and compensatory Internet use theory, this study retrieved 50 eligible empirical studies from authoritative databases and adopted a random-effects model to perform a meta-analysis, accompanied by publication bias tests, heterogeneity tests, subgroup analyses, and meta-regression analyses. This study aimed to clarify the magnitude of the correlation between parental phubbing and pathological digital use among children and adolescents and to explore the sources of inconsistent research conclusions and the moderating mechanism of related variables. The results demonstrated a moderate, statistically significant positive association between parental phubbing and pathological digital use among children and adolescents (r = 0.308, 95% CI [0.280, 0.336]). The correlation between the two variables was significantly moderated by parental phubbing measures, pathological digital use measures, and behavioral subtypes of pathological digital use. In contrast, no significant moderating effects were detected for only-child status, the proportion of male children and adolescents, age groups, and residential settings [rural versus (vs.) urban].”

9. 9

   Screen Exposure and Academic Achievement: A Systematic Review.

   Pediatric discovery (Pinheiro et al.)Published Sep 24, 2026Checked Oct 4, 2026

   “Although recreational screen use has frequently been linked to negative outcomes, the effects of educational use remain less well defined. A bibliographic search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Mendeley for articles published between 2020 and 2024 that addressed screen use in relation to academic skills. Thirty-one studies met the inclusion criteria. Excessive exposure was most often associated with delays in language development, poorer executive function and self-regulation and reduced motor proficiency. In contrast, interactive and well-structured educational applications showed potential to support literacy, numeracy, socio-emotional development, and classroom engagement. Limitations of the available evidence include the predominance of studies in preschool populations, a lack of clear definitions of "screen exposure" and "educational tool," and insufficient differentiation between devices and content types. The findings highlight the importance of parental and educational mediation and underscore the need for further longitudinal studies to clarify the long-term impact of educational screen use across developmental stages.”

10. 10

    The associations between screen time and mental health in children aged 0-12: A systematic review.

    Journal of child and adolescent mental health (Santos et al.)Published Jun 24, 2026Checked Oct 4, 2026

    “Symptoms of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, mood symptoms, emotional and social difficulties, conduct problems, low self-esteem, and sleep disturbances were positively associated with screen time, presenting evidence considered to be of high quality.Limitations: Although this review concluded that screen time significantly affects children's mental health, some limitations should be noted. The lack of longitudinal data made it difficult to establish a clear causal relationship in most studies, and screen time measures may have introduced a potentia memory bias, as well as relying on parental recall.Conclusion: Screen time warrants careful consideration in relation to children's mental health. Promoting off-screen activities may be crucial to reducing the risk of unfavourable mental health outcomes associated with exposure to the digital environment. Future research should focus on longitudinal studies to understand the causal relationships between children's psychosocial responses to the different purposes of screen use and the type of content to which they are exposed.”