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Most studies evaluating the effects of screen use on youth mental health focus on overall time spent, but addictive use might be more relevant. In this longitudinal cohort study, 4300 U.S. adolescents (mean baseline age, 10 years) completed annual questionnaires for 4 years about addictive use (i.e., “compulsive use, difficulty disengaging, and distress when not using”) of social media, mobile phones, and video games. Researchers then identified trajectories of addictive use (“high,” “increasing,” and “low” for social media and mobile phone use; “high” and “low” for video games) and examined their associations with suicidality and mental health outcomes in year 4.
Key outcomes were as follows:
Increasing addictive use was common among partici…