Digital media has become inescapable, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about its effects on young people’s physical and mental health.

But we do have enough evidence of its harms to warrant government action, say the authors of a series on “digital determinants of health” published today in The Lancet.

The three-paper series and related meta-review, which analyzed existing research that included data from 9 million people younger than 25, were authored by experts from 10 different countries.

The study found consistent associations between problematic digital media use—meaning addiction-like patterns of use, rather than screen time alone—and various health outcomes.

Obesity, nearsightedness, lower back pain, and cardiometabolic risk were linked to overall screen time across different age groups. 

Other findings differed by age. For children, higher overall screen time “was associated with poorer socio-emotional and cognitive development, increased anxiety and depression, and poorer sleep quality,” the review says. 

For adolescents, specific patterns of digital engagement were associated with “reduced quality of life, sleep problems, lower physical activity, non-suicidal self-injury, suicidal ideation, and substance use.”

Overall, the meta-review said, “more than three-quarters of the reported exposure-outcome associations were adverse,” though there was also evidence of beneficial digital media use, like children watching educational content with caregivers, and adolescents using active video games.

“These age-related differences emphasize that digital media use is not a uniform phenomenon,” the meta-review said. 

Even with a large body of research to draw from, it’s difficult to quantify digital harms, and the authors stress that the available evidence doesn’t establish a cause-and-effect relationship between digital media use and specific health outcomes.

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