James Donaldson on Mental Health – Teens with ‘addictive’ phone use more likely to be suicidal: Study

• Study followed participants for years, starting at around 9 or 10 years old
• High social media addiction linked to higher risk of suicidal thoughts
• Total screen time had no effect

Sierra Campbell

Editor’s Note: This article contains discussions of suicide. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, you can find resources in your area on the National Crisis Line website or by calling 988.

A new study has found that addiction to social media, video games and mobile devices is linked to a higher risk of suicidal behaviors and thoughts.

JAMA Network published the study Wednesday, which looked at data from over 4,000 children starting at 9 or 10 years old. The study followed these children for years and found that, by the age of 14:

• Around a third of participants became increasingly addicted to social media
• About 25% of kids were increasingly addicted to their cell phones
• Over 40% showed signs of being addicted to video games

The study author, Yunyu Xiao, said, “And these youth are significantly more likely to report suicidal behaviors and thoughts.” 

According to NPR, Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician at the University of California, San Francisco, said, “It’s an important study and raising awareness about screen addiction. … It shows that elements of addiction related to screen use are more strongly predictive of poorer mental health and even suicide risk compared to just screen time. So, I think that it provides more nuance.”

Study followed participants for years, assessed addiction with questionnaire

Data was used from an ongoing longitudinal study called the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which has been following these children for years. During that time, these children were questioned about their average daily screen time, among other things, with a standardized questionnaire.

Xiao said that some of the statements in the questionnaire would include, “‘I spend a lot of time thinking about social media apps or planning to use social media apps’” and “‘I try to use the social media app less, but I can’t.’” Then, each child’s response would be monitored over the years to see how it changed.Do HSAs and FSAs expire? Here’s what to know 

Nearly 60% of the participants had low levels of social media addiction, and they stayed stable over the years. However, around a tenth of the children had an increasing social media addiction that peaked around the third and fourth year of the study.

When it came to cell phone use, around half showed a high addiction, and a quarter had an increasing addiction. Then, with video games, there were two groups: Around 60% showed low addiction that was stable, and 41% were highly addicted throughout a certain period of time.

#James Donaldson notes:
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Those with high social media addiction had higher risk of suicidal thoughts

The study found that those who had high and increasing addiction to mobile phones and social media platforms were at a higher risk of suicidal behaviors and thoughts. At year four, almost 18% of kids reported having suicidal thoughts, and 5% said they had suicidal behaviors.

This correlation was also observed in individuals who were highly addicted to video games. However, total screen time had no effect on a lower or higher suicide risk.

Nagata said, “We all get reports from our phones about our weekly screen time. Screen time is an easily understandable metric because it’s minutes or hours a day that we’re spending on screens.”

Psychologist Mitch Prinstein, a professor at the University of North Carolina, also said, “Some kids might spend their time on screen reading the news, and some might be trolling some pretty dangerous sites. So it’s really hard to know what to make of screen time as a risk factor.” 

Nagata is also someone who has used data from the ABCD study to understand how teenagers are using these social media platforms over time and how that’s affecting their risk of mental health symptoms.

“One thing that was really striking to me is that, unfortunately, these symptoms of screen addictions are actually pretty common,” Nagata said.