Peer-reviewed article
Digital-Media Use and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents.
Brandhorst I, Lindenberg K, Paschke K, Paulus FW, Reiter A et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This evidence review examines how digital media use affects children's and adolescents' mental health across three age groups. While digital technologies provide benefits like social connection and access to information, intensive use is linked to problems with sleep, attention, language development, and academic performance. The review identifies risks including cyberbullying, exposure to harmful content, and manipulative design practices, and recommends a balanced approach combining age-appropriate protection, media literacy, and regulation.
Key points
- Intensive media use is associated with risks for sleep, attention, language development, psychosocial well-being, and academic performance
- In adolescence, problematic internet use is linked to behavioral addictions and mental health problems
- Digital media poses risks including cyberbullying, exposure to harmful content, hazardous contacts, and commercial exploitation through manipulative design
- Digital technologies offer opportunities for social participation, access to information, education, and therapeutic support
- A balanced approach is needed including age-appropriate protection, media literacy, and regulatory measures
Limitations
This is a literature review that synthesizes existing research rather than conducting primary data collection. It does not provide information about the magnitude of effects, which populations are most vulnerable, or the effectiveness of specific interventions to mitigate harms.
Abstract
Digital media have become a central part of children's and adolescents' daily lives, with increasing usage time and decreasing age of first exposure in recent years. While digital technologies offer opportunities for social participation, access to information, education, and therapeutic support, they are also associated with several risks to mental health. These include problematic use patterns, cyberbullying, exposure to harmful content and hazardous contacts as well as commercial exploitation through manipulative design practices ("dark patterns"). This evidence review summarizes current research on the opportunities and risks of digital media use from a developmental perspective across three age groups (0 - 5, 6 - 13, and 14 - 18 years). Evidence suggests associations between intensive media use and risks for sleep, attention, language development, psychosocial well-being, and academic performance. In adolescence, problematic internet use is also associated with behavioral addictions and mental health problems. Overall, the findings highlight the need for a balanced approach to digital media use, including age-appropriate protection, media literacy, and regulatory measures to safeguard the mental health of young people. This overview forms the basis for the position statement of the German Scientific Society and Associations for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy on digital media use and mental health of children and adolescents.