1The widespread use of digital technologies by young people has spurred speculation that their 2 regular use negatively impacts psychological well-being. Current empirical evidence 3 supporting this idea is largely based on secondary analyses of large-scale social datasets. 4 Though these datasets provide a valuable resource for highly powered investigations, their 5 many variables and observations are often explored with an analytic flexibility that marks small 6 effects as statistically significant, thereby leading to potential false positives and conflicting 7 results. Here we address these methodological challenges by applying Specification Curve 8 Analysis across three large-scale social datasets (ntot = 355,358) to rigorously examine 9 correlational evidence for digital technology affecting adolescents. The association we find 10 between digital technology use and adolescent well-being is negative but small, explaining at 11 most 0.4% of the variation in well-being. Taking the broader context of the data into account 12 suggests that these effects are too small to warrant policy change. 13 Re-Evaluating the Relation between Digital Technology Use and Adolescent Well-Being 1 2The idea that digital devices and the Internet have an enduring influence on how 3 humans develop, socialize, and thrive is a compelling one 1 . As the time young people spend 4 online has doubled in the past decade 2 , the debate about whether this shift negatively impacts 5 children and adolescents is becoming increasingly heated 3 . A number of professional and 6 governmental organizations have therefore called for more research into digital screen time 4,5 , 7 which has led to household panel surveys 6,7 and large-scale social datasets adding measures 8 of digital technology use to those already assessing psychological well-being 8 . Unfortunately, 9 findings derived from the cross-sectional analysis of these datasets are conflicting; in some 10 cases negative associations between digital technology use and well-being are found 9,10 , often 11 receiving much attention even when correlations are small. Yet other results are mixed 11 or 12 contest previously found negative effects when re-analysing identical data 12 . A high-quality 13 pre-registered analysis of UK adolescents found that moderate digital engagement does not 14 correlate with well-being, but very high levels of usage possibly has small negative 15 associations 13,14 . 16 There are at least three reasons why the inferences behavioural scientists draw from 17 large-scale datasets might produce divergent findings. First, these datasets are mostly 18 collected in collaboration with multidisciplinary research councils and are characterized by a 19 battery of items meant to be completed by postal survey, face-to-face or telephone interview 6-20 8 . Though research councils engage in public consultations 15 , the pre-tested or validated 21 scales common in clinical, social or personality psychology are often abbreviated or altered to 22 reduce participant burden 16...

Adolescence (the stage between 10 and 24 years) is a period of life characterised by heightened sensitivity to social stimuli and the increased need for peer interaction. The physical distancing measures mandated globally to contain the spread of COVID-19 are radically reducing adolescents' opportunities to engage in face-to-face social contact outside their household. In this interdisciplinary Viewpoint, we describe literature from a variety of domains that highlight how social deprivation in adolescence might have far-reaching consequences. Human studies have shown the importance of peer acceptance and peer influence in adolescence. Animal research has shown that social deprivation and isolation have unique effects on brain and behaviour in adolescence compared with other stages of life. However, the decrease in adolescent face-to-face contact might be less detrimental due to widespread access to digital forms of social interaction through technologies such as social media. The findings reviewed highlight how physical distancing might have a disproportionate effect on an age group for whom peer interaction is a vital aspect of development.

Introduction In light of growing concerns about an increasingly digital adolescence, the academic field investigating how digital technologies affect adolescents' psychological well-being is growing rapidly. In the last years, much research has amassed, and this has been summarised in over 80 systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Materials and Methods Systematic reviews, meta-analyses and key studies are reviewed to provide insights into the state of current research linking digital technology and social media use to well-being; possible future directions and improvements are discussed. Results When examining the reviews, it becomes evident that the research field is dominated by cross-sectional work that is generally of a low quality standard. While research has highlighted the importance of differentiating between different types of digital technology use many studies do not consider such necessary nuances. These limitations aside, the association between digital technology use, or social media use in particular, and psychological well-being is-on average-negative but very small. Furthermore, the direction of the link between digital technology use and well-being is still unclear: effects have been found to exist in both directions and there has been little work done to rule out potential confounders. Conclusions Reviewing the last decade of reviews in the area, it is evident that the research field needs to refocus on improving transparency, interpreting effect sizes and changing measurement. It also needs to show a greater appreciation for the individual differences that will inherently shape each adolescent's reaction to digital technologies.