Impact of mobile phones and wireless devices use on children and adolescents’ mental health: a systematic review

Abstract

Growing use of mobiles phones (MP) and other wireless devices (WD) has raised concerns about their possible effects on children and adolescents’ wellbeing. Understanding whether these technologies affect children and adolescents’ mental health in positive or detrimental ways has become more urgent following further increase in use since the COVID-19 outbreak. To review the empirical evidence on associations between use of MP/WD and mental health in children and adolescents. A systematic review of literature was carried out on Medline, Embase and PsycINFO for studies published prior to July 15th 2019, PROSPERO ID: CRD42019146750. 25 observational studies published between January 1st 2011 and 2019 were reviewed (ten were cohort studies, 15 were cross-sectional). Overall estimated participant mean age and proportion female were 14.6 years and 47%, respectively. Substantial between-study heterogeneity in design and measurement of MP/WD usage and mental health outcomes limited our ability to infer general conclusions. Observed effects differed depending on time and type of MP/WD usage. We found suggestive but limited evidence that greater use of MP/WD may be associated with poorer mental health in children and adolescents. Risk of bias was rated as ‘high’ for 16 studies, ‘moderate’ for five studies and ‘low’ for four studies. More high-quality longitudinal studies and mechanistic research are needed to clarify the role of sleep and of type of MP/WD use (e.g. social media) on mental health trajectories in children and adolescents.

Use of social network as a coping strategy for depression among young people during the COVID-19 lockdown: findings from the COMET collaborative study

“…Social media use has been supposed to cover a pathoplastic role in the development of psychological impairment and/or psychiatric disorders [30][31][32][33]. However, it is still controversial the impact of SM use on wellbeing, life satisfaction and mental illness.…”

“…PSMU, including the compulsive involvement in online social networking activities, has been also negatively associated with worst individual's physical and mental health, poor wellbeing, relationships, reduced self-esteem levels, poor sleep quality, increased loneliness and depressive levels [17,[21][22][23][24][25][26], particularly among adolescents and young adults [27][28][29]. Systematic reviews reporting a suggestive detrimental effect of wireless devices and SM use on youth' mental health also recommended caution in interpreting these findings, because of the lack of high-quality longitudinal studies [30][31][32]. Recent literature also reported that the effect on youth mental health mainly depends on the time and type of SM used as well as on individual vulnerability [31][32][33].…”

“…Systematic reviews reporting a suggestive detrimental effect of wireless devices and SM use on youth' mental health also recommended caution in interpreting these findings, because of the lack of high-quality longitudinal studies [30][31][32]. Recent literature also reported that the effect on youth mental health mainly depends on the time and type of SM used as well as on individual vulnerability [31][32][33].…”

Effects of media use, smart phone addiction, and adult ADHD symptoms on wellbeing of college students during the COVID-19 lockdown: Dispositional hope as a protective factor

“…For example, Girela-Serrano et al ( 2022) concluded that high bedtime use of phones or mobile devices was associated with lower wellbeing, whereas moderate use may improve psychological wellbeing by strengthening social connections and providing support. On the other hand, problematic smartphone use leads to behaviors that are conceptualized in a way that is very similar to behavioral addiction (Girela-Serrano et al, 2022). This approach defines problematic smartphone use as addiction and includes loss of control (trouble limiting smartphone use), tolerance (needing more smartphone use to achieve the same psychological rewards), and withdrawal (Harris et al, 2020).…”

“…Numerous studies found negative effects of excessive or problematic use of the internet on young people (Buda et al, 2021) and on young people's psychological states such as selfesteem (Midgley et al, 2021), wellbeing (Vanden Abeele et al, 2022, mental health (Girela-Serrano et al, 2022), attention and aggression (Swing and Anderson, 2014), and other behaviors (Girela-Serrano et al, 2022). More broadly, problematic internet use is viewed as a type of addiction (e.g., Brand et al, 2016;Bender et al, 2020).…”