Adolescents with Long Screen Time and Lack of Sleep Affect Brain Development...Risk of depression ↑
Jun 25, 2025
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This is the result of a study by Dr. João Paulo Lima Santos of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA Pediatrics.
In order to find clues to teenage depression in screen use and sleep quality, the research team investigated 976 people in late childhood (T1: 9-10 years old) and early adolescence (T2: 11-13 years old) to see if screen time and depressive symptoms, and whether sleep time and brain white matter organization mediate this relationship. Screen time, sleep time, and depression symptoms were investigated, and neuroimaging analysis evaluated the development of three pathways of brain white matter known to be related to depression: cingulum bundle, forceps minor, and uncinate fasciculus.
The study found that adolescents with longer screen times and less sleep have weaker and less organized white matter networks between brain regions, which are responsible for emotional control, memory, and attention.
The research team explained that the brain white matter network is like an intercity highway, and that the brain white matter network of adolescents with long screen time and lack of sleep was more like a winding path through the forest than an eight-lane highway. The findings also suggest that the point where screen usage time and sleep quality meet can be the key to improving brain function and mental health, and it is important to encourage healthy habits and balance screen time and proper sleep.
Earlier, a study found that the longer the screen time of digital devices, the greater the risk of emotional and behavioral problems in children.
In a recent paper published in the journal Psychological Bulletin of the American Psychological Association (APA), an international research team led by Professor Michael Noettel of the University of Queensland in Australia meta-analyzed 117 studies containing data from 292,000 children around the world and found that increased screen usage time can lead to children's emotional and behavioral problems, and children with these problems tend to rely more on screens to relieve stress.
As a result of the study, it was found that children aged 6 to 10 years old are more likely to experience social-emotional problems with more screen use than 0 to 5 years old. In addition, according to gender, the more girls used screens, the more likely they were to experience social-emotional problems, and boys tended to use screens more when they experienced social-emotional difficulties.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
