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New Study: Children Spending 4+ Hours a Day on Screens Face up to 61% Higher Depression Risk
A new Nature Portfolio study reveals that excessive screen time in children is associated with significantly detrimental mental health outcomes across several disorders: ADHD, anxiety, behavioural problems and even depression. According to clinicians from Flow Neuroscience, a company behind the first FDA-approved non-drug, non-invasive depression treatment, the issue is even bigger than the study reveals, as these children are often overprescribed antidepressants and have limited treatment alternatives due to their age.
Based on data from over 50,000 US children aged 6-17, the study revealed that excessive screen time, categorized as four or more hours per day, is associated with increased odds of mental health issues, raising the likelihood of depression by 61%, anxiety by 45%, behavioural or conduct problems by 24% and ADHD by 21%.
“What is most concerning about these results is the high probability of depression,” says Dr. Hannah Nearney, M.D., clinical psychiatrist and UK Medical Director at Flow Neuroscience.
“While there are effective treatments for depression, treatment from a young age can present challenges that may further negatively impact a patient’s life, partly due to the side effects associated with antidepressant use. Unfortunately, non-drug alternatives are often limited to talking therapy, leaving a gap in the provision of services and exposing vulnerable children to increased risk.”
Landmark Trial Accusing Social Media Companies of Addicting Children to Their Platforms Begins
The world’s biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Opening statements for the first, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, begin this week.
Instagram’s parent company Meta and Google’s YouTube will face claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums.
“This was only the first case — there are hundreds of parents and school districts in the social media addiction trials that start today, and sadly, new families every day who are speaking out and bringing Big Tech to court for its deliberately harmful products,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the nonprofit Tech Oversight Project.
A separate trial in New Mexico, meanwhile, was also set to kick off with opening arguments on Monday.
At the core of the Los Angeles case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials — essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury and what damages, if any, may be awarded, said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Vaccination Rates for Nebraska Schoolchildren Continue to Drop Amid Revival of Measles Cases
A leading authority on infectious diseases says Nebraskans need to brace themselves for an increase in measles cases and possibly other maladies including polio, due to a state decrease in childhood vaccinations. Among Nebraska seventh graders, vaccination rates for all four major vaccines fell, according to an annual report by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services in December.
Rates for incoming kindergarten students in 2024-25 fell in three of five categories, with the percentage of students getting the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine falling just below the 95% mark (see graphic) deemed necessary to prevent a pandemic. (The rate for seventh graders was about 97%) Vaccination rates for hepatitis B and varicella (chickenpox) shots incrased slightly in kids entering kindergarten, according to the survey, though the rates for polio and Dtap (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) decreased slightly to 96% and just above 95%, respectively.
Exact percentages used to create the graphic were not included in the Dec. 31 DHHS report, and when asked for them, the Examiner was told to file a public records request, a request DHHS later said would take until March to fulfill.
Water-Damaged Homes, Heavy Air Pollution Increase Asthma Risk in Kids
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Children are more likely to develop asthma if they are raised in damp homes or neighborhoods with heavy air pollution, a new study says. On the other hand, having a dog in the home reduces a child’s risk of asthma, researchers found.
“Our research shows that to truly understand and prevent childhood asthma, we need to look at a child’s full environment — both the air they breathe outside and the conditions inside their home,” said lead researcher Dr. Akihiro Shiroshita, a doctoral student in epidemiology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
“Considering these factors together gives us a much clearer picture of what puts children at risk and how we can better protect them,” Shiroshita said in a news release.
For the new study, researchers drew on data from more than 6,400 children participating in a National Institutes of Health program tracking how the environment might influence child health.
Beyond Averages: The Hidden Surge in Severe Emotional Distress Among Adolescents After COVID-19
Child Mind Institute reported:
Over the past decade, concern about adolescent mental health has been steadily growing. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified those worries, with school closures, social isolation, and economic uncertainty raising urgent questions: Did adolescent mental health actually worsen? For whom? And by how much? Most of the early answers came from convenience samples, such as online surveys, that, although valuable, are not designed to represent an entire country. That means we have had limited capacity to quantify how widespread the problem is and to plan services accordingly.
In a new study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, titled “Emotional distress in adolescents in 2018 and 2022: a comparison of cross-sectional national probabilistic samples from six countries, our team set out to address this gap. While leading the study, I worked with contributors including Giovanni Salum, senior vice president of Global Programs; Zeina Mneimneh, vice president of Global Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Interventions; and leading epidemiologists Guilherme Polanczyk, Kathleen Merikangas, and Ronald Kessler.
What we found challenges the idea that “things got only a little worse.” On average, emotional distress increased modestly. However, behind that modest average lies a much more troubling story: evidence suggests the number of adolescents experiencing very high levels of emotional distress appears to have risen substantially.
‘Not Meant for Children’: Adults Favor Age Restrictions on Social Media, AI
Adults largely support policies that protect children’s privacy and provide age-appropriate online experiences, according to a new report from Common Sense Media. The new research finds that 6 in 10 adults want age verification for social media and gaming platforms, and more than 50% want age verification for artificial intelligence services and chatbots.
In recent years, there’s been a larger push on the state level to regulate tech companies, like OpenAI, Meta, and Google, and require them to create barriers around how children engage online.
For example, in September 2024, California passed a law that makes it illegal for minors’ social media accounts to include “addictive feeds” unless parents have given consent. New York, in December 2025, issued a law that mandates social media platforms to show a mental health warning label for users.
