Many lawmakers have focused on one unsettling indicator as Americans rush to address the rising prevalence of teenage suicidal behavior: the amount of time American children spend each day glued to a glowing screen.
However, a study that tracked over 4,000 kids nationwide and was published on Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA came to the unexpected finding that higher levels of screen time at age 10 were not linked to higher rates of suicidal conduct four years later.
Rather, the youngsters who told researchers that their use of technology had become so addictive that they had difficulty putting it down or felt the need to use it more and more were the ones who were at higher risk for suicidal behaviors, the authors discovered. They claimed that even with relatively little screen time, some kids displayed addicted behavior.
The researchers discovered that children frequently engage in addictive behavior, particularly when using mobile phones, when over half of them use them excessively. According to the study, children with high or rising addictive behavior were two to three times more likely than other kids to consider suicide or hurt themselves by the age of 14.
According to Yunyu Xiao, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of psychiatry and population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medical College, this is the first study to show that addictive use is significant and is the underlying reason rather than time.
During childhood, when the prefrontal cortex, which serves as a restraint on impulsivity, is still developing, it may be more difficult to inhibit addictive behavior.
According to Xiao, rather than merely restricting access to screens, therapies should target the child’s addicted behavior, which is usually addressed using cognitive behavioral psychotherapy.
Parents should seek professional help for their children who have such addictions if there are early warning signs, she said. We’re not sure if simply taking away their phone will be beneficial. Even worse is the fact that it can occasionally lead to family strife.
According to Mitch Prinstein, chief science officer of the American Psychological Association, the emphasis on addictive behavior has significant policy ramifications, placing greater accountability on the tech firms that create gadgets and social networking sites.
According to him, policymakers may combat addiction by mandating that internet businesses implement age-appropriate design that restricts elements that teenagers find hard to resist. In 2020, the United Kingdom implemented a similar code.
The New York Times was the first publication of this article.
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