The link between excessive use of digital media and poor mental health, poor sleep, and a lack of exercise among young people \u201cjustifies coordinated global action\u201d, experts have said.<\/p>\n
Researchers accused technology companies of treating health as \u201can afterthought\u201d while developing business models that capture attention and collect data.<\/p>\n
They called for firms to share data on how their features impact the health of users in a bid to create a \u201chealthier digital world\u201d for youngsters.<\/p>\n
The team of global experts also stressed that features such as infinite scroll and autoplay are \u201cdeliberate design choices\u201d and not a \u201cmatter of individual self-control\u201d.<\/p>\n
The three-paper series, published in the Lancet, includes a major analysis of reviews comprising nine million people under the age of 25.<\/p>\n
The study found that excessive use of digital media \u2013 dubbed \u201cproblematic\u201d use by researchers \u2013 was linked to a higher risk of mental health problems, sleep issues, and reduced exercise.<\/p>\n
However, researchers stressed that the links are \u201cmodest\u201d.<\/p>\n
Professor Ilona Kickbusch, of the Digital Transformations for Health Lab (DTH-Lab) in Switzerland, said: \u201cUse of digital media is now woven into the fabric of childhood and life as a young adult.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernments have let technology companies write their own rules, leading to business models built to capture attention and collect data, with health treated as an afterthought.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe evidence linking problematic digital media use to poorer mental health, sleep and physical activity, although not conclusive, justifies coordinated, global action.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the right governance, a healthier digital world for young people is possible, one that allows them to benefit from online opportunities without substantial risk of harm to health.<\/p>\n
Louise Holly, of DTH-Lab UK, said: \u201cThe associations between problematic digital media use and health harms identified in our review are modest in size and rest on low-certainty evidence that cannot establish cause and effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeanwhile, the most valuable data on how these platforms actually affect users are hidden within technology companies, limiting independent scrutiny and slowing scientific progress.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The team suggests that spending more than two hours of screen time a day could be linked to around 2.8 million healthy years of life lost to depression, with 240,000 lost to obesity worldwide each year.<\/p>\n
Dr Falk Muller-Riemenschneider, of the National University of Singapore, said the projections \u201care intended to be illustrative of the possible scale of harm\u201d and should \u201cnot be taken as an accurate measurement of harm\u201d.<\/p>\n
The series recommends that governments should require tech companies to assess new products or features for harm before they are released, and to share data with researchers.<\/p>\n
It also called for the creation of an international body to monitor the potential harms of artificial intelligence among children and young people, and the creation of a global governance treaty through the World Health Organisation to set baseline standards and prevent weak regulation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The link between excessive use of digital media and poor mental health, poor sleep, and a lack of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[11246,103,61,60,58],"class_list":["post-645022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-childrens-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}