“It’s because you’re always on that phone!”

Trigger Warning: Mentions of depression and anxiety

You’ve probably heard that phrase millions of times. It’s a frustrating retort, but is there a reason why it’s such a common one? To kick off shakeoffstress’ monthly blog posts, we decided to look into whether or not increased screen time could lead to increased stress.

The first article we stumbled across was by Jean Twenge and W. Campbell, published on the NCBI database. These two authors are psychologists currently employed at San Diego State University and the University of Georgia. They conducted a massive study in 2016 with 40, 337 subjects aged two to seventeen years old. This range of participants was the researchers' attempt to represent different ages, ethnicities, and household incomes within the study.

Twenge and Campbell were eager to understand the connection between mental health and screen time. In order to do so, they created a survey and asked thousands of participants to fill it out online or on paper. The survey included the following two questions: "On an average weekday, about how much time does [child's name] spend in front of a TV watching TV programs, videos, or playing video games?" and “On an average weekday, about how much time does [child's name] spend with computers, cell phones, handheld video games, and other electronic devices, doing things other than schoolwork?" Participants could choose one of six answer choices: none, less than an hour, an hour, two hours, three hours, or four and up hours.

Looking at survey responses collected gave the researchers insight into children and adolescents' relationship with screens. The average daily screen time among all participants was 3.2 hours, although high schoolers averaged a total of 4.5 hours daily. Here's some good news: mental health was not that different between participants who had no screen time and one hour of screen time. However, participants who had over an hour of screen time daily were found to have worse mental health.

Teenagers, specifically, with over four hours of daily screen time were more likely to show decreased curiosity, have difficulty staying calm when challenged, not finish tasks, and argue with their parents/guardians. They were also more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety and had a greater risk of depression.

So, here are the key takeaways from Twenge and Campbell's 2016 study. They found that one hour or less of screen time is not detrimental to mental health. However, over four hours of daily screen time could be associated with a variety of negative effects. Looks like Apple had the right idea with those pesky screen time regulations....

However, we have to remember that this is only one study. Let's see what other experts have to say on the topic. Sarah Coyne, a researcher at Brigham Young University in the United States, studied 500 participants aged 13-20 over a period of eight years. For every year of the study, participants were asked to fill out a survey about their screen time. At the end of the eight years, researchers found that more time on social media did not directly lead to increased anxiety or symptoms of depression. On the other hand, decreased time on social media did not guarantee decreased anxiety or symptoms of depression.

Another study from the University of British Columbia contradicted these findings, claiming that more time spent on hobbies or extracurriculars could lead to increased mental health. The recommended daily screen time limit found in this study was two hours. It is important to know that this study was conducted during the pandemic in 2020, making it the most recent study out of the ones we've highlighted here.

Screen time is a highly debated topic, and there are endless studies that attempt to decipher its connection with mental health. Two of the studies we've highlighted here encourage teens to limit their screen time, citing various negative side effects if they choose not to. The Sarah Coyne study argues that increased social media doesn't necessarily lead to increased symptoms of depression or anxiety.

We here at shakeoffstress have to admit that we're guilty of a little too much screen time every once in a while. However, the next time we pick up our phones for a Tiktok break or to scroll through Instagram, we'll try to keep these studies in mind. We hope this article was informative and gave you some information about how being mindful of your screen time can help to shake off stress. Check out our next blog post for the month of March for some strategies to avoid this stressor. Thanks for reading :-)

Comments? Questions? Leave them down below!!